2016 A WILD RIDE

In a year of ups and downs, tragedies and triumphs, and political twists and turns that divided California, the nation and the world, there’s one thing we can likely all agree on: 2016 was a heckuva wild ride.

There were heartwarming athleticsuccesses and heart-wrenching disasters both at home and abroad. There were prolificprotests—of pipelines, public lands, politicians and police. Housing prices soared, the artsmade news, Brexit became a word, Black Lives Mattered, the climate continued to change and, somewhere in there, Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize for literature and Adele broke the internet.

All in all, it was a long, strangetrip with lots of good, an ugly dose of bad and some stuffthat wasjustdownright absurd. But atleast it kept us on our toes.

Here in the Bay Area, 2016 kicked off with the hype, hoopla and highway robbery that was Super Bowl 50, putting San Francisco in the global spotlight for hosting a game thatwas actually played in Santa Clara by teams from Denver and Charlotte. Ultimately more attention went to Beyonce’s Black Panthers tribute at the halftime show. Oh, and somebody said Coldplay was there, too.

And the weather wasgood for the game. Not good for the drought, though. While Northern California reveled in at least partial drought relief, Southern California was left high and dry yet again. And despite some rain, devastating wildfires ravaged the state top to bottom, from Lake County and Big Sur to the San Bernardino Mountains. Welcome rainfall returned to the Bay Area in the late autumn, and green is green again, at least for a while.

Law enforcement was in focus nationwide with shootings by police and shootings of police, and in the Bay Area for officers being accused of breaking the law while we had a revolving door of police chiefs in Oakland.

People around the globe were on edge after terror attacks in Brussels and Nice. In June, the Orlando nightclub shooting massacre shook the country’s gay community to the core. It was a hate crime and terror attack all in one. And of course the horrific December warehouse fire at an arts collective in Oakland took 36 lives and earned the dubious distinction of being California’s deadliest structure fire in 100 years. Yet after each of these calamities, communities mourned, then stood strong, coming together in triumph of the human spirit.

Technology exploded, in more ways than one (ahem, Galaxy Note 7). Self-driving cars, delivery drones and customer-service robots at shopping centers made it seem like we live in a Jetsons’ future after all. The service and sharing economy just couldn’tbe stopped with Airbnb, Uber, Lyft and more. And from July to September we played Pokemon Go, searching high and low for Metapods and Beedrills, proving virtual and augmented reality are here tostay.

Thanks in large part to the ongoing tech boom, housing in the Bay Area continued to go nuts. There were wild rent hikes, evictions and calls for rent control. Ordinary dwellings sold for millions. Millions! At the same time, some real estate was sinking — literally — as San Francisco’s Millennium Tower began to tilt.

The year saw historic events such as President Barack Obama visiting Cuba in March, the first sitting U.S. president to do so since Calvin Coolidge. Another Cuban milestone would follow in November, with Fidel Castro’s death.

There were celestial events such as super moons, black moons, blood moons, and sporting events, like the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where the big pre-Games worry was the Zika virus, the mosquito-borne disease thatcan cause birth defects. But who can forget world-class divers plunging into green water?

The Warriors were awesome again —and oh, so close! The Giants and A’s, not so much. At leastthe ChicagoCubs finally broke their 108-year World Series drought. The Raiders got themselves back in black. The Niners? Well, Kaepernick taking a knee as a political stand made big news — so there’sthat.

The musical “Hamilton”became a cultural phenomenon, somehow making the birth of ournation seem cooler than it probably was even when it was happening thanks to a hip-hop/R&B score and a cast of many colors. It swept the Tonys, won the 2016 Pulitzer for drama, sold out everyshow inminutes and set the stagefor cast members to call out Vice President-elect Mike Pence one night and start a Twitter battle with the president-elect.

There’s no forgetting the election. Tragedy for some, triumph for others. Whatever the take, it was certainly the wildest turn of events in this roller-coaster year. After months of nonstop vitriol,emailscandals, scathing remarks about immigrants, Muslims, women and more, many expected a Trump trouncing, butgot a Clinton crushing (well, except for that popular vote thing) instead. One of the fewpolls thatgot it right? The Chia Pet poll — sales of Trump Chia heads beat out Clinton Chia heads, 3-to-1.

Social media played a bigger role than ever in the election, for good and bad, with people engaging in fierce online debates. Soon it was back to posting cute animal videos and vacation photos. In fact, YouTube said its hottest videos of the year included Adele singing with late-night comic James Corden in a drive around London, a dude flipping water bottles onto various out-of-reach objects and a viral songby Japanese comedian Daimaou Kosaka called “Pen-Pineapple-apple-Pen.”Yes, really.

So was that all there was to the year? Far from it. And in the next pages, we’ll elaborate on some of these stories and more. So fasten your seatbelts. Reliving 2016 is bound to be a bumpy ride.

AHILL@BAYAREANEWSGROUP.COM

HE’S HERE

STORYBYMARCUSTHOMPSONII ILLUSTRATIONBY SERGESEIDLITZ

Even when they lose, they win. That’sthenewWarriors. That’showthisera of dominancehasgone —especially in 2016.

Intwoseasons, the Warriors won 140 regular season games, went to the NBAFinals twice and came away withonetitle. They leapfroggedtraditionalpowers, risingfrom laughingstock franchise to oneofthe mostpopular in allofsports.

Theyboastthe two-timeMVP and firstunanimous winner in StephenCurry,amagneticstar who keeps the Warriors atthe forefront of relevance. Usinghis 3-point shot, hekeeps pulling off basketball miracles andexpandingthe Warriors’ fan base.

Eventhe one titlethey lost —comingup shortin a riveting Game 7 clashwithCleveland —proved tobe a victory.The Warriors became thefirst teamin NBA history toblow a3-1lead in TheFinals.By doing so,theyhit ononeofthebiggest freeagent jackpots ever.

Kevin Durant wanted to join theWarriors, enticedby their chemistryand fluidity.In pursuit ofachampionship, he founda commonality in the Warriors, who would no doubt be eager toget another chance atthetitle they squandered.

Warriorsowner JoeLacob, quoted speaking to theNew York Times above, is confidentin the currentteam. At right, Stephen Curry keeps theWarriors’ opponents on their toes.

If the Warriors hadwon,Durantwouldhavehad ahard time leaving to join a two-timedefendingchampionship team. Instead he became the missingpiece in their dynasty,howthe Warriors could extend this two-year run to anew prime.

TheWarriors wereupsetby a killer one-two punchfromLeBron James and Kyrie Irving. So they formedaone-two of their own, CurryandDurant. Only they also have two other All-Stars inKlay Thompson and DraymondGreen.

Theteam that won 73 games added a sure-fire Hallof Famer. Nowthe Warriors are in thehunt for theirsecondtitle in three years.The franchise’srelevance hasincreased afterthe mostwatched seasonin history.

Ittook a long time to getto this point, and plenty of Warriors fans have the scars of heartbreak to prove it. Buttheyallnowknow howthe airat the top ofthe mountain smells.

MTHOMPS2@BAYAREANEWSGROUP.COM

Yearof theWarrior

Jan.18: The Warriorshad alreadyset an NBA record with 24straight wins tostartaseason —afterhanging theirchampionshipbanner on opening night.But theWarriorswentinto Clevelandthis night with many questioning how good they were.TheWarriorswon by34.

Jan.25: Another showdown: Warriorsvs. Spurs.GoldenStatewas 40-4,the Spurs 38-6.It wasthe highest combined win percentage bytwo teams facing offin NBA history.The Warriors won by 30.

Feb.27: The Warriorswentto Oklahoma Cityandstruggledmuch of the first half. Draymond Greenhad aheated exchange with coachSteveKerr inthe locker room at halftime and needed to be restrained.ESPN reporterLisaSaltersreported thealtercation. Green responded by playing lights-out defenseinthe secondhalf,and the Splash Brothers were hot.Kevin Durant seemedto havesealed the deal on a3-pointerwith 15 seconds left,but KlayThompson converted alayup,then stole Durant’s inbounds pass to set upAndre Iguodala’s freethrowstosend the gameto overtime.Withthe gametied in the final seconds,Stephen Currydrilled the game-winning 3-pointer from 37 feet.Itwas his record-tying 12th 3-pointerof the game.

March 19: Arematchbetween theWarriors andSpurs,this time inSan Antonio,where the Warriorshadn’t won a regular season game in twodecades.Their streak didn’t change this night,asthe Spurs wonaslugfest. The Warriorsleft San Antonio feeling good becauseCurryshot only 4-for-18 and the Warriorswerewithout center Andrew Bogut andsixthman Iguodala,and theystillalmost stolethe game.

April 13: The Warriorshandledthe Memphis Grizzlies in theregular-season finale toset the NBA recordfor winsin a season.They finished 73-9,topping by one victory themark held bythe1995-96 ChicagoBulls.Thefeat shined thespotlight brightly heading into the playoffs.Curry eclipsed 4003-pointersmade in a season.Hefinishedwith 402,breaking his ownNBA recordof 286.

April24: Currysprained his right footinthe first game of theplayoffsagainstHouston.He returned for Game4as the Warriorsplayedit cautious.Just before thehalf,Curryslipped on a wet spot,falling awkwardlyand injuring hisright knee.

May 9: The WarriorsdisposedofHoustonin five gamesand took the first twoovervisiting Portland inthe second round,but Damian Lillard put a scare intotheWarriorsinGame 3,blitzing the Curry-less WarriorsinPortland. Curryreturnedthisnight for Game4.Hecame off thebench and had a25-minutelimit placed onhim — alimitthat went out the window after ShaunLivingstonwasejected in thesecondquarter.Curry playednearly37 minutesand finishedwith 40 points.That included arecord17 points in overtime.

May 16: The Warriorswentice coldin Game1 of the WesternConference Finals.Oklahoma Citystole theopenerinOracle.The Warriors openedwith agimmicky gameplan,ignoring AnthonyRoberson—apoor shooter—and focusing on DurantandRussellWestbrook.

May 24: The Warriorsweredismantled in Games 3 and4,and itshookthem.The Thunder’slengthandathleticismhadthe Warriorsbottledup.

May 28: Facingelimination,the Warriors summonedtheir mostspiritedcomeback of the season.Thompson led the way,shooting the Warriorsbackinto thegameby making 11 of 18 3-pointers.Finally,Currygotgoing, hittingtwostraight3stotie thegame.One more 3 from Thompson put the Warriorsup forgood late.TheWarriorsadvanced.

June 10: Afterstruggling for threegames, Curryexplodedfor 38pointsasthe Warriors beat the Cavalierson their ownfloor.The Warriorswenthome with a 3-1lead.Butin the final minutes,Green gotmixed upwith LeBronJames.Greenswipedto getJames off him.After lobbying from the Cavaliers behind the scenes,theNBAinvestigatedand assessed Green withaflagrantfoul.Itwashis fourthone of thepostseason,whichmeant aone-game suspension.Thisrulingchanged the tide of theseries.

Clockwise from top left: Warriors’ fans celebrate Draymond Green; Kevin Durant makes a move for GoldenState; AndrewBogut takes ahard foul going up for a slam; Steve Kerrerupts andAndre Iguodala dunks.

June 13: Withtheir defensive anchor missing, the Warriorsweretorched by Jamesand Kyrie Irving,eachscoring 41 tokeep the Cavaliers alive.

June 16: Ayearafterthey clinched a championship in Cleveland,the Warriors had a chanceagain.But they couldn’t stop the Cavs. James scored 41 again.The Warriorsshot 40 percent.Currywas ejected in thefourth quarter for arguing anon-call on a foul and throwing hismouthpiece,hitting acourtside fan.His wife,Ayesha,tweeted that the NBA is rigged.The Warriors seemed to be coming unglued.

June 19: The Warriorsshot38.6 percentfrom the field as Cleveland’saggressive defense ramped up.Green hadthegame of hislifeto keepthe Warriorsin it,and theirdefensehung tough in a low-scoringmatchup.But a dagger 3-pointerfrom Irvinginthe final minuteand the block of the centuryfrom James on an Iguodala fast-break completed Cleveland’s upset.The Warriorslostthe title.

July 1: It wastheWarriorsturnto meet with freeagentDurantinthe Hamptons. CEO Joe Lacob,GMBob Myersand coach SteveKerr made their pitch.The Warriors also brought theirfour bestplayers—Curry, Green,Thompson and Iguodala — towoo Durant.Itworked.

Oct 4: Durant makes his magical Oracle debut asaWarrior.Though just a preseason game,the WarriorsroutedtheClippers by 45. Thenew core gaveaglimpseof their explosiveness.Thompson,DurantandCurry combined for 65points on 32 shots withnone playing more than 24minutes.

Oct 25: The seasonofthe SuperTeam begins,but it doesso with a thud.San Antonio executed the Warriors,making itclearthat even with Durant,they had some jelling to do.And with thewaySan Antonio pounded the Warriorsinside,Golden State missed the big men theylet go whilegetting Durant — Andrew Bogutand Festus Ezeli.

Nov.3: Durant scored 39 inhis first matchup against hisformerteam,and the Warriors blastedOklahoma City.