Steph Curry's Warriors have equaled the 72-10 Bulls, Tiger Woods-style

By Andrew Lynch
Published

While we were all busy paying attention to the Super Bowl and Daniel Bryan's recent retirement from the WWE, the Golden State Warriors were out here quietly making history. 

The Warriors have matched the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls' regular season record of 72 wins over an 82-game stretch — although in a manner that would make Tiger Woods proud.

Naturally, Golden State has yet to win 72 games in a full season. At 47-4 headed into Wednesday's action, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and the rest of the Warriors still have some work to do to tie or surpass Michael Jordan's Bulls for that all-time mark. Instead, the Warriors' current record is more of a "Tiger Slam" thing (that is, when Tiger Woods won four consecutive golf majors in 2000 and 2001, but not in the same season).

Like Woods, Golden State's streak dates back to last season and stretches over the course of 12 months, rather than a distinct season — and it's actually a run that Golden State has been on for a little while now, with each new win replacing a win that dropped off from the genesis of the streak.

With a win over the Knicks on Jan. 31, the Warriors moved to 72-10 in their past 82 games at that point. Ditto with the following three wins. And that will still be the case assuming Golden State takes care of the Suns on Wednesday. 

After the All-Star break, Golden State will have an opportunity to surpass the Bulls, at least unofficially. Beating the Blazers in the first game back from the All-Star break would move the Warriors to 73-9 in their most recent 82 games.

It's not the first time we've talked about the Warriors potentially breaking a record with their performance over the past two seasons, and there's certainly plenty of room for debate about whether this "record" holds any meaning. One thing's for sure, though: If the Warriors do beat the Blazers next week to move to 49-4 in 2015-16 (and "73-9" for the past "year"), they'll be in fine position to make this whole win-total thing official.