{"id":295,"date":"2015-06-17T15:38:22","date_gmt":"2015-06-17T19:38:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sullyonsports.com\/?p=295"},"modified":"2019-06-26T16:52:39","modified_gmt":"2019-06-26T20:52:39","slug":"chef-curry-with-the-ring-boy-the-warriors-are-one-of-the-best-teams-of-all-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sullyonsports.com\/?p=295","title":{"rendered":"Chef Curry with the Ring, Boy: The Warriors Are One of the Best Teams of All-Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Golden State Warriors completed their championship run last night with a 105-97 defeat of the Cleveland Cavaliers. \u00a0Andre Iguodala scored 25 \"67d124e856d72ff6bef91327bf32636f_crop_north\"points, dished out 5 assists and grabbed 5 rebounds on his way to being named Finals MVP. \u00a0Stephen Curry also scored 25 points to go along with 6 rebounds and 8 assists. \u00a0Draymond Green had a triple-double of 16 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists. \u00a0Festus Ezeli, Shaun Livingston, and Harrison Barnes threw in 10 points, 10 points, and 9 points, respectively. \u00a0The team’s depth finally wore out the persistent Cavs, and their lack of depth finally caught up with them. \u00a0However, this should not take away from this simple fact:<\/p>\n

The 2014-15 Golden State Warriors are one of the greatest NBA teams of all time.<\/p>\n

Take this stat that compares this year’s Warriors team to the Bulls team of 1995-96 and 1996-97:<\/p>\n

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Warriors: 83rd win this season, becoming 3rd team in NBA history with at least 83 wins (1995-96 Bulls and 1996-97 Bulls)<\/p>\n

\u2014 ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 17, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There are a couple things to consider here. \u00a0To start, both of those ’90s Bulls teams did not have the benefit a best-of-seven first round series. \u00a0If those teams did have a best-of-seven first round instead of a best-of five, the ’95-’96 team would have won 88 games and the ’96-’97 team would have won 85 games. \u00a0However, two things separates those Bulls from these Warriors: the conference they were in and what they did to their respective competition on their way to The Finals. \u00a0In 1995-96 and 1996-97,\u00a0when the Bulls won 72 and 69 games, respectively, exactly zero teams gave the Bulls trouble on their way to The Finals. \u00a0One team won a game against Chicago in the 1996 Playoffs from the Eastern Conference: the Knicks. \u00a0The Bulls went on to win those Finals in 6 games against one of the more\u00a0underrated NBA teams of all-time, the 1995-96 Seattle SuperSonics. \u00a0The Hawks and Heat each took a game from Chicago in the 1997 Playoffs, and Chicago would go on to defeat the Utah Jazz in 6 games in the Finals.<\/p>\n

Another thing to consider with these three teams is the one common denominator on all of them, as a player and as a coach: Steve Kerr. \u00a0On the late 1990s Bulls, Kerr, the player, was a key bench player who, in his 5 years in Chicago, never started a game. Sound familiar? \u00a0The MVP of this year’s Finals, Andre Iguodala, hadn’t started a game all season until Game 4 of this series, and his insertion into the starting lineup changed the series. \u00a0Like Iguodala, Kerr made big plays when it counted, like this one at the end of the 1997 NBA Finals to give the Bulls their 5th championship:<\/p>\n