Could Warriors top Bulls record-setting 72 wins?
The Bulls are celebrating their 50th anniversary this season.
As a tribute to the best season in NBA history, maybe they owe it to their franchise ancestors to win Friday in Golden State.
Heading into Thursday's game against the L.A. Clippers, the defending champion Warriors were 12-0, which makes them a potential threat to the Bulls' NBA record 72 wins, set in 1995-96.
The Warriors can be beat. The Bulls were actually the last visiting team to win a regular-season game at Golden State. They won 113-111 in overtime last Jan. 27 behind 30 points by Derrick Rose.
Rose is questionable for this game with a sprained left ankle. He sat out the Bulls' 103-97 victory over Phoenix on Wednesday, their fourth straight win.
So can the Warriors get to 73 wins?
There's not much argument that point guard Steph Curry is the best player in the game right now. Heading into Thursday's action, last year's MVP was averaging 33.7 points and shooting 52 percent from the field.
Maybe that's the best reason why the Warriors can't win 70 games. Either Curry won't keep up that pace or one injury could knock Golden State off the pace quickly.
After scoring 32 points against the Suns, Bulls guard Jimmy Butler hoped he would get a chance to defend Curry.
"Yep. I look forward to guarding everybody in this league, especially a prime time scorer like him," Butler said, according to csnchicago.com. "So I'll ask coach for that matchup. No disrespect to him but I like that."
Curry's backcourt partner, Klay Thompson, is averaging 15.5 points this season, 6 points below what he scored last year. So there's a plug for the Warriors' versatility, since they're winning while the team's No. 2 star in a shooting slump.
One reason Golden State won't get to 70 is they play such tough competition in the Western Conference. Don't forget, 1995-96 was the Toronto-Vancouver expansion season, so the Bulls got an extra dose of easy wins.
On the other hand, the East was the stronger conference in 1995-96, so it wasn't a totally easy road for the Bulls. And it's possible this year's West isn't as strong as people thought, with teams like New Orleans, Houston and Memphis off to slow starts.
The Bulls got off to a fast start on the circus road trip. They built a 17-point lead in the second quarter at Phoenix, gave it back, but used a strong finish to pull off the win. After the Suns took an 88-87 lead 4:47 remaining, the Bulls answered with a 7-0 run, featuring a dunk by Pau Gasol, 3-pointer from Kirk Hinrich and driving bank by Butler.
Butler put the game away by draining a 3-pointer with 1:08 left, boosting the lead to 7 points. He scored 12 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter on a night when the Bulls' needed a late-game scorer, a role Rose usually accepts.
"It just shows how far I've come and how I've worked on my game to be able to score the ball late," Butler told reporters after the game.
Butler suggested Rose was an inspiration, because he's been telling Butler to shoot the ball more often. Butler hit 11 of 23 shots against the Suns.
"He was phenomenal," Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said after the game. "He just took the game over. Offense, defense, he was guarding the best player. I tried to take him out - he wouldn't let me. He did it all for us in that fourth quarter. It was almost like his energy went up as the game went on in that fourth quarter. That's what big-time performers do."
Backup point guard Aaron Brooks left Wednesday's game with a left hamstring injury in the fourth quarter. He won't play against the Warriors and may miss a few weeks.
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