Mathematically Speaking, Warriors In Good Shape To Break 1995-'96 Bulls' 72-Win Record
(CBS) The Golden State Warriors moved to 44-4 with a win against the Knicks in Madison Square Garden on Sunday night. That mark matches the best start for any team in NBA history, as the 1966-'67 76ers also had the same record through 48 games.
That's not who the Warriors are really chasing, though. Their eyes are on breaking the 72-win mark set by the 1995-'96 Bulls.
The Warriors haven't been shy about their desire to chase down the '95-'96 Bulls, realizing that this is a once-in-a-lifetime chase to be had.
So can they do it? Only time will tell, but here's what the Warriors have going for them lately.
-- Through 48 games, those Bulls were 43-5, so the Warriors are currently one game ahead of the the '96 Bulls' pace. Golden State is on pace to go 75-7 right now.
-- The Warriors are 22-0 at home and haven't lost a regular-season game at Oracle Arena since Derrick Rose hit a last-second jumper to give the Bulls a 113-111 overtime win on Jan. 27, 2015. Moving forward, Golden State has 19 home games left and 15 road games left. If you project the Warriors' home dominance to a 40-1 mark at season's end -- an attainable mark, as some are talking about an undefeated home campaign altogether -- they would need to go 11-4 the rest of the way on the road to get to 73 wins. If they go undefeated at home, they'd need to go 10-5 the rest of the way on the road to set the single-season wins record. They've gone 22-4 so far on the road.
-- The Warriors wrap up an East Coast road trip with a road game against the struggling Wizards on Wednesday, a game they'll play after two straight off days. After that, they have one more tough, long road trip left, as they play six straight away from home from Feb. 19-27. This is the stretch most likely to give Golden State trouble, as dates with the Los Angeles Clippers and Oklahoma City await.
-- Two of Golden State's three remaining games against San Antonio, which boasts the league's second-mark record, come in the season's final week. If the Warriors have home-court advantage locked up by then -- they're currently 4.5 games clear of the Spurs -- you could see Gregg Popovich sit many of his starters to perhaps punt one of those games, knowing rest and the keeping of matchup secrets is more important for a potential Western Conference finals series. In other words, the Warriors could be playing for history while the Spurs don't much care in the season's final week.
-- The combined winning percentage of the 34 foes left on Golden State's schedule is .515. The three games left against San Antonio is why that number tips over .500. Take away the final two matchups against San Antonio, and that opponents' winning percentage falls to .485.
-- The Warriors have lost four games. The first came in double overtime on the final night of a seven-game road trip following a double-overtime loss the night before and late-night plane flight. The second came with Steph Curry sitting out. The third came with Draymond Green sitting out. The fourth came when the Pistons completely outplayed them.
Currently, the Warriors are back to full strength.
-- The Warriors are outscoring opponents by 12.7 points per 100 possessions, another sign of dominance that shows they haven't achieved much of their lofty mark based in any way on luck.
