The 2017 Golden State Warriors and the 1996 Chicago Bulls are two championship-winning teams that stand out above the others in NBA history. Michael Jordan, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Scottie Pippen, Klay Thompson, Dennis Rodman, and Draymond Green are just a few of the Hall of Fame names and big-game players on the list.
The first time the 2017 Warriors and 1996 Bulls comparison came into existence was when Curry was questioned by a fan about the team’s strategy for taking on the Jordan-led Bulls. Curry responded by saying: “Obviously, we will never know, but you put us on paper with them, I like our chances. I’d say Dubs in six, too.”
The baby-faced assassin seemed confident because Curry’s Warriors had the easiest path to the Larry O’Brien trophy in 2017. With 15 straight victories, they breezed through the tournament. In the finals, they only lost one game against the Cavaliers before sweeping them to claim their second title in three years.
Only the Jordan-led ’96 Bulls would be the team that had the strength and guts to compete head-to-head with those Warriors. MJ never backed down from a challenge, and after hearing Curry’s remarks, he probably would have made the fight extremely personal.
Gilbert Arenas, a former all-star for Golden State, doubts that the 2017 Dubs have what it takes to defeat the Jordan-led Chicago Bulls. As per Arenas, the excellence of the 1990s Bulls team and Michael Jordan’s singularity, would not have been any simpler to overcome.
In a recent interview with VladTV, Arenas responded to Steph Curry’s assertion that the 2017 Warriors would have defeated the 1998 Bulls squad “by a dub.” According to the three-time All-Star, Jordan would never have been defeated by Golden State. Arenas said that when MJ was pushed to his limits, he was defeating Dream Team opponents by himself. Arenas also said, “He’s the different breed. He’s a different mindset.”
The NBA veteran said the 1998 Chicago Bulls depended on their defense, but the 2017 Golden State Warriors were an offensively-focused squad. Arenas acknowledged that the Warriors were capable of playing defense. But he believed that finding a strategy to stop Michael Jordan would have been the biggest obstacle.
The host of the show interrupted saying that LeBron was successfully stopped on three occasions by the Warriors’ defense. The 40-year-old replied, “Yeah, Michael Jordan’s different. That’s just a different type of motor.”
