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I assume Indiana Pacers will move on to the finals, maybe even grab the chip.

Which team do you think will be remembered in retrospect as the best in the East this season?

The Pacers.

The Celtics version in the playoffs was nowhere their 2024 version.

The team going to the Finals. Milwaukee 2nd.

ReggiesKnicks wrote:The team going to the Finals. Milwaukee 2nd.

Huh?

The Pacers or the Knicks.

You have to win the games. They are winning the games.

If you want to crown a paper champion for your own amusement, cool I guess? But we do this every year and never seem to learn. Still waiting for the trophy presentation to the Wolves/Nuggets winner from last year.

Texas Chuck wrote:The Pacers or the Knicks.

You have to win the games. They are winning the games.

If you want to crown a paper champion for your own amusement, cool I guess? But we do this every year and never seem to learn. Still waiting for the trophy presentation to the Wolves/Nuggets winner from last year.

As OP, I still think Pacers are the best team. But I heard a lot of other voices hence the post. Sounds from your tone like I was holding a different opinion

durantbird wrote:

Texas Chuck wrote:The Pacers or the Knicks.

You have to win the games. They are winning the games.

If you want to crown a paper champion for your own amusement, cool I guess? But we do this every year and never seem to learn. Still waiting for the trophy presentation to the Wolves/Nuggets winner from last year.

As OP, I still think Pacers are the best team. But I heard a lot of other voices hence the post. Sounds from your tone like I was holding a different opinion

I'm confused why the thread unless you think the Pacers are an undeserving Finals team? Cleveland won a bunch of regular season games again, but then the playoffs go the way the playoffs always go with them. And I know they had some injuries but we see other teams deal with significant injuries every year and advance and Cleveland had their best two players. Boston was the reigning champ, but even before Tatum got hurt they were getting just flat beat.

Not really seeing any strong arguments for anyone but the winner of this series are you?

The best team doesn't win the title every year. The best team in each respective conference doesn't make the finals every year. Heck, most seasons there really isn't one team that is clearly the best and even then that team sometimes loses (2007 Patriots).

But the teams that advance are the ones who get remembered as the best.

Texas Chuck wrote:

durantbird wrote:

Texas Chuck wrote:The Pacers or the Knicks.

You have to win the games. They are winning the games.

If you want to crown a paper champion for your own amusement, cool I guess? But we do this every year and never seem to learn. Still waiting for the trophy presentation to the Wolves/Nuggets winner from last year.

As OP, I still think Pacers are the best team. But I heard a lot of other voices hence the post. Sounds from your tone like I was holding a different opinion

I'm confused why the thread unless you think the Pacers are an undeserving Finals team? Cleveland won a bunch of regular season games again, but then the playoffs go the way the playoffs always go with them. And I know they had some injuries but we see other teams deal with significant injuries every year and advance and Cleveland had their best two players. Boston was the reigning champ, but even before Tatum got hurt they were getting just flat beat.

Not really seeing any strong arguments for anyone but the winner of this series are you?

Confused? How come you're confused if I just explained? Have you skipped some of the words I posted? The thread is just a discussion trigger. Are you seeing something in the OP that suggest I think a different team is better? Or did you see a question?

Call me old fashioned but probably the team that wins thw conference

If the Pacers get destroyed in the finals I think it'll be remembered like the Butler Heat finals runs where a team played well above their heads for 1.5 months but ultimately wasn't the best team in their conference

falcolombardi wrote:Call me old fashioned but probably the team that wins thw conference

2023 Heat were the best team in the East that year in your view?

Celtics were the best team. They needed Porzingis and Tatum, their two best overall players to carry them as some of their rotation struggled in matchups and both got seriously sick and injured. Long COVID and an Achilles tear.

But there’s no question to me they were better than every other team when healthy and would have won the conference.

I haven’t talked Cleveland all year because I’m fundamentally skeptical of them. Their improvement, their style, their defense. And I think they proved my hunch right. Injuries be damned, they were outplayed by Indiana.

Special_Puppy wrote:

falcolombardi wrote:Call me old fashioned but probably the team that wins thw conference

2023 Heat were the best team in the East that year in your view?

Were the 95 rockets not the best west team in your view? They were a 6th seed after all

Is a case by case basis but overall a healthy boston team failed to beat miami when it came to playoff basketball, and it was not even a 1-off, miami beat the east in 2020 and went 7 with a better boston team in 2022

You could argue healthy bucks as a what if, but miami was the best team when it mattered

ShotCreator wrote:Celtics were the best team. They needed Porzingis and Tatum, their two best overall players to carry them as some of their rotation struggled in matchups and both got seriously sick and injured. Long COVID and an Achilles tear.

But there’s no question to me they were better than every other team when healthy and would have won the conference.

I haven’t talked Cleveland all year because I’m fundamentally skeptical of them. Their improvement, their style, their defense. And I think they proved my hunch right. Injuries be damned, they were outplayed by Indiana.

Porzingis is chronically injured, jrue is getting old and declining, brown had a down year all season long

You can blame injuries but 2025 celtics were a flawed team all season long and some of those cracks showed in reg season too, but as usually happens (sometimes correctly tbf, sometimes incorrectly) people shrugged and went "they still beating down everyone again cause defending champions"

Full strenght celtics were not even all that dominant either in reg season btw to many of the teams they were potentially facing (0-2 vs a not fully healthy thunder, 2-2 with cavs, multiple losses to indiana)

The Knicks could come back and win this series and I would not view them as the best team in the East if OKC promptly dispatched them as I'd expect. So I don't personally subscribe to the 'the winner is the best!' thesis here.

I think the public's retrospective opinion will be affected by things that haven't happened yet - the Finals and future seasons. If the Cavaliers go on to crush the conference next year with a similar core, I think you'd have some people saying "well, they were probably the best team in 2025 too." And the Finals matter too - if the Pacers win it all, then yeah it's probably moot lol

flow wrote:

ReggiesKnicks wrote:The team going to the Finals. Milwaukee 2nd.

Huh?

They are currently the defending champions of the last tournament where there was a Finals. Where in that Finals they pooped on the team that's going to win the championship.

jalengreen wrote:The Knicks could come back and win this series and I would not view them as the best team in the East if OKC promptly dispatched them as I'd expect. So I don't personally subscribe to the 'the winner is the best!' thesis here.

I think the public's retrospective opinion will be affected by things that haven't happened yet - the Finals and future seasons. If the Cavaliers go on to crush the conference next year with a similar core, I think you'd have some people saying "well, they were probably the best team in 2025 too." And the Finals matter too - if the Pacers win it all, then yeah it's probably moot lol

In the hypothetical knicks go on to win the conference, who would be the best east team if not them then?

Boston which they beat?, indiana which they beat? Cleveland who lost 4-1 to indiana?

How could this be anyone other than Indiana (assuming they win). Knicks winning 1 more game in the regular season doesn't mean anything if they lose the series with HCA. Cleveland wasn't even that competitive.

falcolombardi wrote:

jalengreen wrote:The Knicks could come back and win this series and I would not view them as the best team in the East if OKC promptly dispatched them as I'd expect. So I don't personally subscribe to the 'the winner is the best!' thesis here.

I think the public's retrospective opinion will be affected by things that haven't happened yet - the Finals and future seasons. If the Cavaliers go on to crush the conference next year with a similar core, I think you'd have some people saying "well, they were probably the best team in 2025 too." And the Finals matter too - if the Pacers win it all, then yeah it's probably moot lol

In the hypothetical knicks go on to win the conference, who would be the best east team if not them then?

Boston which they beat?, indiana which they beat? Cleveland who lost 4-1 to indiana?

Ya some reasonable options there