The Golden State Warriors won 73 games during the NBA’s 2016 season and had a chance to become the greatest team in the league’s history. However, they ended up blowing a 3-1 series lead to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Finals and went home empty-handed.
Despite not winning the title, the Warriors still ended up in the record books as the best regular season team in league history, surpassing Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls, who won 72 games in 1996. According to Jordan, however, the Warriors’ feat is worthless because they didn’t win the chip. And MJ didn’t just tell reporters that. He said it to the Warriors team owner Joe Lacob’s face.
“People were drinking, having a good time and all that. But there was a moment where [Jordan] said, ‘You know, 73 don’t mean …'” Lacob said. “He did it. Michael Jordan did that. And I looked at him, and I just decided not to, you know, make a big deal of it. I said, ‘You know, you’re right? We didn’t win it. We had to get better. He’s fantastic, and I’m not going to cross him. But that kind of hurt, you know?”
Of course, it hurts Joe
The Warriors were one win away from winning it all that season, and with a 3-1 lead, they had the Cleveland Cavaliers down to their last breath. However, Draymond Green foolishly hit LeBron James with a groin shot that earned him a flagrant foul. Because he had exceeded the flagrant foul threshold, the league had no choice but to suspend him for the next game, which, unfortunately, was the crucial Game 5.
Cleveland went on to win that game and proceeded to win Games 6 and 7 to complete the most dramatic comeback in NBA Finals history. The Cavs became the first team to return from a 1-3 series deficit to win the NBA championship. That championship was also the first in Cavaliers history.
Winning the NBA title wouldn’t have only cemented the 2016 Dubs as the best team in NBA history, but it would have given them back-to-back titles since they won it all in 2015. And if Kevin Durant still came to Golden State, they would have become the first team since the ’60s Celtics to win four straight championships. But it was not meant to be, and that had to hurt badly.
The 1996 Bulls are still the best team in NBA history
You can argue that several teams are the greatest in the history of the NBA. But when it comes to winning, the 1996 Chicago Bulls are still the best team in the history of the NBA.
That year was pure domination for Michael Jordan and the Bulls as they posted a historic 72-10 season. Chicago then lost only three games in the 1996 playoffs, including two to the Seattle Supersonics in the championship round. Jordan won the All-Star Game MVP, Finals MVP, and NBA MVP awards, and Toni Kukoc the Sixth Man of the Year award. Meanwhile, Phil Jackson was named Coach of the Year and Jerry Krause Executive of the Year.
In 2016, Steph Curry won his second straight MVP award for the Warriors, while Steve Kerr was named the league’s Coach of the Year winner. However, after saying that his Warriors were ‘light years ahead’ of the NBA late during the regular season, Joe Lacob’s team suffered an epic collapse in the NBA Finals, putting all of their other accomplishments that year to naught.