Warriors Break NBA Record with 73 wins, Why the 95-96 Bulls are still Superior
To much of my chagrin the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors (73-9) made NBA history in the regular season finale by defeating the Memphis Grizzles 125-104 on Wednesday, eclipsing the 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls historic record of 72-10 that stood for 20 years.
The 95-96 Bulls, who captured the previous record of 72 wins and an NBA title appeared to be the ultimate omnipotent NBA team.
With 72 regular season wins it appeared to be a record that would never be broken for it rivaled the records of Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 points in one game, Wayne Gretzky’s 92 goals in a single season, and Rickey Henderson’s 130 stolen bases in a single season.
Now that the 15-16 Warriors have broken the record, there will be a wide assortment of Millennials who will disrespectfully divulge that the Warriors have the best team in NBA history.
NBA history shows that the Warriors are the best team statically, but keep in mind numbers do lie. In fact, numbers lie a lot.
Recently, NBA front offices have cultivated this obsession with copying the Warriors blueprint of success during the last two years, for the three point shot attempts continue to increase every year which has led to higher scoring games and NBA defenses getting worse.
Not to mention the rules have become softer than when the 95-96 Bull initially set the 72-win benchmark.
The 95-96 Bulls clearly played in a more physical generation where hand checking was allowed, there was not this notion that the center position should be obsolete for all-star voting, or this nonsensical, "Hack-a-whoever can’t shoot free throws” so called "strategy".
It wasn’t as frequent, for it was a strategy first employed by Don Nelson that was only used against Dennis Rodman on the Bulls in 1997 before the eventual “Hack-a-Shaq” that actually was meaningful, for it was used for most of Shaquille O’Neal’s career.
Keep in mind it’s a strategy that doesn’t even work. Just ask four-time NBA champion O'Neal or five-time NBA champion Rodman.
The chief questions are, how good are the Warriors? Is this generation of the NBA getting better or worse?
Why are players who have the ceiling of being nothing more than good NBA developmental players and college star players afforded opportunity after opportunity to play on the NBA platform?
These same NBA D-League and college stars who receive these “10-day contracts” has knowingly become translation for, “here is a 10-day try out to see if you can help our ‘tanking’ process even further”.
As a result, These same “10-day contracted” players are gradually offered 1—2 year contracts to help teams such as the Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns, Brooklyn Nets, and Los Angeles Lakers further tank season after season, more than ever.
It allows NBA General Managers to orchestrate a collection of "assets", such as a plethora of draft picks, and take on the contracts from overpaid, aging veterans from teams that are in win-now mode in order to clean up cap room space to sign top free agents in the off-season.
This is all part of the "process" to rebuilding championship caliber teams as former Sixers GM Sam Hinkie would put it.
Where is the competition for the Warriors? Three teams in the West, which includes the San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Los Angeles Clippers, and one team in the East, the Cleveland Cavilers?
The 95-96 Bulls majestic season was in a generation where both the Eastern and Western Conferences were dominant. The top seven seeds in the East during the 95-96 season averaged over 46 wins, including an Orlando Magic team that compiled a 60-22 season.
In turn, the top five seeds in the West during the 95-96 season averaged over 55 wins, including a then Seattle Supersonics (OKC Thunder) team that held a 64-18 record.
Today’s Eastern Conference has only three to four good teams, yet only one contender every year.
With that contender being whichever team Lebron James is taking his talents to. The East is so watered down that whichever team Lebron is playing for should get an automatic bid to the NBA Finals.
Not to mention, this year’s Western Conference has been mediocre, giving the fact that the Spurs (65-14), Thunder (54-26) and Clippers (51-28) appeared to be the only three teams that can challenge the Warriors. Whereas the rest of West’s playoff seeds are averaging a rare low of 41 wins this season.
Giving the nature of comparing teams from different generations, naturally there is going to be major point differentials, so I am going compare the offensive and defensive rankings of both the Bulls and Warriors.
When breaking down the Bulls and Warriors teams, it is evident that Bulls were a better defensive team. The 95-96 Bulls allowed only 92.9 points per game, finishing 3rd in the 1995-96 season. Whereas the Warriors allowed 104.1 points per game this season, ranking 19th in the NBA.
Offensively, the two teams are evenly match, for the Bulls finished 1st in the NBA with 105.2 points per game in 95-96 and the Warriors finished 1st this year in the NBA with 114.9 points per game.
The Warriors are playing in a generation where analytics is prominent, so teams attempt a vast greater amount of threes than in the 90s. The Bulls attempted only 1,349 threes (16.4 per) as a team during the 95-96 regular season compared to the Warriors who attempted 2592 (31.6 per) this season.
In fact, the Splash Brothers, Curry (886) and Klay Thompson (650) attempted more threes than the 95-96 Bulls entire team, attempting 1,536 threes as a duo alone this year.
Transitioning, to if the 95-96 Bulls were to face the 15-16 Warriors in a 7-game series, for starters Phil Jackson would quickly remind Steve Kerr of who's the master and who's pupil in a New York minute.
The Zin Master would not be manipulated into the Warriors mouse trap of playing small ball, for they would play their style of basketball.
I’m guessing that Bulls would have a starting lineup of Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Toni Kukoc, Rodman, and Luc Longley against the Warriors lineup of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodola, Harrison Barnes, and Draymond Green.
The Bulls backcourt would be superior with the combination of versatility and size offensively and defensively complemented by a frontcourt that would create havoc and dominate the rebounds and the interior against the Warriors smaller lineup.
Keep in mind, centers in the 90's didn't stand at a whopping 6 foot-7 inches.
The NBA in the 90's had a smorgasbord of legitimate centers, such as Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Shaquille O'Neal, Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe Mutombo, Brad Daugherty, Rik Smits, Vlade Divac, Rony Seikaly
Six of whom are in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
When containing Curry, I think Jordan and Pippen would guard him interchangeably throughout the game. They would limit his perimeter shots, making him to develop offense inside and forcing him defer to his teammates more frequently.
As great of a ball handler and penetrator Curry is, he will always have the natural instincts of a shooter who is more comfortable shooting the basketball than attacking the basket.
Jackson would draw up a defensive scheme in which all five players on the court would be guarding Curry at all times, while either Pippen or Rodman would be face guarding Curry everywhere he goes.
The Bulls would make Curry as uncomfortable as possible even if it means Rodman has to face guard him into the bathroom, with wig and wedding dress to go.
The Bulls defense would have enough versatility in their frontcourt from Pippen and Rodman to guard the perimeter by switching and hedging the litany of screens that the Warriors would be throwing at them.
If Curry tried to attack the paint, then Rodmen and Luc Longely would be waiting to touch him up with hard playoff fouls, making him earn every basket. Hand checking would be allowed.
The Bulls would not allow Chef Curry or Klay Thompson to have any type of 40-point to 50-point scoring frenzy.
Just think, if Curry had trouble against Matthew Dellavedova during the first few games of the 2014-15 finals, then against the Bulls he would appear locked up in restraints and a straitjacket for the whole world to see.
Jordan, Pippen and Rodmen combine for 24 NBA All-Defensive First Teams and five NBA Defensive Player of the Year awards. Not to mention a six-foot, six-inch Ron Harper could be used as a big perimeter defender a well.
Curry would be forced to facilitate to fellow splash brother Thompson, who has the propensity to be obsolete during the postseason in meaningful games.
Green and Andre Iguodola would be forced to put all of their energy on the defensive end against Jordan and Pippen to the point where their offensive contributions would be pedestrian.
The electricity of Jordan and Pippen is like lightning in a bottle, for they are the arguably the greatest tandem in all of sports and with six NBA Championships combined I think they could have easily won eight straight titles if Jordan never retired after the Bulls first 3-peat from 1991-94.
For anyone who wants to argue that Green and 2015 Finals MVP Iguodola did such a great job on James in the finals are clearly oblivious to what took place in that series.
James became the first player to lead an NBA Finals series in every major statistical category, averaging 35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds and 8.8 assists per game. Just imagine the type of numbers Jordan would have filled up against Green and Iguodola in a 7-game series.
On the offensive end, The Bulls would play to more of their pace, implementing Tex Winter’s triangle offense (Not Derek Fisher’s Knicks) in a half-court game, preventing the Warriors from speeding up the tempo with explosive full-court offensive.
Great teams have the ability to slow the pace of the game, and as you get further into the postseason the games get slower. I think the Warriors would struggle getting into their half-court offense with the Bulls discipline to play “saran wrap” tight defense (College Analyst Clark Kellogg would say).
Golden State loves to play with a stretch four and five, whether its Green or Harrison Barnes, however, the Bull would be able to counter that with Croatia’s finest, Kukoc.
Kukoc was more than capable of not only spacing the floor as a stretch four, knocking down open threes and driving to the cup but his impeccable court vision and passing allowed him to create shots for others.
History has shown that in order to contain Jordan the opposing backcourt must be strong defensively, such as with Gary Payton of the then Seattle Supersonics (OKC Thunder), who held Jordan to 27 points per game during the 1996 Finals.
In addition, the defensive backcourt of the Detroit “Bad Boys” Pistons in the 90s led by Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars, along with a physical frontcourt of Bill Laimbeer, Rick Mahorn and Dennis Rodman were Jordan’s Kryptonite for years.
Although Klay Thompson is one of the best two-way players in the NBA today, I don't think he has the killer instinct or aggressive gene to get underneath a player’s skin the way Payton, Thomas and Dumars could.
The Warriors wouldn’t have enough enforcers and rim protectors in their frontcourt to cut off Jordan's penetration to the basket.
Andrew Bogut and Festus Ezeli would be the only rim protectors on the Warriors team, yet they would be on the bench for the majority of this series because I believe Kerr would play to their strength of a small-ball against the Bulls.
The only "slight" advantage that the Warriors would have in the series is their bench of Bogut, Ezeli, Maurice Speights, Shaun Livingston over a Bulls bench that really only had two key players in Harper and Kerr.
In the playoffs you really only need two or three players off the bench to win a championship. Both Harper and Kerr alone complement those pieces to winning the Larry O’ Brien award.
In a nutshell, I would have the 95-96 Bulls defeating the 15-16 Warriors in a seven game series 4-2. The Bulls would simply overwhelm the young Warriors with the Jordan intimidation factor alone.
Keep in mind many of the Warriors were kids when they watched Jordan in Space Jam and seeing those Jordan 11’s surface the court, live and in person alone, would be the dagger.
Before I rest my case, I want to also put into perspective that there a plethora of other NBA teams outside the 95-96 Bulls who the 15-16 Warriors would loss against, including Jordan’s Bulls during the first 3-peat (1991-94).
The historic Lakers teams, such as the 1971-72 Lakers (69-13) anchored by Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, and Elgin Baylor. The Showtime 1987-1988 Lakers (65-17), featuring Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and James Worthy.The 1999-2000 Lakers (67-15), who had the dominance of Shaq and Kobe Bryant.
Also the Warriors would stand no chance against the great Celtics teams of the 60's who won 11 championships, led by Bill Russell, Bob Cousy,
John Havlicek, Sam Jones, K.C. Jones, and the 1985-86 (67-15) Celtics big three of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parrish.
The 1999 Spurs (37-13 NBA Lockout), Twin Towers: David Robinson and Tim Duncan, who are arguable two of the best big men in NBA history would just dominate the paint, boards and control the pace of the game to a slower traditional half court pace, preventing the Warriors from getting out in transition and running the score up.
Turning to modern day teams who I think are better than the Warriors, includes the 2007-08 Celtics (66-16) big three of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and the 2013 Miami Heats (66-16), Heatles of James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh.
Lastly, my honorable mention is the "Bad Boys" Pistons who won back to back finals in 1989 and 1990.The stifling back-court defense of Thomas and Dumars matched with the front court presence of Mark Aguirre, Rodman, Laimbeer and Mahorn were like a pack of hyenas who would devour the Warrior cubs limb by limb.
Chuck Daley would be licking him chops with “Curry Rules" for Chef Curry.
Think of it this way, the Warriors virtually have the same team as last year, yet it took them six games to defeat a “handicapped” Cavaliers team without not only all-stars Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving, who sat out due to season-ending injuries but without a head coach (Sorry David Blatt).
It was Lebron the player, the head coach, the assistant coach, the GM, and the owner against the Warriors. Just digest and imagine if the Warriors had to face a full strength 95-96 Bulls team.
I rest my case.