After further review, I'm starting to shade LA's 2020 title

Balls Deep · Post #41 » by **Balls Deep** » Wed Apr 6, 2022 12:08 pm

The bubble mentally broke many players. It was one of the hardest titles ever to win. You were locked down in the middle of a pandemic ffs. There were no outside distractions, just basketball. It’s was as legit as championships can get.

Ugalde · Post #42 » by **Ugalde** » Wed Apr 6, 2022 12:13 pm

i’ve always felt it was legit. i don’t believe in asterisk seasons but man after this season im starting to see some of y’all’s points. no way the team wins a title in 2020 with a full season. AD just can’t play a full season.

i’ve always believed in availability being a big part of the game. your best ability is availability. that’s why i always give credit to every ring. regardless of injuries. but it’s looking more and more like there’s no way AD would of been available in 2020 if not for the time off.

idk as of right now it’s still legit to me. i don’t like discrediting any rings but it’s hard to believe the Lakers win that ring in a normal season.

Statlanta · Post #43 » by **Statlanta** » Wed Apr 6, 2022 12:18 pm

It was legit. They didn’t have any special performances that saved them sans AD midrange percentages and Avery Bradley didn’t play(wasn’t as washed as he is now).

But it doesn’t help that all of LeBron’s championships happened with peculiar circumstances
2012: Lockout
2013: Ray Allen shot
2016: Injuries and flagrant foul suspension
2020: Disney World of Sports bubble playoffs

dans1230 · Post #44 » by **dans1230** » Wed Apr 6, 2022 12:18 pm

Anyone saying it wasnt legit would feel differently if it were the team they rooted for......

DroseReturnChi · Post #45 » by **DroseReturnChi** » Wed Apr 6, 2022 12:26 pm

Ugalde wrote:i’ve always felt it was legit. i don’t believe in asterisk seasons but man after this season im starting to see some of y’all’s points. no way the team wins a title in 2020 with a full season. AD just can’t play a full season.

i’ve always believed in availability being a big part of the game. your best ability is availability. that’s why i always give credit to every ring. regardless of injuries. but it’s looking more and more like there’s no way AD would of been available in 2020 if not for the time off.

idk as of right now it’s still legit to me. i don’t like discrediting any rings but it’s hard to believe the Lakers win that ring in a normal season.

its pretty much legit except lebron or other contender whose core is brink of retirement. yes it was mentally tough to guys who never won like pg but lebron pretty much cheated when his main issue was stamina and resting major periods. lakers every other season failures are living proofs of this. even this yr, lakers were dominant until post all star break.

if lebron wants to claim to use 2020 as part of goat campaign, he needs to shut up and get to 6 rings first. 7 rings i could see pendulum swung for him. 2020 almost seems it was handmade for lebron when it could have been cancelled.

nikster · Post #46 » by **nikster** » Wed Apr 6, 2022 12:27 pm

This is the only time I've seen discussion asterisk for the team being healthy. Even before the break AD played in almost 90% of the Lakers games. It's not impossible for him to have a healthy sea

And the bubble was such a God send for an injury prone team, yet Dragic and BAM still got injured...

Liam_Gallagher · Post #47 » by **Liam_Gallagher** » Wed Apr 6, 2022 12:29 pm

I think it's legit because they were the best team before the season got suspended.

KembaWalker · Post #48 » by **KembaWalker** » Wed Apr 6, 2022 12:30 pm

They broke the rules practicing together in LA. They had the nicest accomodations in the bubble. LeBrons penthouse suite was probably bigger than the entirety of the Heats rooms put together. The entire side event that was the bubble was created to be as easy as possible for the Lakers to win because they needed the "do it for Kobe" narrative to play out. People saw through that crap and it shows in the ratings, worst ever for a playoffs. Nobody cares about the bubble

Buckets22 · Post #49 » by **Buckets22** » Wed Apr 6, 2022 12:46 pm

Well, I voted No to troll Lebron...but I have no problems with it.

They broke rules about training together boo hoo, I never understood why a team didn't strike a deal with the Swedish or Tanzanian government to go an practice there without worrying about covid protocols.

PistolPeteJR · Post #50 » by **PistolPeteJR** » Wed Apr 6, 2022 12:53 pm

Stalwart wrote:
C3H6N6O6 wrote:According to LeBron haters Kawhi who needs rest more than any other star didn't benefit from the 4 month layoff but somehow Lakers did. Clippers were the favorite to win it all at start of the season.

How do you guys try to act like you are not biased?

Everyone here was calling out the Lakers as not being mentally strong to win in the bubble when they lost games at start of the bubble.

Half this forum and most of Reddit was thinking that Blazers/Rockets will win the series when Lakers lost the first game of the series.

Do you understand the concept of chemistry and teams building up a rhythm and momentum through out the season? Well all that goes away with a 4 month break. Typically when the NBA takes 4 months off they call it an offseason. They when the NBA comes back after 4 months its considered a new season.

But the Lakers were the exception to the rule and somehow preserved their chemistry during the same 4-month break that every team was subjected to? Okay lol.

R-DAWG · Post #51 » by **R-DAWG** » Wed Apr 6, 2022 12:54 pm

They won fair and square.

Anthony Davis hasn't been healthy since.

Is the HEAT's 2006 title not legit because Shaq got old 2 years later?

Post #52 » by **Duffman100** » Wed Apr 6, 2022 1:02 pm

Nope, asterisks just don't exist.

Monky15 · Post #53 » by **Monky15** » Wed Apr 6, 2022 1:08 pm

KembaWalker wrote:They broke the rules practicing together in LA. They had the nicest accomodations in the bubble. LeBrons penthouse suite was probably bigger than the entirety of the Heats rooms put together. The entire side event that was the bubble was created to be as easy as possible for the Lakers to win because they needed the "do it for Kobe" narrative to play out. People saw through that crap and it shows in the ratings, worst ever for a playoffs. Nobody cares about the bubble

This is the part that gets forgotten the most. Other sports leagues suspended players/ coaches who did this, was never going to happen to LeBron though.

C3H6N6O6 · Post #54 » by **C3H6N6O6** » Wed Apr 6, 2022 1:13 pm

Statlanta wrote:It was legit. They didn’t have any special performances that saved them sans AD midrange percentages and Avery Bradley didn’t play(wasn’t as washed as he is now).

But it doesn’t help that all of LeBron’s championships happened with peculiar circumstances
2012: Lockout
2013: Ray Allen shot
2016: Injuries and flagrant foul suspension
2020: Disney World of Sports bubble playoffs

This. I was livid when Ray Allen who played for the Spurs hit a 3 and it counted as a Heat 3.

I was also livid when Bogut who played 12 mins a game in 2016 finals got injured. Green missed a game because he kept kicking people which is a basketball play that everyone uses but only Green got tech and flagrants for it. Kevin Love missing games in 2016 finals doesn't count because I just said so.

2020 is the one I am most livid about. Clippers were the favorites and would have won it all if Kawhi who never gets injured didn't get rusty during the 4 month break.

2012 is also not okay because Wade had knee problems which resulted in NBA telling the Heat they only needed to play 66 games whereas OKC Thunder with young stars in their athletic prime had to play a whopping 66 games. How unfair is that?

Post #55 » by **boomershadow** » Wed Apr 6, 2022 1:17 pm

They legitimately won the 2020 championship and legitimately missed the playoffs this year.

jc23 · Post #56 » by **jc23** » Wed Apr 6, 2022 1:31 pm

It is legit, but to ignore the circumstances is silly. We have all seen how frail AD is and how lebron now requires a bit more rest then he use to (he has missed more games the last 4 seasons then his previous 15 seasons combined, i think lol).

So it counts but so does last season and this year, which we have seen the regular season really grind down the lakers before they got to the finish line.

Upperclass · Post #57 » by **Upperclass** » Wed Apr 6, 2022 1:40 pm

Ironically, the Suns who didn't make the playoffs, were the only team that could've beaten them that year.

Rockets self destructed
Nuggets couldn't stop AD
Heat were injured

That was the Clippers chance to get a chip and they didn't capitalize

OdomFan · Post #58 » by **OdomFan** » Wed Apr 6, 2022 1:51 pm

SUPERVILLAIN wrote:Totally legit. They won 4 playoffs series to get that championship. They didn't cheat.

Let's stop this bullsh*t.

The road to the title doesn't change the fact that they struggled against an injured Miami Heat Team. If the coin was on the other side the same people calling bullsh*t would say the samething about Jimmy Butler beating a Lebron James led team that was missing two key members of it's roster.

The 2020 Miami Heat team were in fact missing 2 of it's key players. This will forever be why I don't look at the 2020 title as anything celebrate. Heck Lebron fans should understand this considering they themselves bring up Kevin Love and Kyries being hurt in 2015 every chance the conversation of that years Finals is going on. So yeah. Let's not be hypocrites.

DTP · Post #59 » by **DTP** » Wed Apr 6, 2022 1:52 pm

SUPERVILLAIN wrote:Totally legit. They won 4 playoffs series to get that championship. They didn't cheat.

Let's stop this bullsh*t.

Agreed....everyone played under the same circumstances. I don't understand hating on an organization for something completely out of their control and having to do something that had never been done before. We all know how athletes are creates of habit/routines....it wasn't exactly an easy adjustment for everyone.

SK21209 · Post #60 » by **SK21209** » Wed Apr 6, 2022 2:06 pm

inonba wrote:The championship is legitimate the same way the lockout championships are legitimate. In both cases, the championship should be asterisks as it wasn't under a "normal" season.

To say the Lakers legitimately won because all teams played under the same circumstances is absolute nonsense. The sole purpose of an 82 game season is so NBA teams DON'T play under the same circumstances in the way of home court advantage. To negate this, is dismissing the clear advantage having an extra game in front of the home court crowd presents. Hypothetically, if the league was forced to end the season early with a tournament and a team like the Knicks managed to string together a couple of good games and take the title. Would you still feel the same way?

Never forget. Changing the rules mid-season always benefits and disadvantages certain teams, and it would be hard to argue even by the most diehard Lakers fan that they didn't gain an advantage from the suspended season.

If you were to deal in pure hypotheticals, I highly doubt the Lakers would have made it out of the first round even if the variables were slightly altered such as all teams are in the bubble and 82 games are played. Before you call me a hater, consider who their first round opponents would have likely been under this scenario: Phoenix Suns. The same team that won every game in the bubble and eliminated the Lakers the following year.

Wait, so you think the 2019-2020 Lakers, who were on pace to win 64ish games before the pandemic, would have lost in the first round to the Suns without CP3 :lol:

Do you (still) think that the Lakers' 2020 title is fully legit?