86 celtics. I never saw the russell celtics or the wilt lakers, but it'd be hard to image them better than the 86 celtics.
for one season, that Fo Fo Fo team was the best. They absolutely crushed two other teams on everyone's list of best. No one schooled great teams like that before. Outstanding defense...incredible...and with 2 types of offense...a big lineup and a fast lineup. Unstoppable.
HP- I loved that Sixer team: Moses at center, what a rebounding machine, seemed like he was always at the charity stripe. Marc Iavaroni at PF with Bobby Jones winning the 6th Man of the year award getting most of the minutes. Dr. J at SF Andrew Toney at SG, when he waws healthy he was one of the best offensive players around. Mo Cheeks at PG I always loved the matchups of the Lakers (Kareem, Magic, Scott, Worty), Celtics (Bird, McHale, Chief, Ainge, DJ), the Sixers, and towardss the end Detroit (Isiah, Dumars, Laimbeer, Rodman, Aguirre). Back in the 80's basketball was truly a team game. THe Championship teams always had 3-4 all-star caliber players. Nowadays most teams have 2 good players (who take all the shots, make all the money, etc) and some other pieces. But the 80's were indeed a glorious time for the NBA. I also was not old enough to see the old Celtic teams with Red A. but they had so much talent they had to be amazing!
The 86 Celtics were very good, and much as I like them, the cores of the Celtics and Lakers played in the Finals 3 times, and the Lakers won 2. Celtics won 3 overall, Lakers won 5. I'm a Wilt fan, and I could say that for one year, Wilt's 66-67 76ers were the best team, going 68-13, even after losing their starting PG. Larry Costello, Hal, Greer, a rookie Billy Cunningham off the bench, Luke Jackson, Wali Jones, Chet Walker, Matt Goukas... man what a team. Wilt had another great team with the 71-72 Lakers that won 33 in a row and 69-14 overall. West, Hairston, Goodrich, McMillan. But guess who won 90% of the time? The Celtics. All those teams won a year-long battle, but not the war. I don't know about best team ever.
The 96 Bulls team that went 72-10 and finished 87-13 overall. The record should speak for itself. That is just incredible errr incredibull.
It has to be the Rockets! Seriously ... Hate the Bulls, but they seem to be an obvious choice in the past decade. The Showtime Lakers too ... hard to decide ...
Wasn't James Worthy injured in the 1983 Finals? Was he a big part of that team in his rookie season of 1983? Just curious.
Saying this makes me feel dirty, but I think it has to be the '96 Bulls that won 72 games. Jordan, Pippen, Kukoc and Rodman all in their prime. Wow.
