TERRY COLUMN: Reaching the unreachable

Records are made to be broken, or so the saying goes.

Yet, there are a few that are so far out there, so spectacular, that to even imagine another team or player getting close is mind boggling.

They are records that are recognizable by number as much as the names who set them: Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hit streak, Cal Ripken playing 2,632 games in a row, Wilt Chamberlain scoring 100 points in a game.

One of the impossible-to-reach marks has come up again as the Golden State Warriors attempt to break the NBA’s single-season win record of 72-10 set by the Chicago Bulls in 1995-96.

In the 20 years since the Bulls set the record on the way to a championship, the only team even to approach 70 wins was the same Bulls team the next season, finishing at 69-13 on its way to another championship. The best any other team could muster has been 67 games, achieved by three teams, including the Warriors last season.

As with all of the untouchable marks, there were circumstances behind that 72-win season that helped an already historically great Bulls team achieve that record.

Michael Jordan, already one of the greatest basketball players of all time, came out of retirement midway through the year a season before, only to lose in the Eastern Conference Finals to a young Shaquille O’Neal and the Orlando Magic. The insanely competitive Jordan with a newly revamped roster that included two-time defensive player of the year Dennis Rodman had a reason to set the record.

Add to that, the league expanded that season, adding two teams in Canada and a large number of players that hadn’t played at the NBA level before.

A historically great team with an all-time great player and a down league is a nurturing environment to set an unachievable record.

The Warriors, who won last season’s NBA championship, came in to this season feeling equally snubbed after many in the league questioned the authenticity of their victory because of the stream of broken teams they beat along the way.

With two of the greatest shooters of all time on the roster and a historically great defense, they also had the motivation to break a previously untouchable record.

Golden State has 69 wins already this season, but its quest for 72 has been arduous.

It looked inevitable a week ago as they sat 68-7 with seven games to play. Even with two games against the equally impressive San Antonio Spurs —who have quietly gone 65-12 this season and also have a chance to win 70 games — the 72-win mark could be attained mostly against middle-of-the-road teams.

Those prospects have fallen apart after the last three games. The Warriors have gone 1-2 in the last week, including two losses at home, where they were unbeaten this season. To even tie the record, Golden State will have to win three of its last four games of the season, and those two games against the Spurs still remain.

That they are approaching it at all is magnificent. It’s as remarkable to watch as it is a reminder of how hard it was to set that record in the first place.

It’s why the world was so astonished when, at this time last year, Jordan Spieth tied Tiger Woods’ 1997 record 18-under-par score at the Masters. Speith’s march to the record, his similar age and that he held a 19-under-par mark until a bogey on the final hole, all reminded us of the statement Tiger made at Augusta.

A few of those records are so remarkable, and from a seemingly different era, that even approaching them is worth following. That Kobe Bryant even glanced at Wilt’s 100 points in 2005-06, when he scored 62 points in three quarters a month before scoring 81 in a game, defied belief. Every 30-plus game hitting streak in baseball is examined to no end, despite still being nearly two months away from DiMaggio’s record.

It’s also a reminder that untouchable efforts may actually be achieved again. Five years ago, Triple Crowns in baseball and horse racing seemed like awards of yesteryear. Then, once-in-a-generation talents changed our minds.

There will be another player to hit .400 in a season. While most of Gretzky’s records seem like video game stats, another player could come along to completely rewrite the game.

The Warriors may not end the season by breaking the Bulls’ record, but their attempt reminds us that records are made to be broken.

At least most of them.