Warriors Take A Shot At Perfection
OAKLAND (CBS SF) – According to NFL lore, former Miami Dolphins star Mercury Morris cracks open a bottle of champagne when the final undefeated NFL team suffers its first loss of the season.
Morris was a member of the 1972 Dolphins season that went 14-0 to claim the league title.
When Warriors coach Steve Kerr was asked about the chances of his team going 16-0 in the NBA Finals with a win Friday night, he just chuckled.
"It's really not something I'm thinking about or any of us are thinking about," Kerr told reporters. "At this point, it's just go win then we can savor our championship however we want…I am a big football fan and I always love when Mercury Morris celebrates when the other team that's undefeated finally loses."
However, Kerr does know how special a run his team has been on this playoff season. Back in his playing days with the Michael-Jordan led Bulls, Chicago came into the Finals having only lost a single game to the New York Knicks.
"I remember that well," he said. "We were up 3-0 in the Finals and then we lost the next 2 games in Seattle. It's hard (to go undefeated). In the playoffs, every team is good, particularly as you go deeper. It gets tougher and tougher. So what this team has accomplished is remarkable."
"We've had some good fortune. We've stayed healthy. Every year is different and we know that. So far things have gone our way."
During the Bulls run, was there a sense of how difficult it was?
"You don't really stop and think about it until after," he said. "So that team just played. I think we swept Orlando in the (Eastern) conference finals which was our biggest accomplishment…In the end you just want to win."
Just how hard is it to go 16-0 during a playoff run?
The Pittsburgh Penguins won 14 straight Stanley Cup playoff games in 1992-1993, the New York Yankees won 12 in a row in both 1998-1999 and 1927-1932 and the New England Patriots won 10 straight from 2002-2006.
While the playoff win streak has re-written the NBA record book, as usual the Warriors are threatening a number of other records.
Their playoff point differential of 16.1 points is the best ever for an NBA team. The `1971 Milwaukee Bucks had a 14.5-point differential and the 2001 Los Angeles Lakers had a 12.8-point differential.
With a win Friday night, Golden State also would tie the 2001 Lakers with eight consecutive playoff road wins in a single season.