If the Thunder had this version of Harden / WB / last year's Durant, I think they could have 4-1'd or 4-2'd the Heat. Definitely "what could have been..."
This ignores the fact that it's unlikely Harden develops into the player he is if he stayed in OKC. For example, he only finally committed to defense this year because of all the mockery from last year as the face of the franchise. He's developed as an offensive player by having free reign to run a team for a few years. Who knows how good he is if he'd always been a 3rd option in OKC. We saw with Miami the last few years and Cleveland this year that if you put 3 in-their-prime stars together, at least one likely has to take a back seat.
2007-2008 Rockets and 2008-2009 Rockets Health was a major major factor in dismantling this team. If everyone was healthy and at full strength, we win a title no doubt. This team could've had a full-strength starting line-up of: PG-Steve Francis (Was trying to make a comeback from a knee injury) SG-Tracy McGrady SF-Shane Battier/Ron Artest PF-Luis Scola C- Yao Ming Bench: Aaron Brooks, Carl Landry, Bonzi Wells, Dikembe Mutombo, Mike James, Rafer Alston. Sigh....
He was rated a good defender in OKC. His D sucked here early on because he was playing a TON of minutes and carrying the scoring load. A lot of playing D is just effort. It takes a lot out of you to be locked in on both ends for 40 minutes a night. Makes what Jordan was doing in the late 80s/early 90s even more impressive.
Here is a list of 60 win teams since 80-81 that did not win the championship: 2010-11 Bulls 62-10 This was Rose's MVP year where he averaged 25/4/8 in the regular season and 27/4/8 in the playoffs. You still had a productive Boozer averaging 17.5/9.5, in his prime Deng and a young Noah. This team had it all but ran up against the Heat in LeBron's first year there and he shut down Rose in the Eastern Conference Finals. 2008-09 Cavaliers 66-16 This was LeBron's coming out party in the NBA and when the best player in the NBA began to shift from Kobe to LeBron. LeBron averaged 28.5/7.5/7/2/1 on his way to his first MVP. There was no other star or even someone close to being a star on this team but you still had solid talent in Mo Williams, Z and Varejao. This team was primed to steamroll through the playoffs sweeping their 1st two series until losing in 6 to Orlando. 05-06 Pistons 64-18 This was right in the middle of there run of 6 straight Eastern Conference Finals appearances. They had won the title 2 years earlier and lost the title in the previous season but this was the best Piston team during the run mainly because Tayshaun was now in the prime of his career along with Rip and Chauncey and you still had a productive Sheed and Ben. The Pistons were primed to make a 3rd straight Finals appearance before losing out to a team that had the same type of team mentality in the Heat but had two stars to go along with that. 2004-05 Suns 62-20 This team was just stacked with talent and played the game unlike anyone else at that time. Nash won his first MVP and had guys like Amar'e, Matrix, Joe Johnson and Q Rich at his disposal. This team was poised to go all the way until a hard Horry foul on Nash broke the Suns down and the suspensions that followed took them out of that series. 2003-04 Pacers 61-21 This was the team that preceded the Malace at the Palace Pacers, while the argument can be made for that team, we never got to see them at full strength. This team however might have been a crazy Tayshaun block on Reggie in the Conference Finals away from the Finals itself. Jermaine O'Neal was a star and Artest was about as close to a star as one could get. Add in Miller's outside shooting and great defense and you get a great team that did not win a title. 2002-03 Mavericks 60-22 This was the high point of the 1st iteration of great Mavs teams under Cuban before they added the Twan's (Walker and Jamison). Dirk probably had a better regular season here then his MVP year a few years later, Finley was still a stud and Nash was Nash. Had Dirk not gone down in the Conference Finals they might not be on this list as with Dirk they probably beat the Spurs and of course crush the Nets. 2001-02 Kings 61-21 Mentioned numerous times already so I won't go into great detail, but this was the best Kings team of this timeframe and were legitly screwed by bad officiating. 1996-97 Jazz 64-18 I omitted the following years version of the Jazz (62-20) that also lost to the Bulls since this one had the better record. As much as we hate this team they were good. Malone and Stockton were the two guys from the great stretch of talent that came out between 83-85 that continued to play at a high level for the longest amount of time. They were just a great team that ran up against MJ. Something that became a theme for teams in the 90s. 1995-95 Supersonics 64-18 Lost in the Bulls record 72-10 season is the great year the Sonics had. Payton had established himself as a star by this time and Kemp already was one. Both were at there peak here and a great team around them. To illustrate Payton's superior D this was the only series in Jordan's 6 rings that he did not average over 30 in the Finals. Even though Payton complains that he didn't get to check Jordan enough in this series, they were still able to hold him well below his playoff averages. 1994-95 Spurs 62-20 This was Robinson at his absolute peak in his MVP year. Of course we know the story of Olajuwon using the pre game MVP ceremony at game 1 as motivation for the greatest series one great center has ever had against another one. But that doesn't take away from how good this Spurs team was with Rodman alongside Robinson, Elliott being close to a star wing and good role wings in Del Negro and Person. 1992-93 Suns 62-20 The second Suns team to show up on this list was another team that fell victim to MJ dropping over 40 a game in the Finals. Barkley was at his peak in his MVP season and kept up that play in the playoffs hitting his most famous shot in that buzzer beater at the top of the key against the Spurs pre Alamodome. KJ was just a notch below star player and Majerle, Dumas, Ainge and Chambers gave this team a great supporting cast. 1990-91 Trail Blazers 63-19 When people think of the Blazers of this era they instantly go to the two teams that went to the Finals. This might have been the best team of this era though that lost to the Lakers in the Conference Finals. Seven guys averaged double digit points and all there top guys were in their mid to late 20s. This team was so good that losing to Magic's Lakers was considered an upset. 1981-82 Celtics 63-19 I am only listing this team from the 80s as a lot of the years both the Celtics and Lakers won over 60 games and then traded Finals wins. But this team is interesting because of how young there core was (Parrish was still under 30 here) and the veteran guys they had in Archibald, Carr and future head coach Ford. They were clearly the best team that year but fell to the Sixers in the Conference Finals.
Here's a top 15 list of teams with high winning %s that did not win it all. '72-'73 Boston Celtics (68-14) Led by MVP Dave Cowens, John Havlicek & Jo-Jo White. Coached by COTY Tom Heinsohn. Upset in the Eastern Conference Finals by the eventual champion New York Knicks. Would win 2 titles later in the decade ('74, '76). '06-'07 Dallas Mavericks (67-15) Led by MVP Dirk Nowitzki, Josh Howard and Jason Terry. Coached by Avery Johnson. As we all know and love, were upset in the first round by Golden State, who proved to be a bad matchup. Dirk & Terry would win a title together with Dallas in 2011. '46-'47 Washington Capitols (49-11) Lost in the semifinals in the inaugural NBA season to the Chicago Stags. Had winning streaks of 17 and 15 and had an undefeated December. Key players were Bob Feerick and Fred Scolari. '08-'09 Cleveland Cavaliers (66-16) Led by MVP LeBron James, Mo Williams and Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Coached by COTY Mike Brown. Lost in the Eastern Conference Finals to the Orlando Magic. As of today, Cleveland has not returned to the ECF since. '49-'50 Syracuse Nationals (51-13) Behind player-coach Al Cervi and Dolph Schayes, started 16-1 and had a 12 game winning streak before losing in the NBA Finals to George Mikan's Minneapolis Lakers. The Nats, with Cervi and Schayes, would win a title in 1955. '95-'96 Seattle SuperSonics (64-18) Led by DPOY Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp and Detlef Schrempf. Coached by George Karl. Lost in the NBA Finals to the Chicago Bulls, the NBA's greatest team in history. Had a 14 game winning streak. Seattle did not get this deep again. '96-'97 Utah Jazz (64-18) Led by MVP Karl Malone, John Stockton, and Jeff Hornacek. Coached by Jerry Sloan. Lost in the NBA Finals to the Chicago Bulls. Utah would lose again to the Bulls the following year. (Jordan was a roadblock for a lot of great teams.) Utah has yet to win a title. '05-'06 Detroit Pistons (64-18) Led by All-Stars Chauncey Billups, (DPOY) Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace and Richard Hamilton. Coached by Flip Saunders. Lost in the Eastern Conference Finals to eventual champions Miami Heat. Detroit was in the midst of a 6 year run of making the ECF, making the Finals twice and winning once ('03-04). '71-'72 Milwaukee Bucks (63-19) Led by MVP Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson and Bob Dandridge. Coached by Larry Costello. Lost in the Western Conference Finals to eventual NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers, one of the top 3 best teams in NBA history. The Bucks had just won the title the year before. '81-'82 Boston Celtics (63-19) Led by Larry Bird, Robert Parish, Kevin McHale and Cedric Maxwell. Coached by Bill Fitch. Would lose to the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference Finals. Boston had won the year before, and would win again in '84 and '86. '84-'85 Boston Celtics (63-19) Led by MVP Larry Bird, 6MOY Kevin McHale, Robert Parish and Dennis Johnson. Coached by K.C. Jones. Lost in the NBA Finals to an equally great Los Angeles Lakers team. The Celtics were coming off a title win, and would win again the next year. '89-'90 Los Angeles Lakers (63-19) Led by MVP Magic Johnson, James Worthy and Byron Scott. Coached by Pat Riley. Upset in the Western Conference Semi-finals by a Phoenix Suns team led by Tom Chambers and Kevin Johnson. The Lakers were coming off of a Finals loss to Detroit a year ago. '90-'91 Portland Trailblazers (63-19) Led by Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter and Kevin Duckworth. Coached by Rick Adelman. Lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. This squad started 19-1 and had a 16 game winning streak. Portland would advance the following year only to lose to a Jordan-led Bulls team. '93-'94 Seattle SuperSonics (63-19) Led by Shawn Kemp, Gary Payton and Detlef Schrempf. Coached by George Karl. Upset in the First Round by the 8 seeded Denver Nuggets, the first upset of its kind. Seattle would be upset again the next season before making it to the Finals in '96. '05-'06 San Antonio Spurs (63-19) Led by Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. Coached by Gregg Poppovich. Lost to the eventual Western Conference Champion Dallas Mavericks in the Semifinals. This same core of Spurs would go on to appear in 3 NBA Finals, winning two ('07, '14).
You will soon be able to Golden State to the lists. The Warriors are going to get knocked out of the playoffs in the first or second round.
The mid 90's Sonics teams had 3, 60 win seasons. Over a 6 year stretch they averaged 60 wins, that is an easy answer in my book. They did some epic postseason choking.
FIFY. I don't know who in the west could beat them. Maybe the Grizzles? The Rockets could if Dwight is in tip top form and Harden is lights out. Not much else. If the Mavs are there NBA 2k form sure, who else? Portland? Ha!
Too bad Kevin Durant won't be able to play in the playoffs. And I would have love to see the Thunder beat the Warriors in the first round. In my opinion I think the Thunder are the most talented team when they are healthy and the favorites to win it all. But injuries kept them away from it.
