Would the 1995-96 Bulls Have Lost to This Year's Lakers?

The Golden State Warriors fell to 55-6 after an explicable loss to the woeful Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday. Few expected Steve Kerr & Co. to finish the year 77-5 but stumbling against the second-worst team in the NBA is a bit of a shocker, especially for a team whose fiercest opponent this year has been a ghost.

As the Warriors chase the 1995-96 Bulls’ historic 72-win season, the comparisons between the two teams have been ubiquitous and as reliable as the Splash Brothers from long distance. Almost all of the data points to date have been focused on the positive. Yesterday’s stinker necessitates coming off the peaks and down into the valleys.

Would those Bulls have lost to a team previously 12-51 on the season? Did they ever play down to — or lower than — the level of competition? Was their bad ever as bad as Golden State’s?

Eight of the 10 teams the Bulls lost to that year finished with a .500 or above record.

• Orlando Magic 60-22
• Seattle SuperSonics 64-18
• Indiana Pacers (twice) 52-30
• Phoenix Suns 41-41
• Miami Heat 42-40
• New York Knicks 47-35
• Charlotte Hornets 41-41

The Bulls dropped a road game to Denver (35-47) on Feb. 4. The Nuggets came into that contest with a 18-26 record. But the true albatross came in Canada against the Raptors on March 24. Toronto squeaked out a 109-108 victory despite entering 17-49. The improbable upset did not inspire improved play and the Raptors finished 21-61.

Through 61 games this season the Warriors have lost six games. Three have come against sub-.500 teams and only two have come against teams currently holding a playoff position.

• Milwaukee Bucks 26-37
• Dallas Mavericks 33-30 (6th in the West)
• Denver Nuggets 25-38
• Detroit Pistons 32-31
• Portland Trail Blazers 33-31 (7th in the West)
• Los Angeles Lakers 13-51

It becomes immediately apparent that while the Warriors may be slightly outpacing the 95-96 Bulls in the overall record department (55 wins through 61 games vs. 54 wins), they are dropping games to inferior opponents much more frequently.

Consider the average winning percentage of teams that defeated each:

1995-96 Bulls: .554

2015-16 Warriors: .426

The evidence suggests what happened on Sunday –while surprising– isn’t a total outlier in a season where the Warriors have taken care of business against elite teams and dropped the ball against some middling clubs.

It’s not unreasonable to suggest that Michael Jordan’s Bulls wouldn’t have suffered an 17-point defeat at the hands of a team as weak as this year’s Lakers. On the other hand, the stats can be used to show that Golden State is taking care of business against the NBA’s best at an even more impressive rate than the Bulls did.

What’s perhaps even more interesting is that while this debate is going on, San Antonio now sits just 2.5 games behind the Warriors with two games (one at home and one in Golden State) against them to play. There’s a realistic chance the Spurs end up with a better regular season record with a fraction of the attention.