The Chicago Bulls' record-setting 72-10 campaign won't be topped this season.
At least that's what Phil Jackson said Wednesday, and he'd probably know a thing or two about such success. He was the Bulls' coach when they set the NBA standard for victories in 1995-96.
It didn't even seem like he was inspiring the team with a publicly delivered "us-against-them" tactic. He might have just been telling the truth, at least from his perspective.
"I don't think there's any chance that we're going to get anywhere close to 70 wins," he said. "I'm not going to say that we can't win 60, but I don't think that there's a chance [at 70] -- and that's if everything goes well health-wise. Traveling in the West is just too difficult. Changing time zones, it just makes it very difficult to be consistent night in and night out on the road."
"Chicago is smack-dab in the middle, so the travel time isn't as big as going from the West Coast all the way to the East Coast. It's a three-hour trip either way you look at it," Bryant said Wednesday. "Those players are more well-rested, have more energy, better legs. It'll be extremely difficult for any team to do that now, particularly a team that's on the West Coast."
For what it's worth, Jackson also didn't think Boston (18-2) or Cleveland (15-3) would hit 70 victories.
"That would be a pretty difficult task," he said.
I partly agree with the time zone, but I disagree with the part where it says the Bulls would be more well-rested, have more energy and better legs. We were the oldest team in the league that year, so I don't see how we would have been more rested. Also we had nagging injuries all year and even suspensions.
