In the 1995-96 season, the Chicago Bulls won an incredible 72 games. In our lifetime, we never thought we would see this type of accomplishment again. Now, we are tuning in to watch meaningless games for the Golden State Warriors, hoping the Pelicans might pull off a random upset.

It’s funny how many basketball snobs want to keep that Bulls record intact. Anyone who considers themselves a fan of the NBA, more so than a fan of a team, wants to make sure the legend of the 72-win Bulls lives on. And can you blame them? Here’s what that team had to offer:

• The best player to ever bounce a basketball.
• The best second fiddle to ever play “Robin” to a “Batman.”
• The best rebounder to ever crash the boards.
• Arguably the greatest coach to ever grace the sidelines.
• A starting five in which everyone was 6’6″ or taller.
• The greatest assistant coach of all time.

That 1996 Chicago Bulls team was loaded to the gills. They were good. I still remember that team. It might have been my favorite Finals series of all time that did not involve the San Antonio Spurs. I can still remember Dennis Rodman hitting a pair of threes and thinking, “This team is incredible. They might never lose again.”

Sometimes I think that about the 2016 Golden State Warriors.

Often forgotten in the shadows of the Bulls’ 72 wins that season is the Seattle Supersonics’ 64 wins. And the Orlando Magic’s 60 wins. And the San Antonio Spurs’s 59 wins. (Go figure, right?).

The NBA was a different league then. A big night from the free throw line meant you shot 11 free throws. The 1990s NBA was a battle in the paint, which is what made the Twin Towers of Duncan and Robinson so lethal. That was the NBA. No one shot 12 three pointers in a game. That was considered ridiculous, and rightly so.

That season had three teams get to 60 wins, and almost a fourth. In 2016, we will have two for sure, and if the Cavs go 13-3 in their last 16, or the Thunder win their final 15 games, then maybe a third. How likely do you think that is?


The Warriors have 15 games left, three of which are against the Spurs. They have six losses all year, so for them to go 11-4 in that stretch seems like a long shot. Their schedule is also incredibly easy. Assuming they lose all three to the Spurs, we could hope they lose to the Clippers or maybe Memphis. But the reality is that isn’t likely. They will probably break the record and I could see them ending up with 75 wins.

The Spurs would have to win their final 15 games to tie the record. Not likely. In fact, I have them losing four more at least before the season is over, to finish at 68-14. Pretty decent season if you ask me. Better than the 1996 Supersonics.

So what does all of that mean, really?

No one talks about the 64-win Sonics when they talk about the 72-win Bulls. They were a fun team to watch, too. Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp, Detlef Schrempf, Hersey Hawkins, Sam Perkins, Vincent Askew, David Wingate and Frank Brickowski. They had the ingredients for beating Jordan’s Bulls that year. Took ‘em to six games, too. If there was one team that could do it, it was Seattle.

So it doesn’t bode well for the Spurs, right?

Well, not exactly. Here’s why…

Seattle basically got all they could out of their lineup that season. They were second in scoring, led the league in team steals and in FG percentage and were second in Defensive Rating and Simple Rating System.

Shawn Kemp essentially had his best season ever that year, in every category. Gary Payton averaged almost 3 steals and was the Defensive Player of the Year. Schrempf, who missed 19 games with injury, still managed over 17 points a game. Hersey Hawkins and Sam Perkins both averaged double figures that year. Heck, even Vincent Askew shot career years from the field and almost averaged 10 per game.

The point is, that Sonics team maximized everything they had. They were essentially playing the best they possibly could have. (Editor’s note: Maybe not.) They peaked and that was impressive. But as I have said time and time again, this Spurs team hasn’t peaked yet.

The 2016 Spurs are shooting an abysmal 23.8% from 3 point range over their last 3 games. That’s almost as bad as the half-time contestants who shoot for a brand newish Chevy Malibu. The Spurs boast a frontline of Tim Duncan, LaMarcus Aldridge, David West and Boris Diaw and are 21st in the league in rebounding. They are fourth in the league in turnovers per game.

How does a team on pace for 67 wins rank 21st in the league in rebounds and 4th in league for turnovers? Well, they haven’t peaked.

The reality is that’s a good thing and a bad thing. On one hand, they can get better and that’s bad news for the Warriors. On the other, they might not peak, and that’s great news for the Warriors.

These Spurs cannot afford to wait too long to peak. For now, they are in good shape heading into the playoffs. Everyone is relatively healthy, roles are pretty well defined, and now we are just hoping everyone gets out of their slump.

I also wonder, have the Warriors have peaked? Excluding Steph, can any of those other guys play better? Can Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, Shaun Livingston, Harrison Barnes or Andrew Bogut get better? Have they peaked?

I think they have. I think the Warriors are a lot closer to the 1996 Sonics than they are to the 1996 Bulls.

Let me put it to you this way:

Say Kawhi Leonard misses time because of a… ok, not an injury.. I want to avoid a jinx… let’s say, a blizzard. Yeah, Kawhi is stuck in a blizzard. And Steph Curry misses time because he got on the wrong flight and accidentally went to Sweden.

Which team do you like better, the Spurs without Kawhi or the Warriors without Curry? Can Klay and the Warriors survive against LaMarcus and the Spurs? I mean, it’s not like the Spurs have three Hall-of-Famers or anything… I digress.

I’m just saying, it could be bad news for the Warriors if Danny Green and Patty Mills stop shooting like they are trying to win a Kia at the halftime show and start looking like they’ve done this before.

Pop is legitimately smarter than all of us, by the way. If you’ve been on Twitter for more than five minutes, you are probably aware that Spurs fans expect to win every game. That regular season win/loss column is really important to the Spurs Twitterverse. Not so much to Coach Gregory. That guy could watch his team lose the next 16 games, but enter the playoffs healthy and playing well, and he wouldn’t bat an eye. This is just a friendly reminder that he is far more in tune with this roster than any of us will ever be.

The Seattle Supersonics might not have dethroned the 1996 Bulls, but in their own right they were dominant. Yet, I have to ask the question: were the Bulls as worried about the Sonics then as the Warriors are about the Spurs now?

Klay Thompson has already stated that the Oakland boys are watching the standings. I’m not sure that Jordan was really concerned with how well Vincent Askew was playing. I am pretty sure that Dennis Rodman had Shawn Kemp beat before they ever set foot on the court.

Phil Jackson and Coach Gregory were/are always more concerned about what they do than what the other teams do. They both believe that if they execute, they can live with the results. The Sonics never beat the Bulls in the Finals. Instead, the Bulls just lost twice and they beat themselves.

I personally believe the only team that can beat the Spurs is the Spurs. I don’t believe for one second that the Warriors were 30 points better than the Spurs when they last played. But I do think the Spurs played 30-point worse basketball in that January contest.

In this scenario, I can’t imagine the 2016 Spurs being like the 1996 Sonics any more than I can imagine the 2016 Warriors being like the 1996 Bulls. Different teams. Different leagues. Different eras.

I know the current standings suggest that the Warriors are the better team. But I believe they just peaked early. If the Spurs peak in April, they can beat the Warriors and whichever teams they face in the first and second round of the playoffs. If the Spurs have already peaked, then it could be a cakewalk for Golden State. However, I’d be hard pressed to believe the Warriors will beat the Spurs by 30 again.

Of course, both teams have to get past the Clippers and Thunder first. Barring a blizzard and a misguided flight to Sweden, all signs point to a Western Conference Final with the two best teams in the league. That series will probably be more difficult than the NBA Finals. We get our second look at this potential matchup on Saturday.

Instead of trying to catch the 1996 Bulls, maybe both teams should try to avoid ending up like the 1996 Sonics.