Tonight every NBA team is 0-0. So here's the bar. The 1995-96 Bulls went 72-10. They lost two games at home all season. Two. Michael Jordan won the scoring title at 30.4 a night, then took MVP, All-Star MVP and Finals MVP in the same season. The next year they won 69. The year after that, 62. That's 203 wins in three seasons, and three rings to go with them. The usual pushback is that the league is deeper now and nobody wins like that anymore. Fair enough. Then look at the one team that topped them. The 2015-16 Warriors won 73. They also blew a 3-1 lead in the Finals. That's the part people skip. 72 with a ring is a standard. 73 without one is a trivia question. The chase starts tonight. The Knicks raise a banner at the Garden. The Thunder and Spurs pick up where a seven-game West final left off. Somebody will get hot. Somebody will win 60. Maybe someone flirts with 65. But the bar isn't 60, and it isn't 65. It's 72 wins, two home losses, and a parade. Good luck. 🐐 #NBA

There were two versions of Michael Jordan. First 3-peat Jordan: Airborne. Explosive. Dynamic. Aggressive. He overwhelmed you with athleticism, attacked the rim relentlessly, and seemed to play the game above everyone else. Second 3-peat Jordan: Midrange. Footwork. Angles. Timing. Less dependent on raw explosiveness, more dependent on complete mastery. He controlled defenders, controlled space, controlled tempo, and seemed to know exactly what the game required before anyone else did. One Jordan conquered the league with physical dominance. The other conquered it with basketball mastery. Either version could stand on its own as a Hall of Fame career. Put them together? That’s Michael Jordan. The greatest basketball player of all time. 🐐