Klay Thompson: Warriors 'have a chance' at 70 wins this season

Even before the 2015-2016 season tipped off, the Golden State Warriors were on a mission to silence their doubters.

So naturally, the defending NBA champions are also looking to improve on their own performance from last season—by besting their impressive 67-15 record. Heck, they could take a shot at the Chicago Bulls’ record 72-win season if they wanted it.

And at least one of their superstars believes they can do it.

Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group reported that the Warriors forward revealed in a Google Hangouts Q&A on Sunday that he thinks the Dubs have a shot at 70 wins this season. Thompson said in the talk with ShotTracker that reaching that marker would be “tough” but that setting sights on the record set by the Bulls in the 1995-1996 campaign isn’t completely out of the question.

“Seventy-two wins, that’s a lot of wins, man. I don’t know if that will be done again, but hey man, we might be the team to do it just because we reached 67 last year. And if we stay focused and we take every game serious, we should have a chance to reach 70.”

Thompson’s optimism isn’t without merit. Golden State has picked up right where they left off last season with a 3-0 start, with MVP Steph Curry leading the way with 118 points in 99 minutes of play.

Thompson reportedly admitted during Sunday’s chat that certain factors, such as health and opposition, have to bounce in the Warriors’ favor in order to keep up the current pace.

“That’s going to be a tough one… We’ll try. There are so many good teams. We’ll try. We did get 67 wins last year, which was an amazing feat. We might be able to get 70. It’s going to depend a lot on health, obviously, and a lot of lucky bounces that go our way.”

Even when taking those elements into consideration, there’s no reason why Golden State can’t push for 70-plus wins. “It won’t be easy. It will be extremely difficult, but you know what? Why not?"