Wade 'not rooting' for Warriors to get 73 wins
With a win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday, the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors will break the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls' single-season wins record by finishing their campaign at 73-9.
Miami Heat All-Star guard Dwyane Wade, a native of Chicago, won't necessarily be rooting for Stephen Curry and company to reach what was once considered to be an unreachable number.
"Rooting? I'm not rooting," Wade said following the Heat's practice on Monday. "I'll watch."
"If they get it, if they break the record, that's amazing," Wade added. "Obviously a lot of us that are playing this game - the veteran guys - we were around as kids when the Bulls broke the record. We all experienced that and that was unbelievable at the time. This would be an unbelievable feat for (the Warriors) if they're able to do it. If they don't and they tie it, that's still unbelievable. But from that standpoint, congratulations to them on doing something in history. But I don't really root for too many other teams."
Wade is proud of his Chicago roots, but, should the Warriors dethrone his hometown team, the end result won't phase him in the slightest bit.
"I don't care," Wade said. "I didn't get that record. The Bulls - Jordan and Pippen - got that record. Now, at the time, I felt proud being from Chicago. But I wasn't in that team picture. I'm not in the history books at all for that. It doesn't matter to me."
Wednesday's finale at Oracle Arena, win or lose, is just another hurdle the Warriors have to get through en route to what feels like an inevitable appearance in the NBA Finals for a second year in a row. Will a 73-9 record lose its luster should the team fall short of hoisting the Larry O'Brien trophy, though? Wade certainly thinks so.
"I think it's great that a team in our era is able to challenge it," Wade said of the record. "It's phenomenal, it's very dominant of them. But I'm sure at the end of the day, just like the Bulls had those T-shirts you see Scottie Pippen wearing 'It means nothing without the ring.' Well, it doesn't. But it's an unbelievable accomplishment for the regular season."