As the Golden State Warriors bear down on getting to and breaking the regular-season record of 72 wins set by the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, players on that Bulls team will surely be asked about it. Ron Harper already weighed in, saying on Twitter back in November that those Bulls would sweep this year’s Warriors in a playoff series, and Scottie Pippen has now offered a similar opinion.
In a conversation with Paul Pabst of the ‘Dan Patrick Show’, Pippen said “Bulls in four” when asked about a hypothetical playoff series.
Here’s @PaulPabst and @ScottiePippen. Thx @boomersooner81 for this question… @ATT #GameOn #ad pic.twitter.com/SJrIFAZvvP
— Seton (@HiMyNameIsSeton) April 2, 2016
It’s hardly surprising that Pippen thinks his team from 20 years ago would easily handle the Warriors of this year, since “old school” guys are territorial and want to protect their legacy. But it’s also a far different NBA than it was 20 years ago, particularly in terms of freedom of movement and offensive philosophies, so this year’s Warriors and the Jordan/Pippen-era Bulls would probably have some trouble in the opposite time as they tried to function within the rules of the era. Which era the two teams would square-off in is of course the key question in any sort of hypothetical, video game-style matchup, and that alone seems to render the entire conversation useless in real terms.