Greatest Team to Never Win a Ring: '16 Thunder vs. '81 Sixers

[pandrade83]

Into Round 3!

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 - please read the original thread if this is new to you!

Each matchup will utilize the rules, refs, & equipment of the older team in this tournament. 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. Voting without any reason listed at all will not be counted. Each thread will be open until it slips to page 2 of the board.

'81 Sixers SRS +7.8 62-20, Offense +1.5, Defense -6.0, lost to Celtics in ECF in 7

C. Jones
D. Dawkins
J. Erving
L. Hollins
M. Cheeks

A. Toney
B. Jones
S. Mix
C. Richardson

'16 Thunder SRS +7.1, 55-27, Offense +6.7, Defense - 0.8, lost to Warriors in WCF in 7
Adams
Ibaka
Durant
Roberson
Westbrook

Kanter
Waiters
Singler
Morrow

Quite the contest - I'm hoping for some votes!

[penbeast0]

Defense v. Offense, can Erving, Bobby Jones, Chocolate Thunder and Andrew Toney create enough offense? I like the team a lot better when Jones and Toney come in for Dawkins and Hollins, which they tended to do fairly early to stagger the lineup (Jones played more than Dawkins actually). On the other side, can Roberson, Adams, and Ibaka play strong enough defense (when their bench comes in, Kanter and Waiters are not exactly defensive stalwarts)?

Durant is the best player but I think I go with Philly on this one. Much better balance which counts for even more in playoff basketball.

[Hal14]

The 81' Sixers take it in 5 games...better defense, better rebounding, tougher, more physical, more complete team with stars and role players. They barely lost in 7 games in the ECF to the eventual champs Celtics...the 81 Sixers were one of the top teams to not win a title. The Thunder are not..

[pandrade83]

Case for Thunder:

-KD is the best player in the series
-Westbrook's physicality could overwhelm Philly's backcourt
-Philly's bigs are foul prone & WB/KD are strong at getting to the line, so OKC may have a parade to the foul line.

Case for Philly:

-Better Depth; a longer series favors them.
-HCA
-OKC can't capitalize on their one weakness (TOV Economy) and in fact - they are worse at it (net negative 2.3 vs Philly net negative 1.0)
-More versatile/more looks they can throw at OKC
-Better coached

I think this is a highly competitive series; I'll take the Sixers in 7 - this could've easily been the Finals matchup.