I think the 1987 Lakers would win against anyone. I'm biased since I was a Lakers fan growing up in the 80s, but they could pretty much do it all and they had a strong bench too. Too much fire power in the post with Kareem and Worthy, Magic was Magic, and Scott was a solid scorer as well. Green could defend and rebound.
Pop - CotY
RC - Exec of the Year
Spurs - NBA Champs, record differential in Finals vs a b2b champ and one of the most stacked teams in history.
Marco - 3pt shooting champ...
There was no GOAT player in prime form on the team. No one even in the current top 10. The core is near retirement. They played the best basketball you'll ever see.
If the 92 Bulls team were to be transported to 2014 and play against the Spurs, then I will pick the Spurs because of better knowledge of the game and better statistics. But if it was a parallel universe in which the 92 Bulls were given all the advancements of the game over the last 22 years, as well as a Phil Jackson who would continue to steal ideas from other great coaches, then I will give the 92 Bulls an edge.
The 92 Bulls were phenomenal, one of the most dynamic offensive team of its era, and a great defensive team to boot. The Pippen/Jordan duo was the most feared perimeter shut down defense in league history, and with their quick reflexes and long reach, the passing lanes would disappear, and the Spurs will have to adjust. If the Spurs struggled against athletic teams like the Thunder, then the issue would be magnficied against two of the best athletes who are actually dedicated on defense.
On offense, the Bulls strive in the mid-range game, which is the part where the Spurs willingly give their opponents. The Bulls have great spacing, and if things go bad, Jordan will bail them out time after time.
That said, the Bulls struggle against team with an inside scorer, and Duncan will make light work of them. The Spurs are also a way better 3 pt shooting team than any teams the Bulls are accustomed to. Green and Kawhi can just shoot over whoever is assigned to guard them, and if you put Pippen and Jordan on them, Mills and Parker will eat Paxson and Armstrong alive with their quickness. Diaw and Bonner will draw Grant out to the perimeter, while Duncan and Splitter will feast on offensive boards all game long,
I also don't get why it is so far fetched to see Kawhi shutting down Jordan. Payton did that to Jordan, and Kawhi is at least as athletic. That said, I would put Green on Jordan and Kawhi on Pippen. Green will probably get into foul trouble every game by being within 10 feet of Jordan, and this will allow Kawhi to conserve his energy on offense (relatively). Parker could be hidden on Armstrong/Paxson as they are pretty much spot up shooters, Duncan will eat Grant of Cartrwright alive, and Splitter/Diaw will take advantage of any mismatches that come their way.
It will be a great series, but at the end of it, I think the Spurs have the advantage in knowing about the advancements in the game.
As for the 96 Bulls, they played in the most watered down era in basketball since the 70s. It was a great team, just very overrated.
It's not bias, I too think they would beat anyone
Who cares who it was against? I just showed you where intimidation worked against your own team. Of course it's old school now since the NBA white-washed the league for the casual fan. And that ridiculous defensive 3 second rule doesn't hurt to get guys out of the paint as well.you go with intimidation argument using Shaq against a PG of TP size ?
Do you in your right mind think Jordan or Pippen are going to be intimidated by the likes of Green and Leonard on the perimeter or when posting them up? Do you think if they see geriatric Tim Duncan or Splitter in the paint they're going to think twice about getting their shot blocked or altered? no. And PERWe were discussing dudes like MJ, Pippen, Green, Leonard... so ya intimidation argument is weak sauce... Also your take on Duncan and Splitter is laughable... Duncan has been a beast during the 2014 POs he put a PER at 21 which is higher than Scottie in 92... for the record Split PER is at 19 and Split was arguably best defensive big of the league. Stop acting like this front courst in weak sauce on the D end...
The Heat weren't anything special on defense all year long. They played in a weak Eastern Conference that made them look better than they were and it didn't prepare them for a motivated Spurs team. They thought they could just flip the switch and were wrong. Westchuck and Durant are idiots. Long jumpers are Durant's best friend. He's not putting any pressure on San Antonio's defense whatsoever. If that shot isn't falling he's worthless. His slashing game and ball handling is average. He can't move without the ball to save his life and when he gets denied the ball by a capable defender he stands like a statue. His post game is non-existent. His defense is hot garbage. He's basically the anti-Jordan/Pippen who excel at all of the things I just mentioned. Westchuck has million dollar tools and a 10 cent brain. He takes too many rushed jumpers and shoots way too many threes that lets San Antonio's defense off the hook. And that idiot coach Scott Brooks just sits back and lives and dies by these two mental midgets. He has no offensive structure at all that keeps his other players involved. Those two duos and the coaching staff of both teams are night and day in comparison.Spurs just not defeated Heat perimeter they destroyed it... They also defended with a lot of success Durant and Westbrook. Serie against OKC has been complicated because of Ibaka not because Westbrook was dunking once in a while... and yes Westbrook took a lot of jumpers against the Spurs... What do you think ? MJ will go all the way walking on Leonard/Green and then walking on D help to dunk at will ?
I hope so if we do next year we get another top 3 pick
1991-1993 was the apex of Jordan's career. Nobody would've stopped him, not even re Kiwi.
Let's not even get to Green and Ginobili.
Quit mythologizing the 80's as some physical, defensive oriented era. Just because they occasionally took each other's heads off like barbarians doesn't mean physical play was the rule. Rewatch games from the period, and you'll see some of the worst defense imaginable. Hardly any double teams, chaotic team defense, God awful transition defense. Why do you think there were so many 28ppg+ scorers on 50% plus shooting during that time?
McHale "beasted" on those same bigs, and Duncan's is a far superior version to McHale. But yeah, Duncan would struggle against the "amazing" bigs of the 80's where McHale didn't
Furthermore, I've already debunked your claim that Duncan "made a living" out of matching up against smaller players. He was always guarded by the opposing team's best interior post-defender, often facing double and triple teams. You should remember when they tried to put a prime Shaq on him and he torched him.This old myth again?
All they did was take "bad shots." Mid-range pull ups off a fast break were the norm. The only reason they went in at such a high rate is because no one usually bothered to pickup the shooter in transition.
The era was entertaining and flashy, but the level of play wasn't as high then as it is today. I know I'm wasting my breath, since you worship 80's basketball, but the game has evolved (that doesn't mean 80's players were worse, since great players can evolve as the game evolves [see Kareem, Jordan, Magic, Duncan, etc], but team basketball wasn't as sophisticated).
My point was that even a great player like Magic could get rattled by weak traps because teams rarely employed them (teams rarely employed any sort of coherent defensive schemes back then). The era's stats are inflated for a reason. And no, it doesn't have much to do with their "superior fundamentals." 90's players had these "same fundamentals" and scoring nose-dived in the decade, which was primarily the result of better team defense being played by contending teams after the Pistons demonstrated that defense could win championships (it also didn't help that the era's offense was heavily iso-oriented).
Today's game is basically a synthesis of 80's team oriented offense and 90's team defense. You can thank our Spurs (and Colangelo's Rule Changes) for the setting the standard
By all measures, this is the toughest (and most aesthetically pleasing, from a basketball purist's point-of-view) era in NBA history.
80's is a whole decade and some teams including but not limited to the Pistons played some defense ...many should leave (not you) 80's talk for people that actually watched teams play back then ...
Pistons would be THE exception to that rule, and they were at the very end of the 80s. Doesn't it strike you that the first team to play consistent defense suddenly dominated the league? Then Jordan and Pippen caught on and won 6 of 8.
I've watched the games. I've watched games from the FINALS where numerous shooters were given open looks and defenders didn't even close out on them. Didn't even make an effort. I'm not depending on some rose-tinted vision of the NBA I remember from 30 years ago to tell me how good those teams were. It's easy to look them up and watch.
Personally I feel like the stars really haven't changed that much, but the role players and supplementary players have improved vastly from the level they were at in the 80s and even to a lesser extent, the 90s.
This, if any of the old school teams time traveled to 2014 and played 2014 Spurs immediately, they would be destroyed by the advancements made in the last 20 years. The floor spacing, the defensive rotations, and offensive ball movement are all much much better combined with sports medicines and modern diet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G1mp1rI-WA
Do you honestly believe either one of these two teams can compete against 2014 Spurs out of box? If they spent a couple of years training with today's technology, maybe. Think about the difference in Olympic records between then and now。
Wasn't directed at you. And watching NBA Classics is not the same as watching during an era. It's like reading a boxscore or watching NBATV highlights you get a piece but not the whole story.
Watch that video hitman linked. Tell me that's modern NBA Final level compe ion you see.
Mehh modern NBA finals saw the Spurs one of the best coached team ever choke away a le ...Lebron quit more than once, Kobe's 6-24 as well as horrid shooting from everyone in that series not named Artest in Game 7 and Fisher and Ray in spurts. I can easily link highlights of bad Finals play from the last 5 years. Heck even Timmy missed a key bunny ...
Alright I'll flip the script for you. Find me a long sequence of modern era level playoff basketball from any of the team pre-Bad Boy Pistons.
I did not remember teams having mental choke jobs like the Thunder, Clippers and Warriors repeatedly in playoffs. Extremely low basketball IQ in today's NBA
So wait a sec. Do you actually believe that choke jobs are a recent phenomenon in sports? Can you actually say that with a straight face? Related question: Are you 12?
I know it was not at me but My point about some of the recent choking is the implication you and others have made that today's level of finals play as being awesome when there is plenty of examples of it being less than so.
The tension of 2010 was amazing but that series was almost as ugly as the Nets/Spurs or Rox/Knicks finals. Just because they play more advanced defense now doesnt make a Finals better played or more enjoyable. In the 80's except for Moses sweep and the Celtics spank of Rox most series were more entertaining than anything we have today I will take the 1980, 1984, 1985 and 1987 Finals over every other finals the past 10 years except 2013 which was played very well despite "6" ...
And even Magic and Bird (especially Magic) choked a Finals ... the key like with the Spurs is avenging the loss. You dont get the other back but if the Spurs never repeat avenging that loss to me makes it the most impressive of the 5.
not sure anymore what's your pointWho cares who it was against? I just showed you where intimidation worked against your own team. Of course it's old school now since the NBA white-washed the league for the casual fan. And that ridiculous defensive 3 second rule doesn't hurt to get guys out of the paint as well.
Do you in your right mind think Jordan or Pippen are going to be intimidated by the likes of Green and Leonard on the perimeter or when posting them up? Do you think if they see geriatric Tim Duncan or Splitter in the paint they're going to think twice about getting their shot blocked or altered? no. And PER
Geriatric Duncan ?
and again MJ / Pippen will have their points and stuff, next question is whoelse ? 92 Bulls have the two best players, Spurs have the next 10...
it's quite easy in retrospect to say the Heat / OKC ain't no
Agree for the most part. IMO level of play usually (but not always) correlates with enjoyment and positive viewing experiences.
Yeah, before the Finals started the Heat were already being placed into the pantheon of all-time great teams. Even after Game 2, when the Spurs showed that they could AT LEAST stay close to the Heat, everyone said the Spurs were in trouble. Queue the most dominating 3 games in NBA Finals history and suddenly the Heat were a bad team, even though they made the Finals 4 years in a row.it's quite easy in retrospect to say the Heat / OKC ain't no
Today's game is boring tbh
3 ball 3 ball 3 ball
Booooooooooring
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