Why is the 2020 championship looked as illegitimate?

[oversteerdawg]

First, I'm looking to start a flame war. I'm curious what your rationale is for saying the 2020 championship is less worthy than others. People call it the bubble championship or a Mickey Mouse ring, but wasn't it the same set of advantages and disadvantages that all teams had?

[dirkforpres]

Because an old team got almost 5 months of rest before the playoffs started

[DusterBuster]

How is this even a real question that someone doesn’t understand?

[sp6r=underrated]

First, I'm looking to start a flame war. I'm curious what your rationale is for saying the 2020 championship is less worthy than others. People call it the bubble championship or a Mickey Mouse ring, but wasn't it the same set of advantages and disadvantages that all teams had?

I don't think it is illegitimate. Several reasons

1. Lakers haters trying to discredit a lakers title.
2. Lebron haters/MJ lovers trying to discredit an Lebron title.
3. Belief the break helped a team build around old veterans/injury prone players.

A small thing is Phil Jackson and a subset of Lakers fans were super obnoxious about astericking the 99 Spurs title due to the lockout. As a Knicks/Duncan fan this always pissed me off so it is interesting to see their fanbase endure it.

[Goomba3666]

Lakers were having organized practices (despite it not being allowed) when other teams legitimately weren't practicing.

When you have some teams practicing and some teams not, there's definitely a disadvantage

[Archerbro]

because if you watched it, it absolutely felt like a tournament rather than an actual playoffs. there were plenty of fans on lakersground and here on realgm(before the tournament began, and when lakers were struggling) badtalking the bubble etc before it even began. I'd say people were split 50/50 on whether it was a real ring or not before anything had even started.

Tj Warren was somehow best player in the bubble, other players showed up out of shape or not wanting to be there, some didn't show up at all. players that attended were in a bubble in disney world, other players felt like other matters were more important than the bubble, etc.

I think of it more of an NBA tournament than an actual playoffs.

it was clear the NBA was trying to save a season that should have just been called. it was all for $$$ and it showed, it had some of the lowest ratings IIRC.

[Patches Perry]

Because LeBron won it. You can discredit almost every title by citing unusual circumstances.

Everyone plays by the same rules. They all count.

[Wolfgang630]

Lakers were having organized practices (despite it not being allowed) when other teams legitimately weren't practicing.

When you have some teams practicing and some teams not, there's definitely a disadvantage

Wth I didn’t know this

[Zeno]

For the same reason that people talk about the 76ers being close to winning it all because of 4 bounces in the 2nd round, why they talk of Durant's shoe size and the bubble Heat being built for it. A series of unlikely events always leads to a championship and people are more interested generally in what might have happened than what did. Only winning multiple titles in a row quiets this kind of talk. That is how it has always been. Imagine if the Warriors only won that 1 title.

[Goomba3666]

Cam Payne stinkin up the joint. Lol

[thebigbird]

Because LeBron won it. End of discussion. The #1 seed in the West won a title and folks act like it was this outrageous, completely unexpected thing.

[Dr Aki]

because their team didn't win it

you just know if their team won it, they'd be defending it as if russia had invaded

[sp6r=underrated]

The dirty secret sports leagues, teams and fans hate admitting is the post-season is just a small sample size tournament.

Every year there are key injuries that happen that play a major role in deciding who wins a title. Save Donaghy, I don't buy the ref conspiracy theories, but in a small sample size the whistle won't even out. Every year there is a close series decided by one team getting slightly more calls. Every year there is a team that gets a brutally hard bracket and another team that gets a favorable bracket. All of these things decide who wins the Finals.

Winning the finals is an enormous accomplishment but it always has an element of luck to it.

[Lala870]

The Clippers admitting they were not playing 100% and Paul George saying he checked out mentally is enough for me. Under normal circumstances the Clippers win the title that year and the nest 9 times out of 10.

There was a mob of players talking about how it impacted them from a psychological point of view including the venue itself.

But honest question: Was there any doubt the league wasn't gonna gift the Lakers a chip one way or another after the Kobe fiasco?

[levon]

The Clippers admitting they were not playing 100% and Paul George saying he checked out mentally is enough for me. Under normal circumstances the Clippers win the title that year and the nest 9 times out of 10.

There was a mob of players talking about how it impacted them from a psychological point of view including the venue itself.

But honest question: Was there any doubt the league wasn't gonna gift the Lakers a chip one way or another after the Kobe fiasco?

so because Paul George checked out, the Lakers' ring doesn't count?

[Lala870]

The Clippers admitting they were not playing 100% and Paul George saying he checked out mentally is enough for me. Under normal circumstances the Clippers win the title that year and the nest 9 times out of 10.

There was a mob of players talking about how it impacted them from a psychological point of view including the venue itself.

But honest question: Was there any doubt the league wasn't gonna gift the Lakers a chip one way or another after the Kobe fiasco?

so because Paul George checked out, the Lakers' ring doesn't count?

You ignored most of my other points. Care to address?

[Lala870]

because if you watched it, it absolutely felt like a tournament rather than an actual playoffs. there were plenty of fans on lakersground and here on realgm(before the tournament began, and when lakers were struggling) badtalking the bubble etc before it even began. I'd say people were split 50/50 on whether it was a real ring or not before anything had even started.

Tj Warren was somehow best player in the bubble, other players showed up out of shape or not wanting to be there, some didn't show up at all. players that attended were in a bubble in disney world, other players felt like other matters were more important than the bubble, etc.

I think of it more of an NBA tournament than an actual playoffs.

it was clear the NBA was trying to save a season that should have just been called. it was all for $$$ and it showed, it had some of the lowest ratings IIRC.

Quoting for emphasis.

[Goomba3666]

Lakers were having organized practices (despite it not being allowed) when other teams legitimately weren't practicing.

When you have some teams practicing and some teams not, there's definitely a disadvantage

Wth I didn’t know this

https://www.silverscreenandroll.com/2020/6/19/21297140/nba-rumors-bill-simmons-jj-redick-lakers-secret-workouts-private-court-staples-center-replica-video

JJ Reddick mentioned in on his podcast and other people talked about it as well.

[levon]

The Clippers admitting they were not playing 100% and Paul George saying he checked out mentally is enough for me. Under normal circumstances the Clippers win the title that year and the nest 9 times out of 10.

There was a mob of players talking about how it impacted them from a psychological point of view including the venue itself.

But honest question: Was there any doubt the league wasn't gonna gift the Lakers a chip one way or another after the Kobe fiasco?

so because Paul George checked out, the Lakers' ring doesn't count?

You ignored most of my other points. Care to address?

Which part? The one that cites the mental toil of the bubble, which would make the championship a greater feat not a lesser one, or the implication that the league conspired to give the Lakers a title because Kobe died, despite them being the 1 seed and dominating their conference all year?

[Lala870]

so because Paul George checked out, the Lakers' ring doesn't count?

You ignored most of my other points. Care to address?

Which part? The one that cites the mental toil of the bubble, which would make the championship a greater feat not a lesser one, or the implication that the league conspired to give the Lakers a title because Kobe died, despite them being the 1 seed and dominating their conference all year?

Theres plenty of information to take in ITT. You should read some of the recent above posts by archerbro and goomba