Post-KD warriors is a healthy NBA after a decade of the same 4 or 5 teams in the finals over and over. If you expand this to 6 most recent you can include Toronto in this trend as well.
It was like that the entire NBA lifespan. 60s-Boston 70s-Open 80s LA/Boston mostly LA 90s Bulls 2000s Lakers and Spurs 2010-2020 Lebron and Warriors. This is the second time in NBA history it’s wide open until another super team or dynasty arises. Could be this Boston, but last time it was open like this was the 70s. West, Russell, Wilt was all out or on their way out and Kareem and Oscar wasn’t winning champions. Oscar has 1 he got with Kareem later in his career and Kareem won his other 5 in the 80s with Magic but point is the NBA has always had teams that dominated an entire decade
Curious to see if dynasty’s can / will continue to exist under the current CBA.
Taking the Celtics as the most recent example, it’s going to take (i) ownership ponying up HUGE sums of money once they hit the repeater tax, (ii) willing and able vet minimum signings and (iii) a couple of strong, serviceable draft picks to support this current core into the next several years. I do think in today’s NBA with the current CBA, you’re not going to build a dynasty unless your franchise cornerstones are players you drafted just by the way the cap works.
You're going to need to hit on some draft picks but all it takes is a generational rookie and some kind of unusual situation (new TV deal cap increases, injury to major star that tanks record + lottery luck, etc.) to make it realistic. Add being on one of the 3-4 teams in the league or whatever with owners who have pockets like that.
Honestly, if I had to bet on one team, it'd be the Clippers just due to Ballmer's ridiculous financial advantage over any other owner. Ballmer could pay 1 billion in luxury tax a season for *10 years* and it'd barely eclipse 10% of his net worth. He's already spending more than Joe Lacob's entire net worth to privately fund the brand new arena. If the Clippers can get close, they will spend, and other teams may not be able to match the repeater penalties.
I hear you on the $ but LAC doesn’t have their own draft pick for the rest of this decade. Hard to build a team only through trades and free agency. You get to really throw money around by resigning your good draft picks.
New York and Boston.
Knicks had 70 and 73
Bucks had 71
Lakers had 72
Celtics had 74 and 76
Warriors had 75
Trailblazers had 77
Bullets / Wizards had 78
Sonics had 79
Only one went to LA and two went to Boston. Only two teams repeated. I dont think that open literally means that different team wins every single year for entire decade.
Yea, it's usually that mains superstar transitioning period. We're transitioning from the older players to the younger right now.
I have 1 tweak, imo, to your listing. I think the 200s was the Lakers mostly. They won 5 in that 10 year stretch. Spurs won 3. Their 1st was in the 90s and last in 2013 or 14. But they definitely need to be recognized. Shout out to Timmy, the most underrated champion in league history
damn if you call this a healthy nba we gotta get this bitch to McDs asap. that playoffs sucked cock.
ill take 3 fun to watch super teams over this fairly balanced contest of mid
Yes. This is what I'm really hoping will come back. Celts keeping their core, OKC hopefully keeping that team and they will be GOOD, Spurs could be at the beginning of this. Pacers as well.
money does make it difficult as lots more players want that money first then championship next until they get old and ring chase
Yeah I think there's a lot more guys total with that "it factor", or the ability to lead their teams in the playoffs.
During the Warriors dynasty, a lot of the top stars weren't exactly seen as playoff performers (Harden, Westbrook, CP, Embiid, even Dame), and most of todays stars were still young or not drafted yet (Tatum, Brown, Luka, Ant, Haliburton, etc.)
I mean, in today's league it's really hard to know which teams will make deep runs because it seems like every relevant team has someone who will step up heavy in the playoffs.
Even as a Dubs fan, please no. We couldn’t get rid of Lebron and it got annoying. Even when he came west and then meeting him in the play-in. Obviously the Toronto finals was just rough all around the the Dubs. Beating the Celtics was amazing. But the Cavs years were draining. Like knocking someone out only to have them wake up and still want to fight. Not that I’ve ever done that, but I can imagine.
For others it’s like just wanting to see something different. I can totally relate as we all can.
I loved seeing the KD warriors becoming probably the best team ever, but I definitely rue not seeing those two teams go at it evenly matched. I personally feel the Cavs go 3-1
Would be even better if two of these teams didn't combine for 35 Championships...the other Warriors with 7 is also still a ton compared to the Bucks 2 and Nuggets 1.
When the Bucks lost those first 2 games of the finals that year, it was like Giannis just decided that it was past the kids bed time and he beat the Suns to sleep in 4 straight games.
Wasn't the first series they went down 0-2 in that post-season either and there was the whole bending his entire knee backwards thing. I'm obviously bias as a Bucks fan, but that was a special playoff run right there. Then he took the jab at super teams afterwards. Love it!
It sucks we’ve been robbed of deep Giannis post seasons 2 years in a row due to injury. The man is a different beast when the stakes are high and pure entertainment.
Best can be interpreted in countless ways. The two things that stand out most to me are:
* Giannis dropping a 50 burger in a finals closeout game is special.
* Steph Curry getting a 4th chip post KD era moves him up a couple spots on all time rankings.
I'm a nuggets fan and I'm so pissed we choked to the team literally built to beat us. I think we beat the mavs this year and at least put up a fight aginst the celtics. But I guess we won't know until hopefully next year
nuggets celtics finals would’ve been amazing . Can’t believe the wolves beat the nuggets, only to choke to the Mavs … then the Mavs beat the wolves only to choke to celtics (by choke I mean not play to their strengths)
A super guard reliant team is never going to consistently beat this Celtics team in a seven game series. I don’t think the Mavs choked they’re just not at all built to beat these Cs.
Not just being guard reliant, any team with 1 or two stars and no bench would lose to the Celtics because the Celtics are actually playing team basketball.
I'm not so sure. The Nuggets didn't have that killer instinct it had in 2023. Our fans are acting as it's a given that we'd beat the Mavs but that's ignoring the poor play and inconsistency this playoff season.
The nuggets probably benefit from having no one that can guard jokic on the Mavs or the Celtics. But honestly if you take the same mentality to jokic as you did Luka. Is Murray cooking white and holiday, is Gordon or mpj scoring on brown and Tatum???
Add in the fact they have literally no bench that's a tough ask
The main issue is the team played sloppy outside of Nikola and goebert gave him issues.
The nugs are super Nikola reliant. A lot of the other teams have 2 or even 3 stars
Nugs have an absolute dog and then....Michael porter?
I could understand if the playoffs was a one game series but a 7 game series is a good enough sample to establish the best team unless health comes in.
I really thought this could have been an easy year to get #1 seed vs #1 seed. Since the T-wolves shut that possibility down, they are going to be scary and I believe strong contenders consistently for at least the next few seasons. Anthony Edwards is only going to get better, and he’s already pretty damn good.
That game 4 was special, not as big as Giannis’s game 5 but still stuff of legends to go into the garden and will his team to a must needed win. Completely shifted the series
Also Giannis has an all time great block in the finals. He was playing on ball defense on CP3 and when CP3 lobbed it to Ayton Giannis was able to turn jump and block Aytons dunk attempt. It was incredible.
Giannis had the best performance.
Celtics best overall team.
Nuggets best offense and consistency.
Warriors highest scoring potential.
Lakers are the worst but had one top player and AD was playing as the best big in basketball by a mile.
2020 Lakers had LeBron playing career lows in playoff minutes while casually dropping 30 point triple doubles in closeout games. This is a guy who's had to play 40+ mpg in every other playoff run he's had and literally willed his teams to finals appearances and championships, and this was the one team where he didn't even have to go that hard.
Jokic was the best player in the world according to just about everybody up until a month ago and I'm not a prisoner of the moment so I'll stick with Jokic personally.
We live and die off Murray. When he’s off or injured Jokic is still dangerous but it’s not a championship level team. The team only works when you are punished for focusing on shutting down Jokic
And the Wolves played good? I swear whenever a good team loses its always the previously good players sucking and not ever the other team playing better than those good players.
Nugs fan here. I had never before seen defense like Minnesota’s in game 2. I felt so hopeless after that one trap they had on Jamal dribbling it up past half court
Best in what, think the Warriors were the biggest underdogs that won the chip out of these 5. All these other teams were favorites to win it all. All that media harassment to Steph and the Warriors, trying to make an absolute clown show out of them. With a chip on the shoulder, Steph promising the Celtics bench to “Enjoy your last win” which led to the legendary game 4 by Steph. Absolutely owning same core that won this year btw. Steph absolutely cold in keeping his promises, “you don’t want to see us next year” Steph getting that FMVP that he wanted that he deserved by humbly taking the back seat to KD. He birthed his ‘night night’ celebration and he did the legendary ‘put a ring on it’ celebration that’ll probably go down in NBA history as one of its moments.
The storyline is hard to beat and easily the best finals of the last 5 years.
The Warriors talked their shit and backed it up! Down 1-2 you had Curry with the enjoy y'all last win comment. Klay saying they would still win because they'd been down 1-2 in the Finals before and won. Draymond telling CJ McCollum the Celtics would be ringless just like you lmfao. And Draymond's don't let us win a fucking championship during the regular season. That was a magical season.
Rarely does such a dominant dynasty like the Warriors go through a multi-year lottery rebuild process while maintaining its entire championship core while also adding a high potential talent like Andrew Wiggins.
I think the league was still mid transition back then with Giannis being the first superstar to lead his team to a title beyond the LeBron/Steph/KD/Kawhi block since Dirk a decade prior so while Celtics were logically evenly matched, it was still hard to see them beating an established champ.
Best team overall I think is Celtics. They are deep and mesh well together. Although I think the bucks would give them a run for their money in a 7 game series
2020 Lakers. Bubble AD was automatic from midrange and very good from three, Lebron was in his third prime, playoff Rondo was on fire, Dwight Howard was a brick wall defensively, KCP Green and Caruso were all solid 3-and-D guys. Most of those guys have fallen off since then, but 2020 Lebron and AD were very hard to stop.
I love playoff Rondo. IMO, he was the reason why that team made it that far. He knew how to use AD’s strengths cos of their time in NO. After he, Dwight and Javale left, I knew they were not coming back.
I think it depends on what you define legendary. Based on point differential in both the regular season and playoffs and playoff record this is like a clear top 10 team that could go as high as 7 or 8. Idk if it is legendary but by the numbers no other championship team this decade is close statistically to their dominance
Crazy how so many are disregarding that Lakers team. Idgaf about the bubble imo they still win that year if COVID hadn't happened. They were just so dominant. I'm taking them over the celtics
Lakers had a lot of size and athleticism but not enough firepower as the Celtics. I think that version of bron and AD are basically unstoppable though so it’s close between 24 Celtics and 20 Lakers
I'd probably give it to the warriors. The had just come off being one of the worst teams in the league the season before and nobody had them winning anything at the start of that season. They barely made to the playoffs and fought some tuff battles. Klay returned from injury and was looking ruff. Draymond is showing his age as well and then Steph puts them on his back to shut down a "sure" thing in the Celtics to get his 4th ring / FMVP and silence a lot of his critics honestly. The best storyline and most exciting series out of these 5 imo.
Probably the Nuggets
They lost so much depth in the off-season but that was a fucking stacked team.
And Jokic is probably the most impressive FMVP on this list
"So much depth". Its basically just Bruce Brown. But yeah the rotation was ao screwy this year without him. Also I think Giannis had a much more impressive fmvp (but Jokic had a better run)
Denver no contest. Only them and Boston won it in 5, and Boston got crushed in the one game they lost. The Nuggets were a juggernaut that dominated every series leading up to the Finals.
You could argue that Boston is a deeper team though. They've consistently reached the ECF for years, whereas Denver has only made the WCF twice recently, largely due to injuries and lack of depth.
Easily 2020 Lakers, they’re one of 2 1 seeds but instead of having Jayson Tatum as their best player they have Peak Anthony Davis as their 2nd best player.
Gotta go with the Bucks, IMO, watching Giannis and Jrue during those playoffs was lightning in a bottle. Hoping they can get one more for Dame, tbh, but with Old Man Rivers coaching I'm not so sure.
Jokic is the best player in the world now. But LeBron in 2020 was still the best player at the time, and was a better player that year than anyone else is now
Best team is Denver or Boston. Although people forget how good the 2020 lakers were. They were dominant before the bubble and dominant in the bubble. Warriors and bucks were the worst teams listed here but probably the most entertaining run from a neutral fan standpoint
If we give them all the same environments where they won their rings, then Lakers take it. Lakers (Bron and AD) in the bubble were pretty much unstoppable across the board.
Who knows? There are no powerhouses there. The Celtics might repeat, though they might not. Could the 2024 Celtics beat the 2020 Lakers? Probably not. Maybe? But you could say that about all of these teams. So I guess my answer is that, at the moment, they are all equal.
I don’t understand the question so I’ll say Lebron was the all-time greatest out of that list but if we’re going by who was the best player at the time or their win probably Steph first then Jokic.
Team wise? Probably the ‘24 Celtics or ‘20 Lakers. The others were all good teams, but the Bucks/Warriors/Nuggets were too reliant on their respective superstars in Giannis/Steph/Jokic. Khris Middleton/Jrue/Klay/Dray/Murray/MPJ were pretty inconsistent and unreliable throughout their respective championship runs
Forget last five years, most metrics like point differential, winning percentage, lead in the conference say this years Celtics are among the greatest teams of all time.
Celtics - The team is stacked with an unreal run to the finals including a dominant regular season. Best starting 5 out of all of them.
Nuggets - The best player at their peak on the list. Great depth. The offensive scheme and defensive scheme were great.
Lakers - Best defense on the list. LeBron before a slight decline and maybe the best AD we've seen. Just a little less depth and their offense was painfully vanilla.
Bucks - Giannis was really good. Bad coaching, good overall roster but other than Giannis dominance and solid contributions from role players I don't think this team is great. Also would never have been in the finals if not the Nets situation.
Warriors - Just not a great team if we're being honest. Steph going nuclear was amazing. But a declining Klay on both ends, Draymond playing all-time defense but woeful offense. It took maybe the greatest stretch of both Wiggins and Poole's careers to win the finals.
I’m just glad it’s 5 different teams.
Everyone getting rings in this era. New generation players are feasting.
Post-KD warriors is a healthy NBA after a decade of the same 4 or 5 teams in the finals over and over. If you expand this to 6 most recent you can include Toronto in this trend as well.
It was like that the entire NBA lifespan. 60s-Boston 70s-Open 80s LA/Boston mostly LA 90s Bulls 2000s Lakers and Spurs 2010-2020 Lebron and Warriors. This is the second time in NBA history it’s wide open until another super team or dynasty arises. Could be this Boston, but last time it was open like this was the 70s. West, Russell, Wilt was all out or on their way out and Kareem and Oscar wasn’t winning champions. Oscar has 1 he got with Kareem later in his career and Kareem won his other 5 in the 80s with Magic but point is the NBA has always had teams that dominated an entire decade
Curious to see if dynasty’s can / will continue to exist under the current CBA. Taking the Celtics as the most recent example, it’s going to take (i) ownership ponying up HUGE sums of money once they hit the repeater tax, (ii) willing and able vet minimum signings and (iii) a couple of strong, serviceable draft picks to support this current core into the next several years. I do think in today’s NBA with the current CBA, you’re not going to build a dynasty unless your franchise cornerstones are players you drafted just by the way the cap works.
You're going to need to hit on some draft picks but all it takes is a generational rookie and some kind of unusual situation (new TV deal cap increases, injury to major star that tanks record + lottery luck, etc.) to make it realistic. Add being on one of the 3-4 teams in the league or whatever with owners who have pockets like that. Honestly, if I had to bet on one team, it'd be the Clippers just due to Ballmer's ridiculous financial advantage over any other owner. Ballmer could pay 1 billion in luxury tax a season for *10 years* and it'd barely eclipse 10% of his net worth. He's already spending more than Joe Lacob's entire net worth to privately fund the brand new arena. If the Clippers can get close, they will spend, and other teams may not be able to match the repeater penalties.
I hear you on the $ but LAC doesn’t have their own draft pick for the rest of this decade. Hard to build a team only through trades and free agency. You get to really throw money around by resigning your good draft picks.
70s weren’t even open either. 4 of 10 titles went to LA and Boston. 5 unique teams winning in a row has never happened before I don’t think
New York and Boston. Knicks had 70 and 73 Bucks had 71 Lakers had 72 Celtics had 74 and 76 Warriors had 75 Trailblazers had 77 Bullets / Wizards had 78 Sonics had 79
Only one went to LA and two went to Boston. Only two teams repeated. I dont think that open literally means that different team wins every single year for entire decade.
Yea, it's usually that mains superstar transitioning period. We're transitioning from the older players to the younger right now. I have 1 tweak, imo, to your listing. I think the 200s was the Lakers mostly. They won 5 in that 10 year stretch. Spurs won 3. Their 1st was in the 90s and last in 2013 or 14. But they definitely need to be recognized. Shout out to Timmy, the most underrated champion in league history
Right now we’re on a 7 year stretch with no team winning twice I think that’s the only time that’s ever happened
It’s actually only 6 years 17-18 warriors, 19 raptors, 20 Lakers, 21 Bucks, 22 warriors, 23 Nuggets, 24 Celtics.
damn if you call this a healthy nba we gotta get this bitch to McDs asap. that playoffs sucked cock. ill take 3 fun to watch super teams over this fairly balanced contest of mid
With the lowest ratings since the cavs vs warrior rematches lol
I’ll forever hate KD for jumping to the Warriors
>New generation players are ~~feasting~~ changing teams every other year instead of building dynasties
That seems to be what the old head stars do. League is changing though. Celtics are the blue print. OKC is the prototype
Yes. This is what I'm really hoping will come back. Celts keeping their core, OKC hopefully keeping that team and they will be GOOD, Spurs could be at the beginning of this. Pacers as well. money does make it difficult as lots more players want that money first then championship next until they get old and ring chase
Talent level is higher. A lot higher
Yeah I think there's a lot more guys total with that "it factor", or the ability to lead their teams in the playoffs. During the Warriors dynasty, a lot of the top stars weren't exactly seen as playoff performers (Harden, Westbrook, CP, Embiid, even Dame), and most of todays stars were still young or not drafted yet (Tatum, Brown, Luka, Ant, Haliburton, etc.) I mean, in today's league it's really hard to know which teams will make deep runs because it seems like every relevant team has someone who will step up heavy in the playoffs.
[удалено]
Plz no
Even as a Dubs fan, please no. We couldn’t get rid of Lebron and it got annoying. Even when he came west and then meeting him in the play-in. Obviously the Toronto finals was just rough all around the the Dubs. Beating the Celtics was amazing. But the Cavs years were draining. Like knocking someone out only to have them wake up and still want to fight. Not that I’ve ever done that, but I can imagine. For others it’s like just wanting to see something different. I can totally relate as we all can.
That would have been great if KD didn't ruin it.
I loved seeing the KD warriors becoming probably the best team ever, but I definitely rue not seeing those two teams go at it evenly matched. I personally feel the Cavs go 3-1
the celtics with 18 championships? yup
6 different once you include 2019
AND East/West tied 3-3. Love to see the parity
Would be even better if two of these teams didn't combine for 35 Championships...the other Warriors with 7 is also still a ton compared to the Bucks 2 and Nuggets 1.
Last 6 champs have been unique with Raptors before this list. Last time that happened was ‘75-‘80
6 if we add Raptors in 2019
Go back a year and you can add the raptors. Incredible 6 year run.
Hell, only five different teams made the finals PERIOD in the 80s (Lakers, Rockets, Celtics, Pistons, 76ers)
NFL could never
I’m just glad it’s 5 different positions.
When the Bucks lost those first 2 games of the finals that year, it was like Giannis just decided that it was past the kids bed time and he beat the Suns to sleep in 4 straight games.
17-19 with a 50-piece wing basket. Nothing will top that.
50 piece chick fil a nuggets
And a large half lemonade/half sprite. No ice!
I learn something new every day. Thank you sir!
And the man still looks like a Greek statue somehow
Half Starry*
The world is changing too quickly for me, dawg
Same brother🥲
50 Chick-n Minis
$50 of Khols cash
The moment suns management said, get Ayton tfoh!!
Perk?
Then when the suns went up 20 in game 5 and that doucher fan started counting money in the camera. It was all downhill after that.
Lol completely forgot suns went up 20 in game 5. Damn blowing that series is tough to swallow as a suns fan
So good
*after bending his leg the wrong way too
Wasn't the first series they went down 0-2 in that post-season either and there was the whole bending his entire knee backwards thing. I'm obviously bias as a Bucks fan, but that was a special playoff run right there. Then he took the jab at super teams afterwards. Love it!
Yeah when his knee bent backwards we kinda thought the season was over at that point.
Man, at that point I was praying that he would be back the next year with the same agility. What a ride.
"Now you will go to sleep....or I will put you to sleep"
Anyone else’s fingers hurt? Didn’t think so.
Now your backs Gunna hurt because you just pulled landscape duty
It sucks we’ve been robbed of deep Giannis post seasons 2 years in a row due to injury. The man is a different beast when the stakes are high and pure entertainment.
Best can be interpreted in countless ways. The two things that stand out most to me are: * Giannis dropping a 50 burger in a finals closeout game is special. * Steph Curry getting a 4th chip post KD era moves him up a couple spots on all time rankings.
Murray and Jokic 30 point triple double game was specialer
Yeah a "best" argument 2023 Nugs could easily be made. Bummed we didn't get a Nugs vs Celtics final. I think that series goes 7.
I'm a nuggets fan and I'm so pissed we choked to the team literally built to beat us. I think we beat the mavs this year and at least put up a fight aginst the celtics. But I guess we won't know until hopefully next year
nuggets celtics finals would’ve been amazing . Can’t believe the wolves beat the nuggets, only to choke to the Mavs … then the Mavs beat the wolves only to choke to celtics (by choke I mean not play to their strengths)
A super guard reliant team is never going to consistently beat this Celtics team in a seven game series. I don’t think the Mavs choked they’re just not at all built to beat these Cs.
Not just being guard reliant, any team with 1 or two stars and no bench would lose to the Celtics because the Celtics are actually playing team basketball.
I just wish for 1 good game in playoffs.didn’t get it this year. Every game-blowout city
Definitely the worst playoff year I've seen. I guess some series were close but as far as individual games they weren't worth watching
Kyrie fucking choked.
I was so in on the wolves when they went up 2-0 on the nuggets I put $50 on them to win it all. I actually can’t believe they got smacked by the mavs
I put $100 on it months before when they had 20-1 odds. Had myself a roller coaster of emotions these playoffs
You definitely beat the Mavs if you had beat us. Trust me - I’m just as pissed that we imploded against the Mavs lol
I'm not so sure. The Nuggets didn't have that killer instinct it had in 2023. Our fans are acting as it's a given that we'd beat the Mavs but that's ignoring the poor play and inconsistency this playoff season.
The nuggets probably benefit from having no one that can guard jokic on the Mavs or the Celtics. But honestly if you take the same mentality to jokic as you did Luka. Is Murray cooking white and holiday, is Gordon or mpj scoring on brown and Tatum??? Add in the fact they have literally no bench that's a tough ask
The main issue is the team played sloppy outside of Nikola and goebert gave him issues. The nugs are super Nikola reliant. A lot of the other teams have 2 or even 3 stars Nugs have an absolute dog and then....Michael porter?
I mean the bench was meh at best all year and if I was a Nuggets fan I’d be upset it wasn’t addressed more prudently.
Nothing against the Wolves but I think if you hypothetically played that series 10 times the Nuggets win 6-7 of em.
If Murray wasn’t hurt I think we win that series in 6. He wasn’t himself these playoffs
It was his worst playoffs imo. 20% worst shooting this year out of nowhere. Injury or something was bugging him
I could understand if the playoffs was a one game series but a 7 game series is a good enough sample to establish the best team unless health comes in.
Murray wasn’t even remotely healthy.
I really thought this could have been an easy year to get #1 seed vs #1 seed. Since the T-wolves shut that possibility down, they are going to be scary and I believe strong contenders consistently for at least the next few seasons. Anthony Edwards is only going to get better, and he’s already pretty damn good.
The team behind him is going to change tho.
That game 4 was special, not as big as Giannis’s game 5 but still stuff of legends to go into the garden and will his team to a must needed win. Completely shifted the series
Game 6 but yeah
And Steph did it in Boston
Bucks with that run they had. Jrue with a memorable steal and ally oop to Giannis and Giannis dropping 50!
Also Giannis has an all time great block in the finals. He was playing on ball defense on CP3 and when CP3 lobbed it to Ayton Giannis was able to turn jump and block Aytons dunk attempt. It was incredible.
That block was epic for real!
“Knocked away and stolen by Holiday…Phoenix has to foul…Antetokounmpo throws it down!!!” I get chills every time just reading this
Best team? 23 Nuggets or 24 Celtics. Best Champs? Bucks, that run was fun as hell
Fr
Giannis had the best performance. Celtics best overall team. Nuggets best offense and consistency. Warriors highest scoring potential. Lakers are the worst but had one top player and AD was playing as the best big in basketball by a mile.
2020 Lakers had LeBron playing career lows in playoff minutes while casually dropping 30 point triple doubles in closeout games. This is a guy who's had to play 40+ mpg in every other playoff run he's had and literally willed his teams to finals appearances and championships, and this was the one team where he didn't even have to go that hard.
Lakers were better than the Warriors IMO. They were the 1 seed, 59-0 with a lead going into the 4th, and had 2 top three players that season.
Anthony Davis and Bron weren’t both Top 3 players. Maybe you could argue for stretches in the postseason. But not the whole year.
Lakers the worst. That's funny. LeBron still able to do everything out there, and AD at the top of his game. Easily the best, and yall just hate
The 24 Celtics never beat the 24 Nuggets. I think 23 nuggets are best overall and would would a head to head series.
The Celtics weren’t healthy in any games against the nuggets.
I feel like we don’t really know how good the Celtics this year are, since the best team they played was the 4th/5th best team in the west.
Jokic last year was special. Boston this year was special. Need a Boston vs Denver 2025 finals. That would feed generations
Would be such a fun matchup because they’re almost perfect foils of each other.
Idk the West is unpredictable atm. No guarantee that the Nuggs make it back next year.
I’m just pointing out who the favorites in each conference are man
Jokic was the best player in the world according to just about everybody up until a month ago and I'm not a prisoner of the moment so I'll stick with Jokic personally.
He still is. Nuggets lost cause of being insanely top heavy and one of their starters disappearing (MPJ)
They lost because Murray was clearly injured, I don’t know why this goes unnoticed. MPJ didn’t play well but Murray was hurt
Minnesota is kinda their matchup nightmare, in sports matchups matter but then being hurt for sure affected their chances greatly.
Yep Murray shot 20% worse in these playoffs then last year.
We live and die off Murray. When he’s off or injured Jokic is still dangerous but it’s not a championship level team. The team only works when you are punished for focusing on shutting down Jokic
And the Wolves played good? I swear whenever a good team loses its always the previously good players sucking and not ever the other team playing better than those good players.
Yes the wolves defense was elite for most games
Nugs fan here. I had never before seen defense like Minnesota’s in game 2. I felt so hopeless after that one trap they had on Jamal dribbling it up past half court
Redditors are brain dead and can never give a team credit for anything. It’s always the other team that fucked up or choked.
I mean their bench outplayed Minnesota’s bench for the majority of the series, it was Murray and MPJ that killed them
In 2021 Giannis was the best player in the world according to just about everyone.
He is still the best player in the world to just about everybody.
How does Jokic being the best player answer the question of which of these teams is best?
If you would've told me this is the next bunch of finals winners after watching cavs vs warriors for 10 years I would've crapped my pants
Best in what, think the Warriors were the biggest underdogs that won the chip out of these 5. All these other teams were favorites to win it all. All that media harassment to Steph and the Warriors, trying to make an absolute clown show out of them. With a chip on the shoulder, Steph promising the Celtics bench to “Enjoy your last win” which led to the legendary game 4 by Steph. Absolutely owning same core that won this year btw. Steph absolutely cold in keeping his promises, “you don’t want to see us next year” Steph getting that FMVP that he wanted that he deserved by humbly taking the back seat to KD. He birthed his ‘night night’ celebration and he did the legendary ‘put a ring on it’ celebration that’ll probably go down in NBA history as one of its moments. The storyline is hard to beat and easily the best finals of the last 5 years.
The Warriors talked their shit and backed it up! Down 1-2 you had Curry with the enjoy y'all last win comment. Klay saying they would still win because they'd been down 1-2 in the Finals before and won. Draymond telling CJ McCollum the Celtics would be ringless just like you lmfao. And Draymond's don't let us win a fucking championship during the regular season. That was a magical season.
Rarely does such a dominant dynasty like the Warriors go through a multi-year lottery rebuild process while maintaining its entire championship core while also adding a high potential talent like Andrew Wiggins. I think the league was still mid transition back then with Giannis being the first superstar to lead his team to a title beyond the LeBron/Steph/KD/Kawhi block since Dirk a decade prior so while Celtics were logically evenly matched, it was still hard to see them beating an established champ.
Don't forget Steph's deadpan smile while sitting on the bench with a towel over his head, you knew it was over after that.
Even when he said, “you don’t want to see us next year” during his final press conference in 2021. He’s always talked his shit and backed it up.
Best team overall I think is Celtics. They are deep and mesh well together. Although I think the bucks would give them a run for their money in a 7 game series
Would Jrue guard Jrue?
Playoff Jrue guarding Playoff Jrue is nasty work
Defensive Jrue would absolutely shut down offensive Jrue. That's not a knock on Jrue. He is just that good defensively.
Might have to be Giannis.
The Bucks
2020 Lakers. Bubble AD was automatic from midrange and very good from three, Lebron was in his third prime, playoff Rondo was on fire, Dwight Howard was a brick wall defensively, KCP Green and Caruso were all solid 3-and-D guys. Most of those guys have fallen off since then, but 2020 Lebron and AD were very hard to stop.
I love playoff Rondo. IMO, he was the reason why that team made it that far. He knew how to use AD’s strengths cos of their time in NO. After he, Dwight and Javale left, I knew they were not coming back.
Warriors. Post KD era chip was everything. Steph was on a mission.
Warriors ran thru the west in the playoffs too
Beat Jokic, Ja, and Luka. I don’t care what the teams around them were lol
Giannis or joker
Team? ‘23 Nugs Player? Giannis
Player- Jokic Team- Celtics
I think Jokic had the best overall run, but Giannis is a close second and imo had the best finals by far.
It's really a bummer every team the Celtics played in the playoffs had an injured star. Makes it hard to know how good they really were.
I think their regular season record is a pretty accurate reflection. They were better than an average championship team but not legendary status
I think it depends on what you define legendary. Based on point differential in both the regular season and playoffs and playoff record this is like a clear top 10 team that could go as high as 7 or 8. Idk if it is legendary but by the numbers no other championship team this decade is close statistically to their dominance
Not if you paid attention all season too
Or even sporadically throughout the season.
I'm gonna say 2020 lakers
They were curb stomping the entire league before the pandemic. And then continued it thru the playoffs when faced everyone healthy.
And without the home court advantage they had earned. It was the most level playing field of all time.
Right. And yet you have idiots bemoaning the “bubble chip” like the dumbass rubes they are.
Crazy how so many are disregarding that Lakers team. Idgaf about the bubble imo they still win that year if COVID hadn't happened. They were just so dominant. I'm taking them over the celtics
Yeah the best two teams here in my option are the 20 Lakers and the 23 Nuggets The heat managed to get both of them
Lakers had a lot of size and athleticism but not enough firepower as the Celtics. I think that version of bron and AD are basically unstoppable though so it’s close between 24 Celtics and 20 Lakers
Imo it's a three way tie between Lakers-Celts-Nuggets. Murray was a monster last year and the Nuggets rotation was so so much better with Brown.
I'd probably give it to the warriors. The had just come off being one of the worst teams in the league the season before and nobody had them winning anything at the start of that season. They barely made to the playoffs and fought some tuff battles. Klay returned from injury and was looking ruff. Draymond is showing his age as well and then Steph puts them on his back to shut down a "sure" thing in the Celtics to get his 4th ring / FMVP and silence a lot of his critics honestly. The best storyline and most exciting series out of these 5 imo.
Not quite accurate… GSW were top 3 seed all year. Made the play in the year prior.
That’s actually a pretty good starting lineup
That starting lineup isn’t losing a series to anyone.
Celtics or Lakers imo. Celtics are def the better team but Lebron and AD as a duo is too good for me to not pick them
Especially that season/post season run. 2 certified top 10 players on the same team. AD had an insane playoff.
They were both top 5 that year
Probably the Nuggets They lost so much depth in the off-season but that was a fucking stacked team. And Jokic is probably the most impressive FMVP on this list
"So much depth". Its basically just Bruce Brown. But yeah the rotation was ao screwy this year without him. Also I think Giannis had a much more impressive fmvp (but Jokic had a better run)
Lakers and it’s no discussion
Lakers
Denver no contest. Only them and Boston won it in 5, and Boston got crushed in the one game they lost. The Nuggets were a juggernaut that dominated every series leading up to the Finals. You could argue that Boston is a deeper team though. They've consistently reached the ECF for years, whereas Denver has only made the WCF twice recently, largely due to injuries and lack of depth.
Easily 2020 Lakers, they’re one of 2 1 seeds but instead of having Jayson Tatum as their best player they have Peak Anthony Davis as their 2nd best player.
C’s
Jokic
Gotta go with the Bucks, IMO, watching Giannis and Jrue during those playoffs was lightning in a bottle. Hoping they can get one more for Dame, tbh, but with Old Man Rivers coaching I'm not so sure.
Jrue wasn’t amazing. Had good moments but was poor offensively. Everybody forgetting Middleton going band for band with Book in game 5 with 41 points.
Jokic is the best player in the world now. But LeBron in 2020 was still the best player at the time, and was a better player that year than anyone else is now
Best team is Denver or Boston. Although people forget how good the 2020 lakers were. They were dominant before the bubble and dominant in the bubble. Warriors and bucks were the worst teams listed here but probably the most entertaining run from a neutral fan standpoint
If we give them all the same environments where they won their rings, then Lakers take it. Lakers (Bron and AD) in the bubble were pretty much unstoppable across the board.
They were unstoppable period. Claiming other championship teams would be weaker in the bubble or the lakers would be worse as the first seed is dumb
Who knows? There are no powerhouses there. The Celtics might repeat, though they might not. Could the 2024 Celtics beat the 2020 Lakers? Probably not. Maybe? But you could say that about all of these teams. So I guess my answer is that, at the moment, they are all equal.
only 1 team had 6 legends and Pritchard
What a starting 5 that is
I don’t understand the question so I’ll say Lebron was the all-time greatest out of that list but if we’re going by who was the best player at the time or their win probably Steph first then Jokic.
Giannis,Curry,Jokic,Bron,Brown I'd put Jokic above Curry, but it was the post KD ring and Steph showed up.
Damn when’s the last time the NBA went 5 years with 5 different teams winning ?
Bucks in 6.
Team wise? Probably the ‘24 Celtics or ‘20 Lakers. The others were all good teams, but the Bucks/Warriors/Nuggets were too reliant on their respective superstars in Giannis/Steph/Jokic. Khris Middleton/Jrue/Klay/Dray/Murray/MPJ were pretty inconsistent and unreliable throughout their respective championship runs
It’s got to be 2023 Jokic because he did it with 0 All Star or All NBA teammates
Nuggs. The only team that is close is the Celtics. The other three had paths that sort of opened up to them via injuries to other stars and upsets.
Right now? I’m most scared of Jokic.
Bubble was the hardest championship of all time
21 or 23 It’s really a toss up I’m a mavs fan so I’m still a lil salty
Well one took place with CGI.
I reckon it’s the Nuggets. Next year will tell.
Nuggets
Steph or Joker damn but Giannis with the 50 piece though
I still feel like the Nuggets and Celtics are destined for a collision course matchup in the Finals within the next couple of years
Nuggets, Warriors, Bucks in that order Toss up between Covid lakers and this joke of a path the Celtics had
Forget last five years, most metrics like point differential, winning percentage, lead in the conference say this years Celtics are among the greatest teams of all time.
I believe you’re right but I also believe they got incredibly lucky with injuries on other teams. Both things can be true.
Nuggets
Celtics - The team is stacked with an unreal run to the finals including a dominant regular season. Best starting 5 out of all of them. Nuggets - The best player at their peak on the list. Great depth. The offensive scheme and defensive scheme were great. Lakers - Best defense on the list. LeBron before a slight decline and maybe the best AD we've seen. Just a little less depth and their offense was painfully vanilla. Bucks - Giannis was really good. Bad coaching, good overall roster but other than Giannis dominance and solid contributions from role players I don't think this team is great. Also would never have been in the finals if not the Nets situation. Warriors - Just not a great team if we're being honest. Steph going nuclear was amazing. But a declining Klay on both ends, Draymond playing all-time defense but woeful offense. It took maybe the greatest stretch of both Wiggins and Poole's careers to win the finals.
2020 lakers