With all the dominant teams the NBA has seen throughout its history, only one was able to reach the magic 70-win mark. The 1995/96 Bulls piled up 72 victories that season en route to another championship.
We’ve seen plenty of star-laden teams since that season. There were the Shaquille O’Neal–Kobe Bryant Lakers during the early 2000s. The formidable trio of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce with the Celtics. The next super trio of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh with the Heat. And, of course, the enduring championship Spurs trio of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili.
Yet none of those units reached the gold standard of 70 regular-season victories. Only six teams in the past decade have recorded at least 65 wins and just two have notched 67 victories — the 2006/07 Mavericks and last year’s Warriors.
It certainly seems as if the Warriors are even better this season, despite the absence of coach Steve Kerr due to health issues. Golden State enters the week as the league’s only undefeated team. The Warriors are 11-0 after surviving their biggest scare of the young season, an overtime win over the Nets. In most games, they’ve won by double digits, highlighted by a 50-point blowout of the Grizzlies.
Reigning league Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry is off to a fabulous start, threatening to add a scoring title to the list of his accomplishments. The core group that produced an NBA championship last season looks as cohesive and as confident as ever, plus they’re getting an unexpected large contribution from Festus Ezeli, who has started all but one game with center Andrew Bogut recovering from a concussion.
This leads us to our question of the day: Will the Warriors become the second team in league history to win 70 games?
Please take to the comments section below to share your thoughts and opinions on the subject. We look forward to what you have to say.
70 at a minimum #bullsfan
That’s confidence in the champs!
It’s conceivable. With the depth of GSW’s bench, even when resting their starters (and iggy), they still have a fighting chance in beating the NBA’s worst teams late in the season.
Yes, they can win 70 games.
It’s tough to sustain the intensity over the course of a season but so far, the Warriors seem immune to letdowns.
Later in the season, the question could be how badly do they want to win 70. Will they pace their stars to be ready in the playoffs or will they go all out to reach that milestone?
The Warriors are very, very good, but so many things have to break right for a team to get to 70 wins. Plus, Steve Kerr has spoken about how Michael Jordan’s one-of-a-kind drive carried that team to wins on nights when just about every other team would have lost. Stephen Curry is great, but he’s no Jordan.
Everyone believes they’re better than they were last year, I don’t see why they wouldn’t be able to top last years win total of 67 games by at least 3 games.
I’ll worry about 70 games when we hit 69 wins! Take care of the ball and shots first!