JulesWinnfield wrote:JordansBulls wrote:PaulieWal wrote:The Warriors are a GOAT level team and they know it. It's like when a pretty girl knows she's really pretty. They are about to make history by capping off a 73 win season to win the title and go down as the single season GOAT team in the eyes of many people (including mine). They are very different from the Spurs for example. The SPurs never get into off-court drama and just prefer to kill you on the court. Warriors are in the Cavs and LeBron's head IMO and they know it too. Actually I take that back. I don't know if they are in their heads but they do know that they are a bad match-up for the Cavs and have their number.
Once you combine season and playoffs they aren't. If they win tomorrow they will be 89-15 and Chicago 87-13 once you include Season and playoffs. Also Chicago had a higher SRS rating and point differential. But I see what you are saying, just can't say a team that was down in a year one game from elimination needing to win 3 games in a row just to win a series is the single season GOAT team. As none of the all time great teams in 1983 Sixers, 1971 Bucks, 1972 Lakers, 1986 Celtics, 1987 Lakers, 1996 Bulls were down in series 3-1. Heck none of them lost more than twice in a series.
Tough to talk about those Bulls without mentioning they benefitted majorly from a league that expanded way too fast way too soon without the foreign talent pool which came later to help aid growth. The fact that the league added 6 new teams in the 6-7 years prior to that Bulls 2nd 3-peat absolutely aided them. That team had a clearly post peak Jordan and Pippen when they did what they did. Time has treated that team well (in addition to General MJ worship), because I'm old enough to remember how in the moment most people didn't even view them as better than the 86 Celts team or 87 Lakers from a decade earlier even on their way to an inflated and expansion aided 72.
I have no interest in the Bulls/Warriors debate, but only chimed in as someone who also watched the '96 Bulls in real time to agree that it wasn't until the passage of time that they became considered the GOAT team (though not unanimously), because at the time they were establishing the record people weren't saying they were thee greatest team ever (or even the best Bulls team ever). Which also means that—by the same standard—whatever people think about the Warriors either way right now, in 5-10 years all anyone will remember is that the '16 Warriors won 73 games and the title as it looks like they're going to. So they'll be the GOAT team. (Not to mention the fact that Jordan will mean even less to basketball fans in 5-10 years than he does now, when we already have a generation of fans who never saw Jordan play with the Bulls.)
