Monday, March 05, 2007
Can The Mavs Win 72 Games?
The 72-10 1996 Chicago Bulls. Talk about domination. In a league that possesses a reputation in which a great team must "bring it" in order to beat a crappy one each and every night, I never suspected a team could be in contention to achieve 72 victories again. Let's forget about the fact that if Dallas hadn't lost their first four games of the season, 72 games would be a certainty considering the way this team is playing at the moment.
Currently, the Mavs find themselves 50-9, on a 15-game winning streak. Thus, they would need to finish the season 22-1. In their final 23 games, the Mavs play only 7 teams currently holding a winning record. However, they do only have 9 home games left versus 14 road games. Can they get it down?
Let's take a look at exactly who they have on their remaining schedule.
New Jersey (28-32)
@ LA Lakers (33-27)
@ Golden State (26-35)
Phoenix (46-14)
Boston (17-42)
@ Detroit (37-20)
@ New York (28-33)
@ Cleveland (34-25)
@ Boston (17-42)
@ Atlanta (22-38)
@ NO/Oklahoma City (28-32)
Milwaukee (22-38)
New York (28-33)
@ Phoenix (46-14)
@ Sacramento (27-32)
@ Denver (28-29)
Portland (25-35)
LA Clippers (29-30)
@ Minnesota (26-33)
Utah (40-19)
San Antonio (41-18)
@ Golden State (26-35)
@ Seattle (24-35)
After looking at this schedule it certainly seems like 70 is a more realistic goal, and although nothing is impossible considering how well this Dallas team is playing, 72 seems a bit too difficult. It will be tough to lose only a single game considering they have Phoenix twice, San Ann and Utah once, as well as a six-game road trip. If this team can win between 70 and 73 games and go on to win the NBA Championship I certainly think we could make a case for inserting this team into the top 5 greatest in NBA history. And I am fairly certain if this team ends up with 70 or more wins, Mark Cuban will be the first to blog about why this team is so great.
Can the Mavs equal the 1996 Bulls team with 72 wins? I think they will fall just short, winning 71. How many wins do you think the Mavs will end up with this year?
19 Comments:
I think they'll fall short, but imagine what things would be looking like if they hadn't struggled so much at the start of the year... I mean, they started the year 0-5. How scare is it to think they have won 50 of their last 55 games? WOW.
And for the record, I'll take 68 games, just because they should have the #1 closed to wrapped up as they get closer to the end (4.5 game lead right now), and Avery will give some guys a little rest.
They'll fall just short of 70, but I say it's about 66-68 wins. They won't be able to beat Phoenix twice and Utah and San Antonio are tough games.
They'll fall short IMO. Like twins said, once they have it wrapped up they won't be playing so hard.
Also all there are a lot of @'s on there. I call 67.
actually, at golden state could be a pretty tough game. the warriors have owned the mavs the past season and a half.
The irony is that they aren't even close to a lock to win the Championship like the Bulls were. They better just figure out how to win a 7-game series against the Spurs or Suns.
Sadly I'd haveto say they won't hit 72. 70 though. But man, how does a 38 game winning streak sound? :D
Carl, Mavs-fan
Dan,
They better just figure out how to win a 7-game series against the Spurs or Suns.
Last year they beat both the Spurs and the Suns...What are you talking about?
The Suns were without Stoudemire for that though weren't they?
Anyway, Mavs won't get 72. My beloved Bulls retain the title. Will these current Bulls get to 50? I'm curious what non-Chicagoans think of the 2006-7 Bulls.
I think Charles Barkley is true when he says this year's Bulls are good but need a big man who can score in the post. That is why getting Pau Gasol would have made sense. This team is good but they just shoot jumpers. That never worked for the Mavericks back in the day and it doesn't seem like it will work now for the Bulls.
Dan said...
"The irony is that they aren't even close to a lock to win the Championship like the Bulls were. They better just figure out how to win a 7-game series against the Spurs or Suns."
The Mavs figured out how to beat both these teams last year and while they're obviously better than the Spurs at this point, the Suns might give them some trouble
I'm going to go out on a limb and say the Mavs will end with 53 wins. I feel like that's even less likely than 72.
53 wins? You're being generous.
But honestly, as almost every other commenter has said, I think they'll fall short of 70 wins. Upper 60s is looking good. Still an amazing year. They'll end up losing to my Heat again in the Finals, though. :)
-Darren @ SportsAgentBlog.com
They'll end up losing to my Heat again in the Finals, though.
Keep dreaming, dude. This year, not even 3 Bennett Salvatore clones on every crew can stop the Mavs. Unless they extend D-Wade's 2-foot invisible foul shield to 6 feet.
To answer the question, 69 wins, which is immaterial. They will win 16 games in the playoffs. That's what matters.
Keep dreaming, dude. This year, not even 3 Bennett Salvatore clones on every crew can stop the Mavs. Unless they extend D-Wade's 2-foot invisible foul shield to 6 feet.
HAHAHA. Amazing.
And so true.
What are their chances of having the best record for the last 77 games of the season? What was the Bulls' record during that stretch?
Verdant,
Here are the game-by-game results for that Bulls team. Their first lost occurred in their 6th game of the season. In their last 77 games, the Bulls went 67-10.
After their 5th game this season, the Mavs have gone 50-5. Certainly they will finish with more than 67 wins in their final 77 games of the season, as they will just need to go 18-4.
72 wins? No - I think that one is out of reach and it might not be reached in my lifetime.
70 wins? I think they'll get there, and they will be enshrined as one of the top five single-season teams of all time. Should be an interesting chase.
86 - 16 overall when it's all said and done for the Mavericks. Not the 95-96 Bulls 87 - 13, but still pretty f***ing amazing.
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