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spurs had always been a contender throughout the entire 2000s tbh
Miami is obviously the only real contender in the NBA this season, only injuries can defeat them..
What other years did the NBA only have 1 true contender that was much better than the field?..
2009 Lakers after KG's injury comes to mind..the West was weak, while Orlando and Lebron + scrubs were the top teams in the East
2001 Lakers peaked going into the playoffs, they weren't a dominant regular season team, so there was a little hype for other teams..in hindsight, they were the only real contender..the other contenders were a Spurs team that relied on Duncan + 36-year old Robinson + Antonio Daniels/hobbled Derek Anderson as the supporting cast..
East was at a low-point, Sacto didn't have Bibby yet, etc..
Shaq was at his peak, Kobe was at his athletic peak, etc..
What other years had a clear-cut favourite without any legit challengers?..
Any year of Jordan's Bulls?..
spurs had always been a contender throughout the entire 2000s tbh
1996
The teams are as good as they were then, only Miami is better. Imagine Jordan, Isiah and Worthy on the same team, then throw in Chris Mullin and Dennis Rodman.
1996-98. No one was given a chance against the Bulls back then. After they crushed Orlando in the 1996 Eastern Conference Finals, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that they were going to win it all the next couple of years.
00 Lakers after Duncan got injured
09 Lakers after KG got injured, as you mentioned
10 Lakers after Lebron tanked against the older-than-dirt Celtics to teach Dan Gilbert a lesson
The Blazers were also contenders that year though.... second-best record in the league, took the Lakers to 7 in the playoffs but got ed by the refs...
Once they beat the Spurs in game 2, they were the only contenders
2001 Lakers peaked going into the playoffs, they weren't a dominant regular season team, so there was a little hype for other teams..in hindsight, they were the only real contender..the other contenders were a Spurs team that relied on Duncan + 36-year old Robinson + Antonio Daniels/hobbled Derek Anderson as the supporting cast
I don't think either of your examples are comparable to this season, Harlem. That Spurs team was definitely a contender in 01, but they gave up starting game 3. The series was unwinnable by then, after they ran out to a big lead in game 2 and then couldn't hold on despite one of Duncan's greatest playoff games ever to that point (that was lost when David Robinson committed two idiotic fouls in a 10 second span against Horace Grant and had to sit out the whole third quarter as a result). It's the same line of reasoning I hear now that tries to claim the 2004 Finals weren't a huge upset. As far as 2009, Boston was probably even better than 08 before Garnett got hurt, so it wasn't a runaway Lakers le until then. By contrast at no point this season did it ever look like there was anyone who had a decent shot at Miami. I think it's a pretty unique situation. I guess you could say people figured on LA having a chance, but that was quickly gone 10 days into the season and I'm not counting it. Meanwhile seasons like 96 you still had a ridiculous Sonics team that would have won the le most seasons.
Christ, they ain't won it yet.
You guys have learned nothing.
We have learned $100 million doesn't go as far as it used to.
It got this far:::
Kobe: 5
the tired old bag Duncan: 4
Spurs 99
Only pussies & assholes use ring count as an argument.
Its unbelievable. People getting in line before their gd name is even called.
I don't know why it's such a stretch to say no one's beating Miami this year, considering they're better than they were last year. Every other good team is a lot weaker than last year. OKC lost their #2 player, the Spurs offense has fallen off bigtime this year, the Lakers could miss the playoffs, Gasol's injury is killing Memphis, the Bulls lost Asik and Rose doesn't appear to want to come back, Boston is a year older and Garnett isn't playing as well as last year. The only teams that somewhat matter that haven't regressed are the Clippers and the Pacers. Short of LeBron suffering a serious injury, who is beating them?
OP said contender, didn't say guaranteed champs... some old dogs need to put their glasses on...
Cully is right they have not won it yet ...
But I think it is pretty clear that they are the best team and barring injury to Lebron I cant see them losing. I told you guys BEFore this season started they were the only legit le contender, heck I told you guys before the Heatles were formed...once Lebron started winning it was gonna be hard to stop him. They will win this year but Im willing to bet aginst a 3peat ...
4 straight Finals winning 3 of 4 has rarely been done in league history ...
lmemulatedao!!!
El, gettin' his obtuse on.
The 1996 Sonics were one of the best teams to not win a le though
There's more than 1 contender this season. I'm not here saying it's OKC, but what I'm saying is people always want to draw conclusions long before they should be drawing them. Yeah Miami won 27 straight or whatever. Yeah they have to be the favorite, but it seems as though people have forgotten that a 7 game playoff series is a completely different animal. If you think Miami is going to roll through the playoffs, I think you're really pretty wrong. In the NBA and in any other sport, it's always "what have you done for me lately?". People jump on and off bandwagons all season long in terms of who they think is a legit contender. The fact is, with a handful of teams, you won't know who is a legit contender or not until it comes down to that 7 game series. You sometimes won't find what a team is made of until you get them against the ropes and the playoffs is the only true way to do that.
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