ESPN Stats & Information 8y

Bulls' path to 72 was more impressive than Warriors' run

The Golden State Warriors are looking reasonably decent when compared to the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls team that won an NBA record 72 games. But let’s temper the enthusiasm just a little bit.

Though the Bulls didn’t start 15-0 like these Warriors did, they did start 13-2. And they went from 5-1 to 41-3, which is a 36-2 stretch over 38 games.

What else does it take to get to 72-10?

They did have a big win streak -- 18 games -- which lasted from Dec. 29 to Feb. 2. They had a four-game stretch within the win streak in which they won by 24, 29, 26 and 27.

The Warriors' 15-game stretch outscoring opponents by 216 points sounds impressive. But it doesn’t when you compare it to the Bulls' best 15-game run: plus-263.

Those Bulls lost two games in a row once, and that came right after the win streak, as part of a six-games-in-eight-days road swing at the Nuggets and Suns. The Bulls followed that up with winning streaks of seven, six, six, six and five.

They went 12-4 against the six other teams in the NBA that won at least 50 games, including 2-0 sweeps of the Spurs, Jazz and Lakers. They were 25-3 against the Western Conference.

If you played the Bulls on a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday, you were toast. The Bulls went 48-2 in the 50 games played on those dates.

The Bulls then went 15-3 in the playoffs, 11-1 prior to the NBA Finals, before beating the SuperSonics in six games for the championship.

They finished with an 87-13 record over 100 games, combining regular season and the postseason.

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