It all came down to one final game. The Golden State Warriors are about to etch their name in NBA history.
Winning 72 wins is no mean feat-only one team has done it before them and they have been immortalized. Now, the Warriors have a chance to break that record against the hapless Memphis Grizzlies.
The Warriors have had the closest thing to a perfect season this year but their work is not done-they have to win the championship like the '96 Bulls did. But for the regular season, the experts have spoken.
An ESPN Insider feature has analytics expert Kevin Pelton taking on the question of which team is better. If the Warriors beat the Grizzlies (which is most likely) they will have the better record. (The question is not about which team will beat the other head-to-head, but which team is better overall).
However, Pelton points out that the Bulls were more dominant in terms of winning margins. The Bulls were the stronger defensive team and they beat opponents by a margin of 12.2 points against the Warriors 10.6 points.
The question then moved to the quality of each team's opponents. Pelton points out that the Bulls' feat was done at the end of a stretch when the NBA went from 23 teams to 29, meaning there were about 6 teams that were relatively not as competitive. Since then, there was only one other team that entered the NBA-the Charlotte Bobcats (now Hornets) which has Michael Jordan, the leader of the 96 Bulls as its majority owner.
The implication is that the Warriors are playing in a more competitive league, as compared to the Bulls. They achieved a better record than the Bulls over more quality opposition. Pelton put on the math and based adjusted the Bulls win margin factoring in the quality of opposition and the point differential would be reduced to 10.1, slightly lower than the Warriors 10.6.
While this is not, by any means a definitive metric, the debate on whether which era is better may be settled. The Warriors won more when the league is more competitive. However, they still have to win the championship. If not, the achievement of 73-9, while remarkable, would be dubious.
CBC Sports also ran a head-to-head statistical category comparison. Both teams were at the top in offensive efficiency and points per game but they differed in points allowed with the Bulls at 2nd and the Warriors 19th. It clearly shows the contrast that the Warriors outscore their opponents and take them on in a shootout, which shows in their pace-the Warriors are 2nd and the Bulls are 20th.
There would be no way to answer this and the jury is out on the Warriors on whether they would win the title and also on how impressive their path will be. But with a 73-9 record (Update: the Warriors have beaten the Memphis Grizzlies as of this writing) we have witnessed the best regular season performance in NBA history.