What is the most impressive carry job by a star?

[Lalouie]

kareem(+29w) and bird(+32w) had the best +wins in their rookie year of any rookie start

the list is as follows
bird
kareem
shaq(+18)
lebron(+18)

mj and magic were tied at +11 i think

tim is skewed because robinson was injured the previous year and the spurs dropped from 59wins to 20wins w/o david. then tim came WITH david the following year

[One_and_Done]

Jkidd in 2011 was older than drob in 03. Marion was considered washed up. Jterry was solid and chandler was a perfect fit next to dirk..but I wouldnt say that supporting cast was greatly superior than the one duncan had in 03. That said, that run by duncan was very impressive and definitely cemented his status as atg player. Both 2011 dirk and 03 duncan were very impressive runs and I for sure have duncan over dirk all time.

The 2011 Mavs were a vastly better support cast than the 03 Spurs. If you want to argue Dirk faced stronger opponents you can make that argument, but you can't plausibly argue the teams were comparable.

Yea I agree jkidd and terry were a better back court than manu/tony at the time. Chandler was better than 37 yr old drob. That said, none of dirks teammates in 2011 were all star talents at the time.

That's a pure technicality. Both Terry and Chandler were all-star calibre that year, regardless of whether they made the team. You're only all-star calibre in the years you make it, and obviously Terry wasn't going to make it coming off the bench. Marion and Kidd were also great starters. The Mavs had good role players who fit together.

[SerialChiller]

Dan Crawford, 2006.

Naw you guys just got destroyed by the GOAT slasher in his prime.

[MavsDirk41]

As discussed, the Heat had a completely unbalanced roster. Good on Dirk for beating it obviously.

- Miami was 58-24 in the regular season during the 2010/2011 season
- Miami was 12-3 in the playoffs prior to the finals
- Miami had a 2-1 series lead in the finals
- Miami had a double digit lead going into the 4th quarter of game 4

70-27 record prior to the finals with a 2-1 series lead but they lost cause their roster was unbalanced?

I think its more like Dirk took it from the super friends.

[NZB2323]

The 2011 Mavs were a vastly better support cast than the 03 Spurs. If you want to argue Dirk faced stronger opponents you can make that argument, but you can't plausibly argue the teams were comparable.

Yea I agree jkidd and terry were a better back court than manu/tony at the time. Chandler was better than 37 yr old drob. That said, none of dirks teammates in 2011 were all star talents at the time.

That's a pure technicality. Both Terry and Chandler were all-star calibre that year, regardless of whether they made the team. You're only all-star calibre in the years you make it, and obviously Terry wasn't going to make it coming off the bench. Marion and Kidd were also great starters. The Mavs had good role players who fit together.

Jet Terry never made an all-star game in his career. The west that year had Chris Paul, Kobe, Deron Williams, Ginobili, Westbrook, Dame, Parker, Conley, ect. Terry was never close to being an all-star that year.

During the regular season JET averaged 16, 4, and 2, 54.5 TS%, 15.9 PER.

JET was closer to a Jamal Crawford type player than an all-star.

[WarriorGM]

Hakeem's first 94 title in my book, it was a really thin roster https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/HOU/1994.html

I like the Dirk run but he had some guys like Kidd, Marion that were pretty good still.

Let's put it this way if the 2011 Mavs without Dirk played the 94 Rockets without Hakeem, my money is on the Mavs.

It was an impressive run and belongs in the conversation but that Hakeem run tends to get overrated. Even though he didn't have an all-star teammate that year Hakeem had multiple teammates who eventually became champions on other teams.

Barry 1975 and Walton 1977.

[CobraCommander]

Dirk and It’s not close -

It’s not only that he won one while carrying a team - it’s who he beat lol

It’s maybe one of the greatest feats in sports history-

It would be like if Westbrook won a ring with the wizards !

An aging mvp carrying some dudes with aight names into the finals against the GSW with KD and winning.

That’s what Dirk did

The Heat had a prime LBJ, Great Wade and Under rated all time great Bosh and he beat them with just some aight guys

In the Finals, the Mavs come from 2-1 down and in the game 4 win Dirk goes 6-19 and in the game 6 win he goes 9-27. In fact, you could argue that the only win he performed really well in was game 5.

This whole 'Dirk carried the Mavs' may very well hold in the Western Conference playoffs but it wasn't remotely true in the Finals. Those 'aight' guys absolutely stood up when Dirk wasn't capable.

So I'm not sure that it's one of the 'greatest feats in sports history' when you don't even perform partly well in some pretty key games.

It was a Kobe type performance where the numbers don’t tell the whole story. You saw it- it’s similar to this years finals - no one really had great stats but someone had to do enough to win and Dirk did that

[RHODEY]

Dirk by a landslide, Lebron couldn't carry a handbag.

[One_and_Done]

As discussed, the Heat had a completely unbalanced roster. Good on Dirk for beating it obviously.

- Miami was 58-24 in the regular season during the 2010/2011 season
- Miami was 12-3 in the playoffs prior to the finals
- Miami had a 2-1 series lead in the finals
- Miami had a double digit lead going into the 4th quarter of game 4

70-27 record prior to the finals with a 2-1 series lead but they lost cause their roster was unbalanced?

I think its more like Dirk took it from the super friends.

You can mask some deficiencies in the TS, but in the PS those flaws are exposed. That Lebron was able to get as close as he did to winning despite those team flaws is remarkable

[Jabroni Lames]

Steph carrying: Klay, Wiggins, Kerr and Draymond to the 2022 chip.

[MavsDirk41]

As discussed, the Heat had a completely unbalanced roster. Good on Dirk for beating it obviously.

- Miami was 58-24 in the regular season during the 2010/2011 season
- Miami was 12-3 in the playoffs prior to the finals
- Miami had a 2-1 series lead in the finals
- Miami had a double digit lead going into the 4th quarter of game 4

70-27 record prior to the finals with a 2-1 series lead but they lost cause their roster was unbalanced?

I think its more like Dirk took it from the super friends.

You can mask some deficiencies in the TS, but in the PS those flaws are exposed. That Lebron was able to get as close as he did to winning despite those team flaws is remarkable

They were 12-3 in the playoffs before making the finals lol? Seems like they were not having any problems in the playoffs before falling apart in the 4th quarter of game 4. If James actually showed up they may have 3 peated. Wade was the reason the series was competitive.

[Mephariel]

Dirk the year he won. Lebron in 2018.

[ShootersShoot]

The 2011 Mavs were a vastly better support cast than the 03 Spurs. If you want to argue Dirk faced stronger opponents you can make that argument, but you can't plausibly argue the teams were comparable.

Yea I agree jkidd and terry were a better back court than manu/tony at the time. Chandler was better than 37 yr old drob. That said, none of dirks teammates in 2011 were all star talents at the time.

That's a pure technicality. Both Terry and Chandler were all-star calibre that year, regardless of whether they made the team. You're only all-star calibre in the years you make it, and obviously Terry wasn't going to make it coming off the bench. Marion and Kidd were also great starters. The Mavs had good role players who fit together.

How were terry and chandler all star level? Terry averaged under 16ppg in 31mpg in the rs, on 54.5% TS..

Chandler didnt even average a double double. Not that they werent good..they were but all star caliber is a stretch. They were a team of very good role players that complemented their star.

[Bank Shot]

Duncan in 03. He beat the three-peat Lakers and a 60-win/8 SRS Mavericks team with second-year Tony Parker (who got benched in the finals for Speedy Claxton) as his number two. Dirk had much more help. LeBron had an easy road to the finals in 2018. If the Cavaliers were in the West that year, they probably go down in R1. Hakeem is a good choice too. He had a better team than Duncan but the competition was tougher.

[One_and_Done]

- Miami was 58-24 in the regular season during the 2010/2011 season
- Miami was 12-3 in the playoffs prior to the finals
- Miami had a 2-1 series lead in the finals
- Miami had a double digit lead going into the 4th quarter of game 4

70-27 record prior to the finals with a 2-1 series lead but they lost cause their roster was unbalanced?

I think its more like Dirk took it from the super friends.

You can mask some deficiencies in the TS, but in the PS those flaws are exposed. That Lebron was able to get as close as he did to winning despite those team flaws is remarkable

They were 12-3 in the playoffs before making the finals lol? Seems like they were not having any problems in the playoffs before falling apart in the 4th quarter of game 4. If James actually showed up they may have 3 peated. Wade was the reason the series was competitive.

That's just how good Lebron was, carrying that flawed group so far.

[Special_Puppy]

How is Tatum 2024 not mentioned? One of the toughest roads to the finals in NBA History. Amazing performance throughout

[wade44]

Dirk and Wade

Jimmy Butler’s carry jobs were nice too

[ArksNetsSince99]

Duncan carrying the Spurs to a ring while being absolutely dominant on both sides of the court in 2003 while his best teammates were a 19 year old TP, rookie Manu, and old/injured Robinson in his last season. Robbed of the only quadruple double in finals history in the closeout game.

Who he played against ? Jason Kidd and rookies plus nobodies?

If anything Kidd deserves more for taking this Nets squad twice to the finals in 2002 and 2003

Nonetheless Dirk is the GOAT in carry job by a landslide

[ArksNetsSince99]

How is Tatum 2024 not mentioned? One of the toughest roads to the finals in NBA History. Amazing performance throughout

I see what you did there

[Apz]

Would say luka taking mavs to wcf with basicly dinwiddie as 2nd fiddle, a dinwiddie that barely could get on court for lakers