Sunday night’s battle for the Larry O’Brien trophy was nothing short of epic. The defending champions, the Golden State Warriors, clawed their way through game 7, but it would ultimately be the grit of the Cavaliers and Kyrie Irving’s sweet three-point that, would create the leverage needed for the Cavs to bring home the first title to the city and in franchise history.
En route to the ring, the Warriors were able to grasp a piece of NBA history as well. Beating the 1995-96 record of the championed Chicago Bulls, The Warriors entered the finals as a 73-9 team, winning one game more than the Bulls did in regular-season. Record-wise that should make them a better team than the 95-96 Bulls, right? Not exactly.
According to hall of famers and players of the 95-96 Bulls team, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman, it doesn’t. Pippen, when asked about who held the title as the greatest team in NBA history, replied “The 1995-96 Bulls”. He followed up with “We live on.”
Pippen further elaborated his point. “No matter how well you do in the regular season, it has to be capped off with a championship, to really mark your legacy in the game. That’s where we see Golden State had some failure there. They lost their dominance throughout the playoffs”
Rodman expressed the same sentiments when he tweeted his congratulations to the Cavs. He commended the Warriors for a “great regular season”, but quickly reminded them that his team, the 1995-96 Bulls, were the greatest of all time. “Congrats Cavs for winning the NBA title,” Rodman tweeted. “Warriors, you had a great regular season but the greatest team of all time was the 95-96 Chicago Bulls.”
Not only did the Warriors lose their dominance, they relied heavenly on three-point shots in the last quarter of game seven. The problem with that is the set up for the shot has to align. If it doesn’t, you have failed attempts. Every possession counts. For about two-minutes, the Warriors did not score in the final quarter. How can you win a championship, if you don’t score on your possessions? The odds were in the Warriors favor. They had a 3-1 lead in the finals. Game five could have been the grand finale. They will have a better regular-season record than the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls however, most will agree to trade the additional win in the regular-season for the win that really counts in the post-season.
What is a record without the coup de grace? Can you be a better team than a team with a storied lineage and a ring to prove it? A record without a championship are mere numbers without a purpose.
-Niko Rose
