LeBron James Comments on Warriors' Pursuit of Bulls' Regular-Season Wins Record
LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers may eventually face off with the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals for the second straight season. For now, however, he's just like everybody else who's waiting to see if the reigning champions can set a new NBA record for regular-season victories.
K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune reported James said Saturday he believes breaking a record is always more impressive when it's stood for an extended period. The 1995-96 Chicago Bulls' record of 72-10 has been the high-water mark in the NBA for two decades.
"Pretty cool" is how James summed up the season-long chase to set the new standard. The Warriors must win each of their remaining three games to accomplish the feat.
"Records are meant to be broken," James said, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN. "That doesn't mean your record that's broken [and] anyone is looking less of you. You have rushing records that are broken. You have home run records that are broken. You have 100-yard dash [times] that are broken. You have all types of records that are broken, but no one ever looks down upon the record that is broken."
The comments come a few days after questions were raised about the Cavs star's interest in the entire spectacle surrounding Golden State. While the Warriors were battling the San Antonio Spurs in a marquee clash Thursday night, the four-time MVP was active on social media.
He wasn't tweeting about the hyped battle between the two Western Conference powerhouses, though. Instead, James was providing his commentary about a playoff game from 1997 between the Utah Jazz and Houston Rockets:
Of course, everything James talks about right now becomes headline news. His future has come under intense speculation in recent weeks following a drama-filled season in Cleveland that included the firing of head coach David Blatt.
The Cavaliers have remained atop the Eastern Conference despite the turmoil. But the fact that he mentioned Chris Paul during his retrospective game commentary was interesting given his comments to Bleacher Report's Howard Beck about wanting to play with Paul, Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade.
"I really hope that, before our career is over, we can all play together," James said. "At least one, maybe one or two seasons—me, Melo, D-Wade, CP—we can get a year in. I would actually take a pay cut to do that."
Various subplots aside, James is a student of the game who has frequently discussed NBA history throughout his career. So the fact that he was watching an old playoff game isn't a surprise, and his comments make it clear he's tracking the Warriors' efforts to rewrite the record books.
Golden State returns to action Saturday night on the road against the Memphis Grizzlies. The team then faces the Spurs on the road Sunday before closing out the regular season at home against Memphis on Wednesday. So if the Warriors break the record, they'll have earned it.
