Warriors, Stephen Curry on track for historic 45-year old road curse

Even with Stephen Curry back to his net-scorching ways, the disparity between the Warriors' home and road performances remains astounding.

It was in 1886 when the tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde found its way onto shelves. A kind-hearted scientist and a maniacal, evil person all in one man, the story of his dueling identities is an all-time classic. After all, 137 years later, the spirit of the iconic character's split identity lives on in Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors, who are on track to post the worst road record for a playoff team over the past 45 years.

Following the Warriors' 131-110 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday night, the Warriors have fallen to 7-26 on the road. (To put things in perspective, they have gone 27-7 at home.) In fact, they have now lost eight consecutive games away from the friendly confines of Chase Center. As a result, the Dubs are in real danger of tying the 1987-88 San Antonio Spurs and 1985-86 Chicago Bulls for the worst road record (8-33) in a single season in NBA history for a team that made the postseason, per Josh Dubow of Associated Press.

While Stephen Curry and the Warriors will still have eight chances to avoid that ignominious feat, they haven't shown any flashes of turning around what's shaping up to be an inescapable road curse. They have a -7.1 net rating in such games, according to StatMuse; on the contrary, they have a +7.7 net rating at home, an incredible +14.8 difference.

It's unclear what changes for the Warriors when they're away from San Francisco, but one thing's for sure: a drop-off of this level is unprecedented. Even the 1986 Bulls and 1988 Spurs didn't pull off a Jekyll and Hyde impersonation to this degree; the Bulls finished 30-52 and the Spurs finished 31-51 in those seasons. The disparity between the Warriors' home and road performances is simply astounding.

The Warriors' remaining road games will be far from a cakewalk, even with Stephen Curry dropping gaudy point totals night after night. They will be facing six teams that are currently in at least a play-in tournament spot, including the likes of the Grizzlies, Denver Nuggets, Sacramento Kings, Los Angeles Clippers, and Dallas Mavericks. The Clippers and Mavs games, in particular, will go a long way towards determining which team ends up in a precarious play-in predicament.