Common Denominator

"Played for the NBA's St. Louis Hawks in 1964/65 (Bob Pettit's last season) and with Rick Barry on the 74/75 Golden State Warriors."

That would be Jeff Mullins and Bill Bridges (Who just passed away last September). Mullins and Bridges would see Pettit average just 11.5 points per game against Baltimore in the 1965 playoffs. Bridges fared a little better, being good enough for 13.0 ppg. Mullins did little, however. He played less than six minutes per game, averaging just 4.0 ppg and 3.0 rpg. The Bullets won the series over the Hawks, three to one.

Mullins and Bridges took a different times to meet up with Barry. Mullins was on San Francisco (As they were called) in 1966/67. They made it all the way to the finals. Now, normally that meant facing the Boston Celtics (Who'd beaten the Warriors in the '64 finals). But now, Wilt Chamberlain and his Philadelphia 76ers had beaten the Celtics in just five games in the Eastern Conference Finals. Long before it was MJ and his Bulls vs. Isiah and his Pistons, it was always Wilt vs. Bill (Russell). Russell's team's had Chamberlain's number. But not in '67.

However, the 76ers still had to beat the Warriors. Rick Barry and Nate Thurmond were ready for Wilt and his great team. Having swept the Los Angeles Lakers (Who failed to win an NBA crown in the 1960s despite six trips to the finals) and taken six to dispose of St. Louis, they too had a chance. Just in case Wilt and co. thought they'd seen the last of the tough times, it was San Francisco with a surprising win in game three. The 76ers had taken the first two contests at home, then looked to have it in the bag when they against beat the Warriors, right there in San Fran, 122-108. Barry had 43 points. Mullins 14. However, Jeff fouled out. The Warriors then stunned 'em in game five in enemy territory, before the 76ers finally wrapped it up with a close 125-122 win in the sixth game.

In 1971/72, the Warriors became the Golden State Warriors. In a very competitive decade, it didn't matter what your name was (Individual or team), there we no easy playoff matchups. And things weren't about to get any easier for them in 1974/75. In September of '74, before the start of the NBA season, Nate Thurmond was traded to the Chicago Bulls for Clifford Ray. But as a team, it was the Warriors that could trade baskets with anyone.

They won only 48 games that year, but it only seemed to make them tougher when it all counted. They beat the Seattle Supersonics in six, got past the tough Bulls in seven, then came up against the Washington Bullets. It turned out to be Barry easy.

Rick averaged 29.5 points per game in the series. And 5.0 assist per game. It was a dominating performance that stats can't even explain. Mullins averaged 8.0 ppg. But it was Bridges that didn't do much. He barely played and averaged just 1.0 ppg. When he walked off the court on May 25th, 1975, his career was over. Mullins played one more year before hangin' 'em up. Ironically, they went out winners against the very team that had ended Bob Pettit's career ten years earlier. Golden State, meanwhile, would have to wait. Until 2014/15, to be exact, to win again.


References

Sports Reference LLC. Basketball-Reference.com - Basketball Statistics and History. http://www.basketball-reference.com/. 26 Apr. 2016

Common Denominator

"Losses to the Chicago Bulls with Cleveland in 1992. Joins Chicago and wins three in a row. Wins twice more as a player. Wins as a coach his first year with Golden State. Trumps his 1995/96 Chicago team with 73 wins in 2015/16."

That would be Steve Kerr.

After joining the Cleveland Cavaliers 1989/90, the Chicago Bulls stood in Kerr's quest for an NBA Championship. They'd lost to them in 1989. But with Kerr there, Cleveland went all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals in 1991/92. There, stood Michael Jordan and company. Steve and company gave 'em all they could handle.

Kerr, you see, had eliminated the Boston Celtics in a grueling, seven-game quarterfinal series, and were up for the challenge of His Airness. The Bulls, wanting to show these underdogs the true meaning of fear, flattened 'em 103-89 at home to get this thing going. Kerr didn't do much in his twelve minutes of play.

The Cavs though, woke up and made the Bulls work. They won games two and four, and pushed the Bulls to tough, six-game duel. Chicago won game six, but only by five points. There must have been some disappointment in Kerr. He didn't get to contribute and his team fell just two games short of a trip to the finals. That would have to wait for the Cleveland fans until LeBron arrived years later.

But it was actually Chicago that saw something in Kerr that others didn't. You see, by 1993/94 Kerr was on that team. And he did a lot more than sit around and do nothing. Steve came off the bench to average 8.6, 8.2, 8.4, and 8.1 PPG the next four seasons. On Chicago in 1995/96, he made sure that when Jordan was sitting, he was hitting. As in hitting threes. He hit one in the last four games of that year's NBA Finals vs. Seattle. His contributions may not have quite matched what they were in the regular season, but Chicago made sure to use him. They'd won 72 games in the regular season, you see.

The Bulls won two more times, but Kerr was on San Antonio in 1999. Kerr found a way to get another ring. He averaged only 2.2 PPG in the playoffs, but the Spurs won. Four years later, Kerr again was only good for 2.2 PPG in the postseason. San Antonio won again. Kerr retired in August of that year. But he had five rings.

And all Kerr did was get another last season with the Warriors. Guiding them to 67 wins, Golden State was looking for there first World Championship since the days of Rick Barry. Ironically, in the finals was Kerr's old team, Cleveland. And they had a chap named James.

Golden State won game one. But Lebron have every intentions of doing what they didn't do in '92. Or back in '07 when LeBron led them to the NBA Finals. Only to lose to another of Steve's old teams. The San Antonio Spurs. Kerr had been all over the place in his NBA career, you see?

Cleveland won games two and three to make Golden State think twice about an easy time. Cleveland had been swept in 2007, but not this time. However, Steve made sure the offence got going before it started sputtering too much. The Warriors scored 103, 104 and 105 points. Steven Curry had a lot to do with that, of course.

Steve was back for more another go-around in 2015/16. And the Warriors won, won, won. They eclipsed the 1995/96 Chicago Bulls for most wins in one season. And when the playoffs got underway the other day, Steve looks primed for another ring. He's got six so far. As many as MJ!


References


Sports Reference LLC. Basketball-Reference.com - Basketball Statistics and History. http://www.basketball-reference.com/. 18 Apr. 2016.

Sure Could Have Fooled Me: Spurs Have More Wins At Home Than The Warriors!

Oh, the Warriors' winning streak is over. Buuuuut what about their awesome record at home in '15/16, eh? I mean, that's the NBA's best home record, eh. The Spurs, however, are winning tonight 118-83 with less than 30 seconds to go at home. There record is 12-0 (Soon to be 13-0) at home.

How about the Warriors? Here's their last home game:



Well, Golden State has actually been road warriors so far this season. Their streak ended on the road, where they had a perfect 14-0 prior to losing to the Milwaukee Bucks on the twelve day of December. Too early for the Twelve Days Of Christmas, alas. The San Antonio Spurs, however, are actually 20-5 on the season, and within striking distance of the Warriors. Tim Duncan, is just ageless, let's all face it. But that's not what I came here to write about.

The Spurs are only 8-5 on the road themselves, but have defended their home court with amazing tenacity. They are 12-0, trumping the Golden State Warriors, who are 10-0. Will the Warriors win their next two at home? It remains to be seen.



And in another irony, there is another team with a few more wins, coupled with a loss or two by the Spurs or Warriors, could top that. LeBron James and co. have lost but one game at home so far (10-1) to keep in the hunt. My money is on a Golden State / San Antonio Conference Finals. Oklahoma is only 16-8 as a Northwestern-leading team. They simply aren't in the class of the Warriors or Spurs. They have the Thunder, but not the lightning required to stay with either team.

And my final prediction is the winner of that faces Cleveland in the finals. All roads lead to LeBron, you see.


References


NBA.com. “The Official Site Of The NBA.” NBA.com, National Basketball Association, Web, 14 Dec. 2015, www.nba.com/.

Sports Reference LLC. Basketball-Reference.com - Basketball Statistics and History. http://www.basketball-reference.com/. 14 Dec. 2015.

Youtube. Web. 14 Dec. 2015. https://www.youtube.com/.

Common Denominator: Stopped The Lakers Streak in 71/72, Warriors Streak in 15/16

That would be the Milwaukee Bucks. In each case, it was also a home game. The Bucks Stop(ped) Here.

But in 1971, Milwaukee had won the championship over the Washington Bullets in four straight. In the semis, it was just five games for the Bucks to beat the Los Angeles Lakers. And just two seasons earlier, in their first NBA season, they won only 27 games. What changed all that? The Flip!

The flip of a coin in the 1969 draft brought them Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Then know as Lew Alcindor) and 56 wins. The Bucks made it all the way to the final four before bowing out to the New York Knicks. The addition of Oscar Robertson in 1970/71, brought their win total to 66 games...And an impressive postseason (Losing just two games) which culminated in an NBA crown. Oscar had to wait a long time to get his first. Kareem had his first (Of six!) in only his second year.

The Lakers were not the same story. So much frustration. They'd lost to the Boston Celtics in 1959 (While still in Minneapolis), and again in 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969. In 1970, they'd also lost to the Knicks like the Bucks.

So in 1971/72, despite the loss of Elgin Baylor, they went ahead and forged out, The Streak.

It all started the day after losing to, of all teams, the Golden State Warriors on November 6. That dropped their record to 6-3. They beat the Washington Bullets 106-91 the very next day. From there on in, Los Angeles looked unstoppable. They beat the Bucks on the 21st for their 11th straight. They beat the Philadelphia 76ers on December 19th for their 25th. On and on it went. But then the Bucks stopped 'em at home on January 9th. The Streak had reached 33 games. But #33, Kareem, scored 39 points to Wilt Chamberlain's measly 15. The Bucks won, 120-104. It was a Sunday where even all the prayers in Los Angeles could not be hear.



However, the Lakers recovered from that, and finished the season 66-13. And when they met the Bucks in the semi-finals, they prevailed in six games. The crippled New York Knicks won the first game of the NBA Finals, then watched as LA won four straight for that long-awaited NBA crown.

In 2015/16, the Golden State Warriors were the defending NBA Champions, like the Milwaukee Bucks on 1971/72. And they weren't too keen on giving it all up. They'd won their last four games of the regular season in 2014/15, and started out '15/16 with 24 straight wins. Nothing new for this team. They'd won 16 in a row at one point the previous season. And 12 in a row later. This team, once they get rolling.

The Buck team they faced would be swept by the Warriors of this year, and the Lakers and Buck team on 1971/72. But amazingly enough, The Buck Stopped Here At 28.

On December 12th of 2015, it all came to an end. The Bucks were 9-15 before the game, but 10-15 after. Oh, by the way, the Warriors were 24-0 to start the game and 24-1 after it. Milwaukee narrowed the gap between the two teams with their win.

Their centre, Greg Monroe, had a bit of Kareem in him in this game, too. Monroe scored a game-high 28 points and pulled down 11 boards for good measure. When the smoke had cleared, it was Golden State finishing the game shooting just .409 from the field, and the Milwaukee Bucks had an upset, 108-95. The Streak was over.



The Bucks had stopped them here again.


References

NBA.com. “The Official Site Of The NBA.” NBA.com, National Basketball Association, Web, 13 Dec. 2015, www.nba.com/.

Sports Reference LLC. Basketball-Reference.com - Basketball Statistics and History. http://www.basketball-reference.com/. 13 Dec. 2015.

Youtube. Web. 13 Dec. 2015. https://www.youtube.com/.