Post#469 » by GMATCallahan » Mon Jun 20, 2016 2:04 am
Regardless of what transpires in the fourth quarter, I believe that this postseason has put to bed the notion that the 2016 Warriors represent "the greatest team of all time" (as if there is, or could be, a single "greatest team of all all time," a notion that is simplistic and fallacious). For instance, compare the Warriors' playoff performance to that of the 72-win 1996 Bulls (who I do not necessarily consider the best team ever, but whose regular season record for victories the Warriors obviously broke). Golden State is 6-6 in its last twelve games, 7-6 since the start of the Western Conference Finals, and 9-7 since Game Three of the Western Conference Semifinals—hardly dominant. Worse yet, the Warriors have been blown out, or pretty much blown out, five times in their last eleven games, since Game Three of the Western Conference Finals. Sure, Golden State has suffered some bad breaks along the way: Curry's injuries and missed games early in the playoffs, which may have contributed to some inconsistencies later on; Green's suspension for Game Five of the NBA Finals; Bogut going down for the count in that same game, and Andre Iguodala developing back spasms late in the NBA Finals. But "the greatest team of all time" should not struggle to this degree. And although Oklahoma City and Cleveland have clearly constituted terrific and worthy opponents, nothing about those opponents has been 'historic,' either.
Conversely, the 1996 Bulls went 15-3 in the playoffs on their way to the championship. Chicago went 14-1 in its first fifteen playoff games, winning by double figures ten times. The Bulls posted an 11-1 record in the Eastern Conference Playoffs against three opponents with future Hall of Fame centers (all in their primes), even though Chicago's weakest position was center. In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Bulls swept a 60-win defending conference champion Orlando club, winning one game by 38 points and another by 19 (on the road). That Magic team featured a twenty-four-year old Shaquille O'Neal, a twenty-four-year old Anfernee Hardaway (at his peak, before the knee surgeries), tremendous post play, multiple high-volume, highly efficient three-point shooters, and five starters in their primes who had all either played in an All-Star Game or averaged at least 19.9 points per game in a season. I suspect that that Magic club would have taken care of this year's Cavaliers.
In the NBA Finals against a 64-win Seattle team, the Bulls won Game One by 17 points and then placed the Sonics in a 3-0 chokehold by winning Game Three by 22 points in Seattle. That victory gave Chicago nine straight victories, the last seven against 60-plus-win — four of those seven wins coming by 17 points or higher (two by 22 points or higher). Now that performance represented dominance, not a struggle. Ron Harper, the Bulls' other starting guard (alongside Michael Jordan), was ailing by the time that Chicago reached Seattle and only played a total of 15 minutes in Games Three, Four, and Five. Harper was an underrated glue guy, and his hobbled state seemed to help the Bulls run out of gas a bit as they suffered a blowout loss in Game Four (their only one of that postseason) and another loss in Game Five (in the 2-3-2 playoff format). But Harper was able to play 38 minutes in Game Six back in Chicago, and the Bulls took care of business to finish with that 15-3 playoff record on top of their 72-10 regular season.
Now, Golden State's goal here is to win the championship, not to participate in an abstract debate that is only relevant to the irrelevant discussions that define sports discourse and sports 'journalism.' But the 2016 Warriors versus the 1996 Bulls? The 2016 Warriors versus the 1996 Sonics or the 1996 Magic would make for a better question.