Kobe Bryant wants the Warriors to set the all-time record for wins
Kobe Bryant, probably much to his consternation, never had a chance to chase down the record for the most wins in NBA history. His best Laker teams were usually felled by either stiff regular season competition – like in his first title season in 1999-00 – or when teammates like Shaquille O’Neal or Andrew Bynum were, um, “pacing” themselves. Let’s not even bring up that year spent with Dwight Howard.
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As such, for a man that thinks about these sorts of things, he’ll rue the lost opportunity to down Michael Jordan’s Bulls when it comes to total titles (not that this is Kobe’s fault or in Michael’s defense, but Jordan has an extra ring), and most wins in a season (Bryant’s Lakers topped out at 67 wins).
This is why, with a week and four games to go in the regular season, Kobe Bryant wants these damned whippersnappers from Golden State to win out and go for the NBA record – as currently held by Jordan’s Bulls. Bryant, who will retire next week, wants the Warriors to win 73 games:
GSW would have to win out, for better or worse, in order to top the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls’ record of 72 wins in a season. At 69-9, the team is nicely situated some 3.5 games above the suddenly punchy San Antonio Spurs.
Bryant, an NBA fanatic above all, is merely taking the same strain that most of us have taken since last autumn. It would be fantastic – even for those of us with Chicago alliances – to see the Warriors break a record. In the same way that it has been a marvel to watch this legendary basketball team work in full high-definition in our lifetime.
What we’ve been mindful of, however, is the idea that any push toward a record could leave the Warriors working at less than full strength in May and June, when the team needs to be at its best. A full-out blitz toward the record wouldn’t directly lead into a failing of legs when the defending champs need them most, but it could get in the way of us watching great basketball.
That is to say, “selfish us, we want what we got in January to come back in June.”
The Warriors are aware of this, and in the wake of the team’s only struggle of the season, the team is minding its options. Even Kobe Bryant’s former coach and sometimes combatant Phil Jackson once advised his 1991-92 Chicago Bulls to downshift during the regular season, upping the revolutions but dimming the speed (especially on the defensive end) in anticipation of a second straight championship run. That a chance to topple the 1972 Lakers – a team that downed Jackson’s Knicks in the Finals after winning 69 games – just wasn’t worth it.
Michael Jordan, in 1996, overruled any such thoughts as Chicago thrashed its way toward 72 wins. His closest doppelganger, in his final year, is attempting to influence the Warriors to take the same attitude in the face of what has already been a historic season for his neighbors to the north.
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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops
