Why the Warriors Will Break the Record

The Golden State Warriors are going to break the single season win-loss record this year. There, I said it. They will end up 74-8 and march into the playoffs holding the distinction of being the greatest regular season team in NBA history.

Those sentences are difficult to write for a number of reasons. First off, it seems irresponsible to predict a team will win 55 of their next 63 games. That type of streak is near impossible. It means they will find ways to win when they are off, they will avoid major injuries, and they will not let the pressure of approaching legend-status shrink them.

But the main reason it pains me to make such a prediction is because I come from Chicago, Illinois. As a sports fan in Chicago, we have so little in terms of winning. But we did have Michael Jordan. Writing that a team is going to surpass Jordan's Bulls feels like blasphemy. It makes me feel like a traitor. But I'd be lying if I said I don't think the Warriors are going to surpass the mark set by Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, and Co. in their incredible 1995-96 season.

However, one justification that allows me to sleep at night is that, even though the Warriors will take over the single-season wins record, I don't believe they are as great as those Bulls. Could they beat Chicago in a best of seven? Maybe. But a lot of things would have to be in play for this to happen.

First, they would have to play by 2015-16 NBA rules. I understand that Stephen Curry has arguably the greatest shot in NBA history. He is near unguardable due to his mixture of quickness, speed, and devastating accuracy. But it helps that nobody is allowed to even pass gas on anyone else in today's league.

The Bulls had three of the best perimeter defenders ever. Ron Harper, Scottie Pippen, and Jordan each had wingspans well beyond reason. The fact that they could combine their freakish athleticism with a little bit of annoying body contact made it a nightmare to "get hot" against them.

If Curry tried to run off of screens against the '90s Bulls, he'd be hand-checked, subtly pushed off track, hounded. It was simply more difficult to use your quickness as a weapon during an era where defensive players got away with so much more.

While the players could test boundaries in the old NBA, the defenses themselves were limited in a way that would make Golden State's effort to stop the Triangle Offense a herculean challenge. Phil Jackson's Bulls mastered the selfless style of play that the current Warriors utilize long before it was en vogue. They also happened to run this offense with a team that was exclusively 6'6" and above. In the modern NBA, a zone defense (or variation thereof) might be able to withstand some of the quick back-cuts and movement created by Jackson's famous set. But if the Warriors were going to be subject to an old-fashioned "illegal defense" call here and there, look out.

So in the current NBA the Warriors might have a leg up due to their ability to run free from defenses and to set their defenders up in the key however they see fit, but perhaps the largest advantage modern rules would have? Dennis Rodman wouldn't be on the court for more than a minute or two. He'd be ejected by today's rules the first time he sniffed Draymond Green.

One of the Bulls greatest weapons was "the Worm." The most intelligent rebounder since Bill Russell, Rodman once said in an interview that he knew where the ball would bounce when it was still in mid-air. And he could get under anyone's skin. Green would be absolutely lost trying to box out Rodman. He'd be getting pinched, pantsed, and probably kissed. Rodman was the king of finding your biggest pet peeve, doing it, repeating it, getting away with it, and then putting his hands up as if to say, "What are you talking about?" Ask Karl Malone. By the time Rodman finished, his opponent's head was completely out of the game.

But in today's NBA, Rodman would be T'd up before he could kick his first cameraman.

Lastly, as a Chicago die-hard, I'd be remiss to leave out the following sentence: we had Michael Jordan. As trite as that sounds, by 1995-96, he had reached a level where if he wanted to win, he was probably going to. And he always wanted to win. I firmly believe there is something in sports that can't be measured in the winners. Whatever you want to call that — confidence, the "it" factor, swagger — Jordan had more of it than anyone else. He could take over a game in any aspect, and often did.

Look, I don't want to diminish what the Golden State Warriors are accomplishing. If they beat the Bulls, they certainly deserve to be in the debate as the greatest team of all time - and people would not be objectively wrong for proclaiming them as such. I simply believe it's easier to do what they are doing in the modern NBA than it was even 20 years ago.

A body doesn't wear down from constant battering anymore, other teams don't value defensive hustle the way they used to, and the rules themselves were not set up to give the advantage to an offensive powerhouse like Curry's Warriors. Offenses are supposed to have the edge in today's regular season.

Regardless, though, like today's NBA teams, I'll put down my own defensiveness and enjoy the greatness before me, because we really don't get to see it all that often. Deep down inside, the bitter fan would probably cheer if Golden State comes up short, but the true sports fan in me that loves to see excellence thrive won't mind when Steve Kerr, Luke Walton, and co. eclipse a mark I have held so dear for the last 20 years.