Charles Barkley: '96 Bulls would ‘kill' Steph Curry's Warriors

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The never-ending, trivial debate of whether this year's Golden State Warriors team would beat Michael Jordan's 72-10 Bulls team added another chapter, and it's no surprise which side Charles Barkley is on.

The TNT commentator, notorious for his detracting of jump shooting teams, weighed in on the discussion, believing Jordan's Bulls would "kill" Steph Curry's Warriors squad.

"That Bulls team would kill this little team," Barkley told ESPN Chicago's Waddle and Silvy. "Who is going to guard Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan? What about Dennis Rodman?

"First of all they would love playing the way the Warriors play. It's a much easier game now. Could you imagine how many points Michael would average if you couldn't touch him? Dennis would get so many rebounds against that team. They are a very small team."

[MORE: Marathon on Madison - Pistons overtake Bulls in 4OT classic]

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, currently away from the team as he recovers from back surgery, also was a member of the Bulls' 1995-96 team and last month provided the most realistic argument for this discussion that won't go away: there is no comparison.

Whereas Barkley believes the Warriors have it easier now because of more stringent defensive hand-checking rules, as Kerr pointed out rules such as illegal defense that prevent a team from overloading one side of the court for help defense no longer exists. The game has changed since MJ and Scottie were dominating the league, and it's changing once again with the Warriors' style of play. For instance, Jordan and Pippen played a combined 32 NBA seasons and made 1,559 3-pointers; Curry, a third of the way done with his seventh NBA season, has made 1,322 triples in his career.

There are points to be made for the Warriors and points to be made for the Bulls. Neither hold much weight in an entirely unrealistic hypothetical, and both respective eras believe they'd come out on top. Ron Harper and Rodman said last month that the Bulls would have dominated the Warriors, now 26-1 after beating the Bucks on Friday night.

[SHOP: Gear up, Bulls fans!]

Barkley still likes the Spurs to win the NBA title this season, too. 

"Just because these guys [the Warriors] are beating up on inferior competition," Barkley said, "don't overreact now."

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