Chasing the Bulls: Green helps Warriors fend off Timberwolves
The Bee Sports staff tracks the Warriors’ progress toward breaking the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls’ record 72 wins, using a measuring stick from the past to gauge the present. Here’s where the teams stood 70 games into the season:
WARRIORS
March 21, 2016: Draymond Green had 24 points, nine rebounds and six assists to help the Golden State Warriors narrowly avoid their first two-game skid in nearly a year with a 109-104 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night.
Draymond Green things on @csnauthentic pic.twitter.com/JxKp01iZJi
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) March 22, 2016
Klay Thompson scored 17 points and hit all five of his three-pointers, and the Warriors overcame a second consecutive poor shooting night from Stephen Curry. The reigning MVP missed 11 of his 17 shots, including seven of his nine three-point attempts, but still had 19 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds. He is just 3 of 21 on three-point attempts his past two games.
The Warriors are one game ahead of the Chicago Bulls’ pace when they won 72 games during the 1995-96 season.
Player of the game: Green, who tipped in a missed Curry three-point shot at the end of the first half to give the Warriors a 61-58 lead.
Draymond Green tip-in pic.twitter.com/hPXesAX8N8
— KNBR (@KNBR) March 22, 2016
Quote: “I honestly felt old out there at times.” – Thompson, 26, said of taking on a young and feisty Timberwolves team.
Warriors’ record: 63-7
BULLS
March 30, 1996: Scottie Pippen scored 22 points and Michael Jordan 21 as Chicago defeated the visiting Los Angeles Clippers 106-85. The Bulls clinched at least the second-best season in franchise history.
The Bulls led by 20 points at halftime and were never threatened in the second half. They extended their NBA-record home winning streak to 43 regular-season games, dating to last season.
The Bulls need eight wins in their final 12 games to register the first 70-victory season in NBA history. Their only previous season with 62 or more victories was 1991-92, when they went 67-15 en route to their second of three consecutive titles.
Player of the game: Toni Kucoc, averaging 21 points the past three games, has 16 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Bulls’ record: 62-8.
Compiled by Jeff Caraska from The Associated Press
This story was originally published March 21, 2016 at 9:04 PM with the headline "Chasing the Bulls: Green helps Warriors fend off Timberwolves."