Curry wants 73-9 record, but not at expense of championship
The 1995-96 Chicago Bulls are the gold standard for which all NBA teams strive, finishing their season with a 72-10 record (most wins in league history) before going on to hoist the Larry O'Brien Trophy.
The only roster to come within an eyelash of matching that feat - or 70 wins for that matter - was the Bulls themselves one year later (69-13). The Golden State Warriors came close last season with 67, winning their first championship in 40 years against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Riding a historic 22-game winning streak to open the campaign, a potential 70-win season is very much on the table for this year's Warriors, with reigning MVP Stephen Curry eyeing the illusive number from afar.
"Yeah, but we have to do it the right way," Curry said when asked whether he wanted 73, according to ESPN's Sam Alpour. "We want to keep getting better and be at our best come April. If we don't win the championship, what good is 73?"
Winning back-to-back titles has only been pulled off by two other franchises (Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat) since the Bulls' last three-peat, with the Lakers winning 11 fewer games the season after winning its first of three straight titles. Fatigue and injuries both played huge roles in their regular-season decline - two areas of concern should the Warriors inch closer to the wins record.
Head coach Steve Kerr, who is currently away from the team recovering from offseason back surgery, hasn't shied away from discussing the ins and outs of who would emerge victorious in a matchup between the '95-'96 Bulls and the '15-'16 Warriors. Curry, on the other hand, takes a more restrained approach.
"It's hard to compare the teams," he said. "I watched them play growing up, but coach Kerr knows what Jordan and Pippen were like, and even he says it's an impossible debate. Maybe me and Ron Harper should lock ourselves in a room and talk it out."
All "The Chef" knows is that if Michael Jordan were manning him with the game on the line, the final result wouldn't be in question: "Right to left, step back. I knock it down."