GOAT TEAM TOURNAMENT #5 92 Bulls v. #12 87 Lakers

[Jiminy Glick]

Bump, don't we still need another vote for this? I find this particular matchup very interesting. This would the toughest finals matchup the Bulls ever had.

Since these are the 16 greatest champions in NBA history, I'd be surprised if ANY of these matchups aren't the toughest opponent any of these teams ever faced.

True, do you have a list of the 16 teams?

[penbeast0]

https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=1821406

[penbeast0]

STILL TIED 4-4, anyone else want to weigh in?

[iggymcfrack]

Come on guys, the Bulls have the better SRS, the better record, and PEAK MICHAEL JORDAN. This shouldn’t be that hard!

In the Finals that year, Jordan put up 36/5/7 on 53/43/89. He definitely had an extra gear. He also had 42 in Game 7 against the Knicks who were ferocious defensively.

[Jiminy Glick]

Come on guys, the Bulls have the better SRS, the better record, and PEAK MICHAEL JORDAN. This shouldn’t be that hard!

In the Finals that year, Jordan put up 36/5/7 on 53/43/89. He definitely had an extra gear. He also had 42 in Game 7 against the Knicks who were ferocious defensively.

Yeah and Magic averaged 26/8/13 on 52/50/96. Kareem averaged 22 on 51% and Worthy averaged 21 on 52%. The Lakers also scored way more per game in the finals than the Bulls did. You use an offensive argument for the Bull but the Lakers were the better offensive team. Also in the 1992 finals Jordan wasn't guarded by a player like Cooper.

[trex_8063]

The nineties Bulls could have beaten any of the great eighties teams in the finals.
They just wouldn't have won as many titles as they did in the nineties.
For one thing the Bulls would have had to through the eastern conference gauntlet before they ran into the Showtime Lakers.
Good luck with that.
There's a reason Jordan didn't start winning titles until the nineties. The teams the Bulls faced in the finals in the nineties simply weren't comparable to the great eighties teams.

Not sure from this response who you are voting for.

Yeah Johnlac1, since you'd shown some interest in this topic, perhaps you can take a stand with one team or the other and break the tie.

[Owly]

Leaning Bulls.

Bulls have 3rd and 4th best players in the series. Lakers maybe have better depth 4-7, but then quickly get thin (as would be an issue two years later).

Bulls advantage based on SRS is marginally understated due to pace, but boosted by a lower league average due to expansion.

I don't feel, as others have, that a good, but no longer star-level Jabbar versus Cartwright (Williams, Perdue and King) is a bad defensive matchup for the Bulls: Cartwright at this point was, reputationally, a good defender (hard to justify playing him if he wasn't). Ditto Paxson versus Scott (Paxson more solid, fundamentally sound than good as defender).

It's by no means a slam dunk, especially for a single series. But I presently lean Bulls as the better team and they have HCA so I'll vote Bulls.

[TheGOATRises007]

The 92 Bulls are IMO the best Bulls title team.

Magic was arguably at his peak in 87. But Kareem is clearly past his peak. There's definitely match-up problems for the Bulls with Kareem still, but he's not at his prime either. I think they can make him ineffective at times.

MJ is a teeny bit worse from 91, but he still had a great season. There was a recent post by a poster here that debunked his 'stark decline' from 91 and I think his mid-range numbers in the 92 season were the highest of his career. His series vs the Heat in 92 is one of his best ever.

Pippen fully came into his own in 92 and had a great season. So did Grant. Their playoff VORP was essentially matching Magic.

I think the Bulls can slow down the game and give a bit more trouble to Magic than the Lakers do to MJ.

Very close, but I'd go with the Bulls in 6.

[JordansBulls]

I think this would be a dynamic matchup, Bulls would win in 7 though. You needed dominate bigs to beat the Bulls and Kareem 1987 isn't a dominate big.

[hyoyatika]

I think it will be really close and could swing either way, but I think Magic will be able to feed the ball to Kareem enough for Kareem to destroy Cartwright and get Showtime the win. Sure, Kareem is past his prime, but if his match-up is Cartwright, he will be taking the chance to wreck him. The Lakers have enough defensive guys to frustrate MJ imo. Magic will no doubt be frustrated by Pippen but I see Pippen being ineffective on the offensive end as well.

Lakers in 7.

[Samurai]

It's a shame that one of these teams will have to be eliminated.

Nobody stops MJ, but Cooper gives the Lakers about a good a chance as anyone to keep Jordan from single-handedly taking control. Scott was also an underrated defender who was very good at playing a hard-nosed man defense. But I would give the Lakers the slight edge based on their depth. Mychal Thompson in particular was a very good sub; at times a more impactful player than Kareem with his hustle. Rambis also came off the bench to provide some much needed rebounding and did all the dirty work in the paint to help offset the inside muscle of Grant.

The duo of MJ and Pippen is better than Magic/Worthy, but the rest of the Lakers (Kareem, Scott, Thompson, Green, Rambis, Cooper) gives them a Strength in Numbers approach that could edge the Bulls.

Voting Lakers in 6 or 7.

[penbeast0]

So, now it's 7-6 Bulls if I count it right.

[JordansBulls]

Didn't you already move the 1992 Bulls to the next round? Why would votes 2 weeks later count anyway?

[penbeast0]

Was thinking this was the 2nd round matchup when I saw it; Bulls won this.