Roundtable: 70 wins a possibility?
SI.com NBA writers will analyze the latest news and address hot topics from around the league each week.
1. The 1995-96 Bulls (72-10) are the only team in NBA history to win at least 70 regular-season games. What's your early read on the Lakers' chances of reaching that milestone? How about the Celtics'?
Ian Thomsen: I don't see it as being important to the Celtics. As impressive as they've been overall, they've embarked on a bad trend this season of falling behind early in games and that is going to result in a few losses along the way. I see the Celtics making a priority of keeping Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen fresh and healthy going into the playoffs. Doc Rivers is likely to follow the example of Gregg Popovich's approach to pacing his team through the regular season, even if it means sacrificing a game or two.
The Lakers are too young to pull it off. That Bulls team was a highly professional and committed group that focused on the job each night. These Lakers around Kobe Bryant haven't even won a championship yet, so they have too much to learn before they can think of becoming the most dominant team of them all. The Lakers are very impressive and they have the game's best player, but let's wait until February or March and see how healthy they (and their rivals) are before we begin comparing them to the most accomplished teams.
Marty Burns: It's about as likely to happen as, say, your Thanksgiving turkey getting up and walking off the table. The Lakers have the size and depth to make a good run at it, but not the mental toughness (other than Kobe) to get all the way to 70. The Celtics have the mental toughness, but not the size and depth.
The NBA season is just too long for any team not led by Michael Jordan to win every game night in and night out in the dog days of February and March. We should know this by now. We've seen the Suns, Pistons and Celtics get off to similar red-hot starts in recent years only to fall way short of that magic 70 barrier.
Jack McCallum: Neither will come within 10 games of reaching it. Not only were the Bulls blessed with having the all-time assassin, Jordan, bent on reaching a record level of wins, but the team was also extraordinarily lucky in terms of injuries. Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Toni Kukoc, Steve Kerr and Ron Harper missed only a few games among them, and Dennis Rodman was fine in between suspensions. We are now in an era when players inevitably break down, and somewhere along the line this will happen to Boston or L.A.
Chris Mannix: Winning 70 games in the NBA is like winning 116 in baseball (done twice) or running the regular-season table in the modern-day NFL (also done twice). It's tough even under the best of cir stances. There is no question that the Lakers are the cream of the crop right now: They have size (Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom), skill (Kobe) and a deep bench that enables them to stay in games even when their top players are struggling. But the West is just too tough for them to crack the 70-win barrier.
While the Celtics are the class of the East, they have been in a lot of close games early in the season. And the the age of their stars -- Paul Pierce, 31, Kevin Garnett, 32, and Ray Allen, 33 -- makes them susceptible to injury. This season will eventually prove to be more challenging than 2007-2008, when Boston won 66 games.
Steve Aschburner: I doubt the Lakers or anyone else will win 70 games because this isn't an expansion year. When Chicago won 72 games in 1995-96, Vancouver and Toronto were brand-new entries and absorbed 125 losses (the Grizzlies and the Raptors were a combined 1-5 against the Bulls). Several existing teams were inept, too, with Philadelphia (64), Milwaukee (57), Dallas (56) and Minnesota (56) all losing more than two-thirds of their games. Yet against that backdrop, only six teams besides the Bulls won at least 50.
Put simply, there are more good teams now. Last season, 11 teams won 50 or more. I expect 10 or 11 to do it again this year. Meanwhile, the bottom-feeders are getting better; of the seven teams that lost 56 or more last season, four -- New York, Milwaukee, Miami and Minnesota -- could push toward or past 30 victories. From there, all it takes is the wrong combination of back-to-backs and one semiserious injury to derail a club hoping for 70.
It certainly seems possible IMO. I see the Lakers blowing out teams like the Suns and Nets even w/ Pau scoring 4 v Suns and Kobe going 5-17 and scoring 12 v the Nets. Teams would be lucky to win a game with their stars playing like that, let alone BLOW the opposition out.
That being said, it's an 82 game season. Winning 70 means youre an all time great team. And while I think the Lakers are good, their roster doesn't give off the vibe of "all time great". They're too young, and too soft IMO.
Dallas almost scored 70 wins in 2006 so if they can do it then this Lakers team certain can pull it off.
70 wins is not out of the question but I'll like to see more wins before predicting that they will win 70. This lakers team is the deepest Lakers team that I have ever seen. If healthy the sky's the limit. Like the Bulls, they have the best player in the league and the coaches who coached that Bulls team that won 72 games. Phil appears to have the Lakers focused on playing at a top level every night.
Here's a comment by Randy Brown a member of that 72 win Bulls team.
http://www.nba.com/2008/news/feature...123/index.html
Western Conference Insider: Lakers resemble '95-96 Bulls
By Dave McMenamin, NBA.com
Posted Nov 24 2008 6:26PM
Sacramento Kings assistant coach Randy Brown knows what a 70-win NBA team looks like.
He was on one.
Or should I say, he was on it, because the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls are the lone team in league history to reach the 70-win plateau during their record-setting 72-10 season.
You might remember Brown, a role player who wore No. 0 on the Bulls' 1996-98 championship team, for trying to wrestle the game ball away from Michael Jordan after Chicago downed Seattle in Game 6 of the 1996 NBA Finals.
"I went for that ball," Brown told me before his Kings played the Lakers on Sunday. "It's Toni Kukoc's fault. I told him to give me the ball and as you can see, Michael and I are running for it and then it hit me: It's Father's Day, let the guy have the ball. So, I let it go. He was destined for it, so it was no big deal."
With a 118-108 win over Sacramento, Los Angeles pushed its record to 11-1, moving ahead of Chicago's pace in '95-96. The Bulls started their season 10-2, losing to the Sonics on Nov. 26 before going on a 13-game winning streak to set their record at 23-2 by Christmas.
Only seven out of the Lakers' next 16 games leading up to their Finals rematch against Boston on Dec. 25 are against teams with .500 records or better.
Brown thinks that this Lakers team with a clean shaven Zen Master and No. 24 running the show can match the feat accomplished 12 years ago by the bearded coach and No. 23.
"Of course Phil [Jackson] is down there, but they are a little more talented than we were when I played for the Bulls," Brown said. "At the same time, the NBA is getting some parity. There are a lot of teams out there that are good ... hopefully if they stay injury free, maybe they can get there.
"But 70 games to win in the NBA is a lot of games now because so many teams are good at home. Some teams are getting good now, the East is catching up with the West and the West is going to be strong for some years to come. It's a long season, anything can happen.
The Lakers aren't reveling in their torrid start. While L.A.'s average point differential through the first dozen games is a league best +13.25 (the Bulls' was +9.2 through 12 games in '95-96) there was hardly a feeling of "mission accomplished" in the locker room on Sunday after the Lakers allowed 108 points to a 5-10 Kings team. It was just the third time all season that the newly defensive minded L.A. squad let up 100 points or more to its opponent.
"All we're worried about is the Lakers," Lamar Odom said. "We're not worried about what any other team is doing. We're not concerned with any other uniform or any other organization but the Lakers."
Jackson echoed his sixth man's sentiments when asked if the Bulls' record was on his team's radar.
"We're not thinking about anything at all besides the next game," Jackson said. "New Jersey, they're on a streak, we have to play one game at a time and see what it brings. We have a home stretch here where it's really important to take advantage of this."
By not acknowledging the hot start, the Lakers are actually taking the same approach that the Bulls did over a decade ago.
"I'd be lying if we said we [made 70 wins our goal]," Brown said. "It never was a focus of ours. It never was a team goal. It's funny, I think when we got to 68, 69, Phil Jackson started chirping, 'Why not go ahead and win 70,' but, we were just in a groove. Michael was on a mission and we had a bunch of players that played their role. Like I said, we had no idea that we were going to win 70 games but at some point, after winning so many games in a row, we felt like we could get there. It was a memorable season."
While Brown and the Bulls didn't dwell on 70 wins when they were in the moment, the former 12-year vet with Sacramento, Chicago, Boston and Phoenix now has plenty of time to reflect on it.
"I think about it everyday and I think about how much I didn't take advantage of it because I thought that team would go on forever," Brown said. "After three championships, we thought we could win four, thought we could win five, but, Michael retires, Phil leaves town and next thing you know, there's no more Bulls. I tell the stories to the guys everyday, it was a great time in my life."
I am not even thinking 70 wins, although this Laker team is capable of winning at least 60. Team health is more important. I think the Laker detractors don't realize how committed the team is this year. They proved to be the best of the west last season and this year Bynum and Ariza are back from the injured list. Kobe doesn't need Shaq to win a le, the rest of his teammates more than make up for the Big Diesel.
whats the point of winning 70 games if you cant win when it matters....
Where is Allanon ?
This is getting really irritating now. This happened to the 2005-06 Pistons, 2006-07 Mavs, and now the 2008-09 Lakers. They will not win 70 games this year. I am sure of it.
Won't happen.
hi rockets fan70 wins is not out of the question but I'll like to see more wins before predicting that they will win 70. This lakers team is the deepest Lakers team that I have ever seen. If healthy the sky's the limit. Like the Bulls, they have the best player in the league and the coaches who coached that Bulls team that won 72 games. Phil appears to have the Lakers focused on playing at a top level every night.
Here's a comment by Randy Brown a member of that 72 win Bulls team.
http://www.nba.com/2008/news/feature...123/index.html
Western Conference Insider: Lakers resemble '95-96 Bulls
By Dave McMenamin, NBA.com
Posted Nov 24 2008 6:26PM
Sacramento Kings assistant coach Randy Brown knows what a 70-win NBA team looks like.
He was on one.
Or should I say, he was on it, because the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls are the lone team in league history to reach the 70-win plateau during their record-setting 72-10 season.
You might remember Brown, a role player who wore No. 0 on the Bulls' 1996-98 championship team, for trying to wrestle the game ball away from Michael Jordan after Chicago downed Seattle in Game 6 of the 1996 NBA Finals.
"I went for that ball," Brown told me before his Kings played the Lakers on Sunday. "It's Toni Kukoc's fault. I told him to give me the ball and as you can see, Michael and I are running for it and then it hit me: It's Father's Day, let the guy have the ball. So, I let it go. He was destined for it, so it was no big deal."
With a 118-108 win over Sacramento, Los Angeles pushed its record to 11-1, moving ahead of Chicago's pace in '95-96. The Bulls started their season 10-2, losing to the Sonics on Nov. 26 before going on a 13-game winning streak to set their record at 23-2 by Christmas.
Only seven out of the Lakers' next 16 games leading up to their Finals rematch against Boston on Dec. 25 are against teams with .500 records or better.
Brown thinks that this Lakers team with a clean shaven Zen Master and No. 24 running the show can match the feat accomplished 12 years ago by the bearded coach and No. 23.
"Of course Phil [Jackson] is down there, but they are a little more talented than we were when I played for the Bulls," Brown said. "At the same time, the NBA is getting some parity. There are a lot of teams out there that are good ... hopefully if they stay injury free, maybe they can get there.
"But 70 games to win in the NBA is a lot of games now because so many teams are good at home. Some teams are getting good now, the East is catching up with the West and the West is going to be strong for some years to come. It's a long season, anything can happen.
The Lakers aren't reveling in their torrid start. While L.A.'s average point differential through the first dozen games is a league best +13.25 (the Bulls' was +9.2 through 12 games in '95-96) there was hardly a feeling of "mission accomplished" in the locker room on Sunday after the Lakers allowed 108 points to a 5-10 Kings team. It was just the third time all season that the newly defensive minded L.A. squad let up 100 points or more to its opponent.
"All we're worried about is the Lakers," Lamar Odom said. "We're not worried about what any other team is doing. We're not concerned with any other uniform or any other organization but the Lakers."
Jackson echoed his sixth man's sentiments when asked if the Bulls' record was on his team's radar.
"We're not thinking about anything at all besides the next game," Jackson said. "New Jersey, they're on a streak, we have to play one game at a time and see what it brings. We have a home stretch here where it's really important to take advantage of this."
By not acknowledging the hot start, the Lakers are actually taking the same approach that the Bulls did over a decade ago.
"I'd be lying if we said we [made 70 wins our goal]," Brown said. "It never was a focus of ours. It never was a team goal. It's funny, I think when we got to 68, 69, Phil Jackson started chirping, 'Why not go ahead and win 70,' but, we were just in a groove. Michael was on a mission and we had a bunch of players that played their role. Like I said, we had no idea that we were going to win 70 games but at some point, after winning so many games in a row, we felt like we could get there. It was a memorable season."
While Brown and the Bulls didn't dwell on 70 wins when they were in the moment, the former 12-year vet with Sacramento, Chicago, Boston and Phoenix now has plenty of time to reflect on it.
"I think about it everyday and I think about how much I didn't take advantage of it because I thought that team would go on forever," Brown said. "After three championships, we thought we could win four, thought we could win five, but, Michael retires, Phil leaves town and next thing you know, there's no more Bulls. I tell the stories to the guys everyday, it was a great time in my life."
After watching the Laker games this season, I now realize that I was wrong about the Lakers winning 70 games.
I don't really care about 70 wins either but I do think this team is capable of winning 70. They are by far heads and shoulders above the compe ion. Injuries will be the key.
What's up, Inchworm?
They won't get to 70 wins. People forget that back down the NBA was kind of lopsided in terms of parity. There is alot more parity in the NBA now. Before all is said and done the Hornets,Spurs,Blazers,Suns,Jazz will have an impact on who gets to the Finals.
Why ? you think now that it will be 75 ?
Not much buddy. You been doing alright? Haven't seen you too much lately. You been able to keep in touch with any of the old FWST posters, like island_dude or maloof or anyone?
I dont care if we win 70 games or not iall i think about is that championship parade in june!!
and for that article that lakeshow posted...
There have been a plethora of teams with more OFFENSIVE talent than the 96 Bulls (which is exactly what these Lakers have). Doesn't mean anything. What made them special was their gritty versatile defense and rebounding, smart offensive desicion making, and an unsurpassed mental toughness (none of which this Lakers team come remotely close to the Bulls in having, ESPECIALLY the defense, rebounding and mental toughness). Not to mention having the greatest player in NBA history, Michael Jordan (which there are also other players more offensively talented and gifted than him, such as Kobe, Lebron, and T-Mac, but it likewise doesn't mean crap). The small intangibles that Jordan and those 96 Bulls had were greater than any player and team in NBA history, which is why they are the greatest team ever.
Absolutely not. 70 wins? Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom? No.
This Lakers team is one of the least intimidating teams in the NBA.
teams that start off this well are always subject to 70 win talk. but the modest thing to do is to wait until feb/march/april.
Why ? you think now that it will be 75 ?
Yes, you're right there, Lakers are #1 in offense
ESPECIALLY the defense
Lakers are #1 in Defense as of right now
rebounding
Lakers are #3, just a couple of ticks away from #1 Dallas. With the Lakers length, rebounding should never be an issue.
and mental toughness.
The Lakers are off to a better start than Jordan's Bulls/Dirk's Mavs through 13 games. Their 14 point win margin is 1/3 higher than Jordan's Bulls and almost double the Celtics win Margin in last year's 66 win season.
Lakers right now are #1 in offense AND defense
Kobe can have a bad night and the Lakers still blow out a decent team by 29 points
Most importantly
Celtics are on pace for 66-67 wins. The Lakers want HCA so they'll probably NEED 70 wins to get HCA. It's also possible that the Celtics (also looking for HCA) will hit the 70 win mark.
The Celtics LAST YEAR could have won 70 games, but they coasted at the end to save their starters since they had locked up HCA. But this year, locking up HCA throughout the Playoffs might take 82 games to decide.
There might be TWO 70 win teams this season. That's why I think the Lakers can do it, it's not so much a luxury but a necessity.
I ain't getting into that debate again.Not to mention having the greatest player in NBA history, Michael Jordan
Last edited by Allanon; 11-26-2008 at 01:20 PM.
It wouldnt suprise me if the Lakers win 70 games.
That team is ridiculously stacked.
4 peat in the making
Probably won't happen, but it's not impossible. Health permitting, there are only a handful of teams that can really challenge them from game to game, Boston, Cleveland, maybe a healthy Houston team, a healthy Spurs team, and maybe Phoenix if both Amare and Shaq are playing well. But, that's just challenging them. Doesn't mean they'd beat the Lakers.
If they don't have any major injuries or letdowns against ty teams, they could win 70 games. Still unlikely, but very much possible.
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