Ahead of the Warriors‘ game against the Hornets on Saturday, head coach Steve Kerr took some time to reflect on the glory days. Specifically, he was asked about 2016 and whether that iconic 73-9 regular-season record will ever be beaten.
“I remember at the time I thought ‘No way,’ and then about a month ago I thought it would be broken,” said Kerr, via Joseph Dycus. “And then about a month ago, and now I don’t think there’s any way anybody’s gonna break it again. It’s such a difficult thing, and Oklahoma City looked like they were on their way to doing it. But the reason it’s so hard is that you have to have good health, you have to have some luck. Most teams probably aren’t gonna push themselves that hard to get there; it’s so difficult. My guess is it won’t be broken.”
The 2015-16 Warriors set a standard for greatness that has yet to be matched. While they did not go on to win the championship that season (losing in the NBA Finals to the Cavaliers), they put together one of the greatest stretches of basketball in league history. Led by Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, the Warriors were unstoppable that season, and their revolutionary playstyle changed the game forever.
In the years that have followed, however, debates have surfaced about when/if that record will be broken. The previous record (72-10 by the 1995-96 Bulls) stood for over two decades, but it was on pace to get broken again this season.
The Thunder were off to a historic start for the first few months, winning 24 out of their first 25 games. It was tied for the best regular-season start ever and included a massive point differential to match (+17.5). They were on track to tie or even beat the Warriors’ iconic record until they took three losses to the Spurs over just two weeks. A blowout loss to the Charlotte Hornets later that month all but ended their chances to finish with 73 wins or higher.
To break the 2016 Warriors’ record now, the Thunder would need to go 38-2 for the rest of the season, a basically impossible task on a schedule that still includes plenty of tough matchups. Even with how dominant the Thunder have been so far, that 2015-16 Dubs team was on a whole different level, and it just goes to show how rare and special that run really was.
Everything had to go right for the Warriors, including good health and lucky breaks throughout the season. Load management was kept to a minimum as guys put in the extra work to make NBA history. In truth, we may never see that kind of dominance again, at least, not for that long. Not even the 73-win Warriors were able to sustain that pace the whole way through (seven losses over the last two playoff series), and the Thunder couldn’t last half the season.
