Greatest Team To Never Win a Ring: '91 Blazers vs. '92 Cavs

[pandrade83]

This is a voting based tournament to determine who was the GOAT team to not win a title. The original thread for this is

here

Each player will be considered to be as dominant against his opponents as he was the year that he played (ie. if you are just going to say the more modern team wins, don't bother to participate). And EACH MATCHUP WILL FEATURE THE RULES, REFEREES, AND EQUIPMENT OF THE OLDER TEAM. This doesn't mean that Steph Curry will be called for carrying each time he tries to dribble, just assume that his handle is proportionately as good relative to the era as it is relative to his own. So, in 65, if you think he has the best handle in today's league, you can assume he has the best handle of that era; if he's roughly average for starting PGs of today's league in terms of that one aspect, you can assume he is roughly average for starting PGs of that era. This hopefully will eliminate a bit of the recency bias. Health is as it was at the close of the Regular Season; perhaps a team didn't win because of injury.

One last thing. VOTES WITHOUT ANALYSIS (or with what in my personal subject opinion is stupid analysis) WONT BE COUNTED. (Lots of capital letters!) I will list results here. Each thread will be open for a day, maybe 2 if it's close.



'91 Blazers: Lost to LA in WCF (4-2). +4.9 Offense/-3.6 Defense: Have HCA in the matchup

Duckworth
B. Williams
Kersey
Drexler
Porter

Ainge
Robinson
D. Young

'92 Cavs: Lost to Chicago in ECF (4-2). +5.9 Offense/+0.0 Defense
Daugherty
Nance
M. Sanders
Ehlo
Price

Hot Rod Williams
John Battle
Terrell Brandon

Who ya got?

[pandrade83]

These teams are similar but different.

Similarities:

-Chicago foiled both squads when they came the closest to achieving a title
-Neither squad has a truly transcendent player - but both squads have multiple excellent players complemented by very high impact role players & 1-2 strong performers off the bench
-Both players have excellent point guards

Differences:

-Portland was a 2 way team; the Cavs were league average defensively
-Portland played fast, Cleveland played slow
-Portland's strength was in their team athleticism + a highly skilled backcourt & aggressive front-line
-Cleveland's strength was length/depth of front-court players + outstanding half-court discipline in their offense (lowest TOV%)

Ultimately, I'm taking Portland. They performed better in the same era & have HCA - but more importantly -

The only way to beat Portland in that era was to have big/physically strong ball handlers and/or a physically imposing front line. That was the formula. Good Western Teams like the Spurs, Suns & Jazz of that era all fell because they didn't have those things - and the teams that beat them (Chicago, Detroit, Lakers) did. The Cavs don't have that. Porter had a tendency to thrive against smaller guards & Drexler - while not as good as Jordan - poses some of the same problems. Cleveland's front-court players are very skilled & are strong players - but Daugherty is a weak rim protector and the team was a weak rebounding team, which plays into Portland's hands. Cleveland's defense is just average & so Portland should be able to score pretty easily with their superior athleticism & ability to grab 2nd chance points.

The case for Cleveland is they held up better against Chicago than Portland did, you believe that the Cavs disciplined offense would avoid turnovers that lead to Portland 2nd chance points and Nance/Daugherty/Williams can get the Portland front line in foul trouble.

I think the Cavs are competitive, but not quite up to the task - the right ingredients just aren't there.

Blazers in 6

[penbeast0]

Never been impressed with Duckworth, Daugherty is good not great but should win this matchup, Nance has the edge on Buck Williams, and Price/Porter is close to a draw but the wings are a huge problem for Cleveland. Drexler is the best scorer on the court, Kersey the best wing defender, and Uncle Cliffie provides good defense, shooting and size coming off the bench. Ehlo and Sanders are role players, not bad players but not special either offensively or defensively and Battle can't really play the 3 so they would have to move Nance or Ehlo there when Sanders rests. Portland's advantage on the wings should be decisive.