Hollinger: The Greater Good
Posted: Fri May 23, 2008 4:12 pm
How do the current teams stack up to Shaq, Robinson, Isiah and Bird?
Lakers. Celtics. Pistons. Spurs. They are four of the greatest franchises ever. And all four are still alive in these playoffs. So, are the 2007-08 versions their best yet? Let's compare.
Spurs:
The Spurs are probably the one team with the least chance of outranking the franchise's champions. San Antonio's titlists in 1999 and 2007 were among the best on my chart of NBA finalists, and all four of its winners crack the top 20.
Pistons:
The Pistons are another team that will be hard-pressed to match its predecessors, though if Detroit were to win the championship, it would come closer than San Antonio would.
Celtics:
Boston's new "Big Three" is quite competitive when compared to the original trio's three championship teams from the mid-80s. This year's edition won more games than two of those three title teams and had a better regular-season scoring margin than all of them.
Lakers:
As it turns out, the Lakers have a chance to make Sir Charles look very smart.
L.A. already has 216.9 points according to this system, thanks in part to a regular season scoring margin that's better than that of two of their three recent championship teams.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2 ... our-080523
I think this is a great article talking about the final 4 teams in the playoffs and comparing them to each of their respective great teams of the past.