Cavs: Team of the Decade Matchups

[ambchang]

67 sixers - wilt finally got some help. Will stomp Russell's hear in

70s matchup is a tough one. I'd go with the blazers. A vey underrated team that was before it's time. That philly team the blazers beat in the finals was grea individually, much like the 72 lakers, and the blazers beat them. So I am reasoning the blazers come out on top in this one.

86 celtics - I'd go with them over any team that ever played. Individual talent plus team work.

91 bulls - 96 bulls were severly overrated. That 72-10 record was impressive but that came in an expansion year that simply stretched the talent of the league way too thin. Also look at their finals record, they got pushed in by Payton and kemp. Young Jordan and pippen will do an even better job than Payton did on old Jordan. That said, I'd go with 92 bulls over either team.

01 lakers - nobody can even touch shaq on the celtics, horry will keep Garnett in check. Kobe will keep pierce in check (this is not the 08 version of Kobe who was glory chasing). Rondo will not be able to take advantage of lakers poor pnr defense because he can't shoot. I'd take 04 pistons or 05 spurs over 08 celtics too.

14 spurs - I'm a spurs fan. Also, spurs passing can break down the old Mavs, and splitter and Leonard can help keep dirk in check.

[scanry]

1967 76ers
1972 Lakers
1986 Celtics
1991 Bulls
2001 Lakers
2014 Spurs

[baseline bum]

70s matchup is a tough one. I'd go with the blazers. A vey underrated team that was before it's time. That philly team the blazers beat in the finals was grea individually, much like the 72 lakers, and the blazers beat them. So I am reasoning the blazers come out on top in this one.

It's too bad, the 78 Blazers were even better before Walton got hurt. They were 50-10 at the time, on a 68 win pace, so that tells you how serious that Blazer team was. The 77 Blazers don't get nearly enough credit, sweeping prime Kareem and backdoor sweeping prime Dr. J. Everyone was young on that team too, so you gotta wonder if Walton stays healthy do the Lakers not start winning les until the mid 80s?

[Killakobe81]

04 Pistons were pretty good too... they definitely looked like they could've won 1 or 2 more...

Fair point they are underrated ... I even did so on here, in fact. I would take any of the 3 over the repeat Lakers or Heat. Heat were never as good as advertised only Lebron was. Wade was avtually best in the year they got beat by dem Mavs. Lebron was just too good. Bosh was pretty good for the most part but never got enough touches. I woudl say Heat were better than the Kobe led Lakers and probably rockets but but not as good as any of the other teams that won at least 2 les in 3 years.

[Killakobe81]

1967 76ers
1972 Lakers
1986 Celtics
1991 Bulls
2001 Lakers
2014 Spurs

Not a bad list I might argue for Spurs just after Bulls and Lakers (3rd) but a good list. I think recency has caused a slight inflation of the Spurs le. The outstanding regular seasons, the beat down of OKC in retrospect, were more impressive than beating the Heat who were running on fumes and became Cavs south. Not to take anything away from the Spurs who are easily up there with the 86 Celts as the best passing/shooting team I have ever seen. But they are not as good as those Celts the 1985 Lakers the 2001 Lakers or the 1991 Bulls.

[Brazil]

2014 Spurs vs. 2011 Mavs would be a of a serie imho

My homer side makes me believe 14 Spurs would prevail... Mills, Parker would feast imho but Dirk 11 was so dominant. Dat pairing with Chandler... I think Splits and Timmy would struggle there but Spurs have stretch bigs that would annoy Dirk (Boris but also Matty ) on the D end

Great match up

[Killakobe81]

2014 Spurs vs. 2011 Mavs would be a of a serie imho

My homer side makes me believe 14 Spurs would prevail... Mills, Parker would feast imho but Dirk 11 was so dominant. Dat pairing with Chandler... I think Splits and Timmy would struggle there but Spurs have stretch bigs that would annoy Dirk (Boris but also Matty ) on the D end

Great match up

Of course the 2014 Spurs would prevail ... Like I said Dirk is the best player in that series but outside of that Spurs win every key matchup. RC is almost as good as Pop but they get the edge there too ..

[scanry]

Not a bad list I might argue for Spurs just after Bulls and Lakers (3rd) but a good list. I think recency has caused a slight inflation of the Spurs le. The outstanding regular seasons, the beat down of OKC in retrospect, were more impressive than beating the Heat who were running on fumes and became Cavs south. Not to take anything away from the Spurs who are easily up there with the 86 Celts as the best passing/shooting team I have ever seen. But they are not as good as those Celts the 1985 Lakers the 2001 Lakers or the 1991 Bulls.

I only picked the winner (of the matchups).

BTW the 2001 Lakers faced a ty Portland team in Round 1, a young Sactown team in WCSF & an old San Antonio team in the WCF. This year's Heat & OKC teams were better than those teams.

I still think the 1991 Bulls team would've beaten any of the above teams. They were on a mission and we saw the best offensive Bulls team in the MJ era. Their FG% too was off the charts and get this, MJ put up 31.2/11.4/6.6/2.8/1.6 shooting 56% in the finals. He actually played PG all season. Has a SG ever put up 11 assists in a playoffs series?

[scanry]

Of course the 2014 Spurs would prevail ... Like I said Dirk is the best player in that series but outside of that Spurs win every key matchup. RC is almost as good as Pop but they get the edge there too ..

What Rick Carlisle did that season was amazing (even in the regular season with all the injuries). Despite the rings advantage, him & Pop are real close ranking wise. Pop has the advantage cause he develops players around Tim better than Carlisle, but Rick hasn't been with the Mavs for too long. I still remember how well the Pacers & the Pistons played under Carlisle.

[Killakobe81]

I only picked the winner (of the matchups).

BTW the 2001 Lakers faced a ty Portland team in Round 1, a young Sactown team in WCSF & an old San Antonio team in the WCF. This year's Heat & OKC teams were better than those teams.

I still think the 1991 Bulls team would've beaten any of the above teams. They were on a mission and we saw the best offensive Bulls team in the MJ era. Their FG% too was off the charts and get this, MJ put up 31.2/11.4/6.6/2.8/1.6 shooting 56% in the finals. He actually played PG all season. Has a SG ever put up 11 assists in a playoffs series?

My bad scanry ... Mj was at his peak but Pippen and Grant were still "raw" it's the best Mj ever played but he had to do so much for that team I dont think they were as good as the others, tbh.

[Brazil]

Of course the 2014 Spurs would prevail ... Like I said Dirk is the best player in that series but outside of that Spurs win every key matchup. RC is almost as good as Pop but they get the edge there too ..

in 2014, Carlisle with a roster largely inferior to 2011 and an older Dirk gave a lot of trouble to Spurs. It's obviously not that simple... Spurs were heating up tbh and absolutely far from their peak in the first round... but 2011 mavs / 2014 Spurs would be a much closer serie than people might think.

Toss up for me with a slight maybe homerish advantage to Spurs

[Spurs 4 The Win]

Mavs and Spurs both deserve credits for preventing the super s from 3-peating but I'm arbitrarily seeing it a 60-40 split in favor of them Mavs. The 11' Heat were pretty much like the 08' Celts and the big 3 at that time (all of them in top forms) were better than they'd ever be from then on. The Great Satan Lebron might have improved a little since the 11' defeat but wade/bosh have both been slumping fast since then. The s were just as desperate to ring as the Mavs were and the Mavs won out, and either of those two teams would've beaten the 14' Spurs imho. Spurs won 14 because their opponents were relatively weak (OKC w/ an injured Ibaka, Heat with wade/Bosh regressed into role players etc...) compared to the 11' Lakers, 11' OKC, not to say the newly founded Super s.

This take is very very bad. Wade wasnt on the decline till this year (in the playoffs). Bosh still looks good.

[scanry]

My bad scanry ... Mj was at his peak but Pippen and Grant were still "raw" it's the best Mj ever played but he had to do so much for that team I dont think they were as good as the others, tbh.

I think Cartright is the only player who MJ feared physically and mentally. But you're right, Grant & Pippen were still raw, but you could just tell with the way they were playing in the second half of the season. They were much like the 1999-2000 Lakers with better execution and elite defense.

[Killakobe81]

I think Cartright is the only player who MJ feared physically and mentally. But you're right, Grant & Pippen were still raw, but you could just tell with the way they were playing in the second half of the season. They were much like the 1999-2000 Lakers with better execution and elite defense.

I think their defense was even better than Rodman era Bulls tbh ...

[100%duncan]

This take is very very bad. Wade wasnt on the decline till this year (in the playoffs). Bosh still looks good.

He wasn't declining until Green tapped his ass

People were claiming he's back after that Pacers series

[Spurs 4 The Win]

He wasn't declining until Green tapped his ass

People were claiming he's back after that Pacers series

lol agreed, Green owns Miami for some reason, kinda like how Reggie Jackson owns us

[Gervin44Silas13]

If we could break it breakdown to eff. offense/defense. pts per game avg. Id have to be the 2014 Spurs have to be on top.....They clearly beat the out of eveyone in every win they had by 10+ or more points in the run for the le.

[Arcadian]

Also the 2012 Heat deserve consideration for a top team of this decade. That was Lebron at his peak, and Wade was still near his.

[baseline bum]

Also the 2012 Heat deserve consideration for a top team of this decade. That was Lebron at his peak, and Wade was still near his.

The 2011 Finals are the last time we saw Prime Wade. 2012 Wade shot a Kobe-esque 43.5% in the Finals. I still think 2009 was LeBron's peak. I can't think of any other player in league history who would take Mo Williams and a bunch of D-Leaguers to 66 wins.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

So who would you take in the following matchups?


1962 Celtics vs 1967 Sixers?
Prime Russell and Cousy vs Wilt in one of the seasons he gave a + Greer. I'll take Sixers in 6.

Cunningham was on that team too and made for a nice frontline. I'll take the Sixers in 7.

1977 Blazers vs 1972 Lakers?
Prime Walton leading one of the most devastating passing teams of all-time vs prime West and still dominant Chamberlain. I'm going with Portland in 6 here in the upset, as Walton's passing just got so many easy shots for Bobby Gross and Maurice Lucas.

Wilt could guard Walton one on one which mitigates his effectiveness while the reverse is not true. West and Baylor were a of a lot better than Gross and Lucas. Lakers sweep.

1987 Lakers vs 1986 Celtics?
Magic, Byronn Scott, James Worthy, a still effective Kareem, and then you have AC Green and Mychal Thomspon off the bench. And then Boston's frontcourt rotation of Bird/McHale/Parish/Walton with a pretty solid SF in Scott Wedman only able to get spot minutes on that team. I gotta go 86 Celtics in 6 here, as I'd probably take them over any other team on this list too.

I think Chief could do a better job on Jabbar than anyone the Lakers had to throw at McHale. The thing about that Lakers team was the ability of Scott, Worthy, and Magic to run. And defensively Worthy was not a bad check on Bird. Nonetheless, the Lakers never beat the Celtics in the finals. Celtics in 6.

1991 Bulls vs 1996 Bulls?
I'm going 96 Bulls even though 91 Jordan was a little better than 96 Jordan, as 96 Rodman is better than 91 Grant and 96 Harper was a huge upgrade over 91 John Paxson. 96 Bulls in 6.

Those later Bulls were just a better team as you describe. Jordan was still at the top of his game. 96 in 5.

2008 Celtics vs 2001 Lakers?
One of the best defenses in league history with Garnett killing s in the paint and Posey a lockdown guy on the perimeter, great shooting out of Pierce, Allen, and Eddie House, young up and coming talent in Rondo and Perkins, and quality ring-chasing vets in PJ Brown and Sam Cassell. And in the other corner you have Prime Shaq when he played defense, Peak Kobe, up and coming Fisher, and Rick Fox playing lockdown D on the perimeter. Lakers in 6.

Perkins would have checked shaq and in the grand scheme of things that isn't too bad. How Thibodeau would overload the strongside and rotate on kickouts helps contain a player like Shaq. Posey on Bryant is not a bad matchup. Even against good defense Bryant can get off and hit his fadeaway but Peirce also had a knack for that. I think Fisher would have had isses stopping Rondo from breaking down the defense whereas Rondo could cheat and recover for Fishers spot up shooting. Horry vs Garnett would have been a compelling matchup but again the Lakers don't beat Boston in the finals. Celtics in 7.

2011 Mavs vs 2014 Spurs?
Both teams absolutely humiliated the back to back champs. The 2011 Mavs were ridiculous defensively with Chandler, Marion, and Lincoln, they had insane outside shooting with Terry and Stojakovic. Dirk was ting on everyone, and they destroyed everyone in a really difficult playoff run. On the other side the Spurs had two elite defensive centers, two top notch perimeter defenders in Leonard and Green who could both also shoot the three, Mills could get hot from the three, Diaw got tons of easy shots for his teammates, and Ginobili and Parker could take over quarters occasionally. One of the deepest teams in league history. This is the toughest call of any of them, but I'll go with the Spurs in 7 homer pick here.

Spurs in 4.

[jimbo]

2011 Mavs are massively overrated if we're even coming close to talking about them as the team of the decade. IMO they get beat by both championship Heat teams and destroyed by the 2013 or 2014 Spurs. Tiago/Tim stop Dirk/Tyson. The rest of the Spurs' supporting cast s all over the rest of the Mavs. Not even close.

12' Heat and 2014 Spurs would be closer to a tossup. Lebron was better in '13, but they actually had an elite perimeter defense in '12--not like the absolutely terrible one they had this postseason. What helps the Spurs though is that they were prone to giving up open 3s iirc.

[jimbo]

He wasn't declining until Green tapped his ass

People were claiming he's back after that Pacers series

People have been calling out his defense for a while now tbh, definitely before the Spurs series. It was his offense that was flat out awful in the Finals--against everyone except the Spurs' bench. was just sad.

[jimbo]

The 2011 Finals are the last time we saw Prime Wade. 2012 Wade shot a Kobe-esque 43.5% in the Finals. I still think 2009 was LeBron's peak. I can't think of any other player in league history who would take Mo Williams and a bunch of D-Leaguers to 66 wins.

2012 Wade didn't have his offense going, but he at least still played elite defense. That was his calling card that post season. You remember JVG creaming about his blocks every 5 minutes? "The best shot blocking shooting guard of all time" probably got said twice every playoff game.

Tbh, I don't even know how to gauge whether '13 or '09 Lebron was better.

[Blizzardwizard]

67 Sixers
72 Lakers
87 Lakers
96 Bulls
01 Lakers
14 Spurs

[baseline bum]

2011 Mavs are massively overrated if we're even coming close to talking about them as the team of the decade. IMO they get beat by both championship Heat teams and destroyed by the 2013 or 2014 Spurs. Tiago/Tim stop Dirk/Tyson. The rest of the Spurs' supporting cast s all over the rest of the Mavs. Not even close.

12' Heat and 2014 Spurs would be closer to a tossup. Lebron was better in '13, but they actually had an elite perimeter defense in '12--not like the absolutely terrible one they had this postseason. What helps the Spurs though is that they were prone to giving up open 3s iirc.

You're really overrating the 2012 Heat. The 2013 team was better with their 66 wins, 29 game win streak, Birdman getting minutes over Joel Anthony, and Ray Allen over James Jones. It's not like the 2012 team had 2010 Wade, and as injured as Wade was, he put up a huge Game 4 and an even bigger Game 7 against a much better opponent in the 2013 Spurs than in the Thunder in 2012.

And the 2011 Mavs were an incredible team. They completely destroyed the best post team in the league in LA, and then took out the two best transition teams in OKC and Miami. You gotta be a pretty complete team to beat such diverse compe ion, and they did it convincingly. The only teams I have ever seen that were as automatic in close games were the 99 Spurs and 01 Lakers. That was one of the most fun teams to watch I have ever seen. I'll always hate Nowizki and Terry, but sometimes you just gotta appreciate watching basketball played at the level that Mavs team was at in 2011.