i don't either. just saying arguably no team since bird/magic entered the league (plutoblue11 pointed out the parity-laden 70's) has played such a weak group, particularly when you consider the quality of their best opponent vs other year's best opponent. no one has only played a 52 win team. the wins totals i listed already assumed an 82 game schedule. the actual win totals were 35, 44, 44, and 46.
Nuggets and Blazers were the hottest teams in the Bubble. Rockets weren't shabby either. And don't even get me started on the Miami Heat, they roasted the 62 win Milwaukee team with the 2 time MVP This was a legit title just as any other titles. Was this 2020 Lakers not as good as the dominant 2009 or 2010 Lakers or even the 2012/2013 Heat or the 17/18 Warriors. I would say yes. But its not this team's fault that Rockets/Harden could not figure out how to play winning basketball together and it showed in the playoffs It's not their fault that Clippers/Kawhi choked. It's not their fault that Milwaukee got exposed because their best guys are inexperienced.
The Rockets have arguably the best backcourt in the league. MVP award winners, Olympic Gold Medalists, All Stars, All-NBA and possibly 2010s All-Decade team. They have accomplished incredible things in the regular season considering the state of today's game and credit to them for translating their talent into incredible numbers. This is a guard-favoring game, both Harden and Westbrook theoretically should flourish in the playoffs too. But both are incredibly flawed, have blind spots that can be easily abused and it showed how being their best in the regular season doesn't translate to effective and winning basketball in the playoffs
Come on those are great players with great teams. Lebron in that MVP season lost to that Dwight. Melo had Billups/Camby/JR Smith. Both squads were terrific
No Nintendo this post. All I said was that the reason a Rockets' championship would have been considered differently than this Laker's championship is that they would have beaten a much better team, the Lakers, than any the Lakers beat. In the end, who cares? A championship is a championship no matter how weak it is.
To say they only got some favorable reffing is an understatement. I feel teams also went soft on them as part of a consensual marketing agreement for league survival and honoring Kobe.. Hopefully the NBA figures something out for 'a' next season.
you should update your rankings every once in a while. westbrook isn't good. hasn't been for a while. this isn't 7 years ago. or even 3 years ago. and he sucked even more in the bubble. the rockets were a 4 seed in the regular season. played like a 4 seed in the playoffs.
it's like people can't just call a spade a spade. we gotta start going circular logic and convincing ourselves that the bucks were good and the heat beat them, so the heat must be great, even with 2 of their 3 best players out, so the team that beat them must be even better! as if every conference finalist and finalist from every single year are all equal because, well, they made the conference finals or the finals. the baron davis warriors didn't become the best team in the league because they beat dirk. it just means they won a series. could the lakers have beaten a better group of opponents? sure. but the group they faced was just a weak bunch for a title run.
On paper perhaps but basically being cooped up in a bubble after months that's going to be real tough. I am surprised they didn't tear each other apart. At some point you get sick at running into the same dudes every day.
I am adamant that the Heat figured this bubble situation without real home and road games out. I think Toronto and Celts have real shots with advantages back home. Denver could be more dangerous with altitude as well.
Remember when CF thought the Rockets were a title contender? We totally embraced the asterisk at that time. Now the Lakers won. Why is it not an asterisk?
It may have been but it really doesn't matter. You play who you have to play. It's not their fault that the Clippers and Bucks decided to completely fall on their faces in the playoffs. At the end of the day, I greatly prefer when a less talented team manages to pull it off than when a completely stacked unfair team just steamrolls their way through the competition. At least we had to see some adjustments on the way to the title. LeBron actually had to flip the switch to win. There are recently title runs where the champions won on autopilot.
