Greatest Team to Never Win a Ring: '18 Houston vs. '94 New York

[pandrade83]

Time to break up some of the "interesting" Kawhi discussions.

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 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.

'18 Rockets 65,17, SRS +8.2, Offense +6.1, Defense -2.5, lost in WCF to Warriors in 7.

Capela
Anderson
Ariza
Harden
Paul

Tucker
Gordon
Muh a Boute



'94 Knicks 57-25, SRS +6.5, Offense -0.6, Defense -8.1, lost in Finals to Rockets in 7
Ewing
Oakley
Smith
Starks
Harper

Mason
Bonner
Davis
Anthony

[penbeast0]

Looks like PJ Tucker was starting, not Anderson. I can't see Harden that bothered by the more physical defense as he's basically always throwing himself into contact anyway to draw fouls. Harper and Paul are both older but Paul looked healthy in game 1. Question is whether Knicks can generate efficient enough offense and whether Capella will be able to do anything with Ewing. Oakley will be less effective against Houston's 4 out offense and interior passing will be a problem for the Knicks.

Assuming Houston is allowed to play 4 out ball rather than only be as 3 heavy as a top 90s team, I think this favors the Rockets.

[Lost92Bricks]

The 2018 Rockets are the best team to not win the championship, period.

[penbeast0]

The 2018 Rockets are the best team to not win the championship, period.

I think this is what the OP means by no analysis votes don't count.

[Mrakar]

If it were played by today rules it would be blowout by rockets.
However with mid 90's rules i think it would be much closer. Still i pick Rockets.
People underestimate how hard these Rockets play. If it wasn't by their scrapy defense they would never come close to beating the Warriors since their offense is as ugly as it gets(however its still better then Knicks offense).
Ewing was great and all but he was never "feed me the ball and i give u 40 points" good.
This would be probably ugliest matchup and ugliest playoff series ever to watch. I pick Rockets in 6 bcs of star power and ability to spread the floor better.

[penbeast0]

If it were played by today rules it would be blowout by rockets.
However with mid 90's rules i think it would be much closer. Still i pick Rockets.
People underestimate how hard these Rockets play. If it wasn't by their scrapy defense they would never come close to beating the Warriors since their offense is as ugly as it gets(however its still better then Knicks offense).
Ewing was great and all but he was never "feed me the ball and i give u 40 points" good.
This would be probably ugliest matchup and ugliest playoff series ever to watch. I pick Rockets in 6 bcs of star power and ability to spread the floor better.

Hard to be uglier than the playoffs the Knicks actually were in against Pat Riley's Heat squads.

[pandrade83]

Under mid 90's rules, the Rockets are not able to achieve a blowout. Harden's Step Back 3 is probably illegal, his flopping won't be as accepted, and the Knicks aren't a type of team where I want to be hugely dependent on a point guard who is brittle. Additionally, the Rockets don't have a clear way to stop the Knicks most potent offensive weapon.

However, the Rockets were a better team in a stronger era and should be able to gum up the Knicks' offense pretty badly on the perimeter and render them one dimensional. I'll take the Rockets in 7.

[KobesScarf]

They didnt have the best record but I always thought 92 with X-man, Mark Jackson and Gerald Wilkins was the toughest and most talented of the Ewing Knick teams