The SPURS were better than any team MJ or Kobe beat

[Hornsstampede2.0]

Its fairly popular to bash Lebron for losing another finals, and then immediately point out the success of Jordan/Kobe.

But, in my opinion, Jordan or Kobe never faced a team like the 2014 Spurs.
There is no shame in losing to them.

The 2014 Spurs were better than the 1991 Lakers, 1992 Blazers, 1993 Suns, 1996 Sonics, 1997/98 Jazz, 00 Pacers, 01 Sixers, 02 Nets, 09 Magic, or 10 Celtics (Only the 1993 Suns gave me pause.)

LEBRON haters need to acknowledge this a bit.

It was not about the HEAT or LBJ failing.
It was about a dominant great Spurs team.

 

[bksballer89]

Facts

 

[RobToxin]

Yeah, it has been a long time since we have seen a team that could bring their 8th, 9th deep bench man into the game and have them contribute like the Spurs did this year.

What I have found almost humorous is the number of so-called basketball faxperts (that would be a fan who thinks he is an expert) who still think the Spurs are the same slow, plodding, boring team winning games by the score of 78-76 like we saw in 07.

And that is not even close to what the 2014 Spurs are.

 

[Clayton]

It was not about the HEAT or LBJ failing.
It was about a dominant great Spurs team.

I'm not a Lebron hater and I agree with this statement.

That said, I'm not fully sure this Spurs team is better than every team MJ or Kobe lost to.

 

[gordontrue]

I said in another thread that there is only one Finals that James has lost that I think Jordan could've potentially won. Replace LeBron with Jordan... and the Spurs still win the 07 title and the 2014 title.

I could be convinced that Jordan in LeBron's place might've pulled of the 2011 title, LeBron didn't have his best series there.


Bottom line... this year wasn't about LeBron or Jordan. It was about the Spurs putting together one of the best series of basketball ever seen.

 

[Clayton]

It was about the Spurs putting together one of the best series of basketball ever seen.

It was also a little bit about the Pacers falling apart, the Nets not being the team people thought they'd be, Derrick Rose missing another season, the Heat getting old and OKC still missing a piece.

 

[HizzleRocker]

Acknowledge the Spurs - Yes.
Give the Heat a pass - No.

I'm doing both. Plus there are a lot of us who seriously doubt the Heat could have even made it out of the West, excluding the Spurs.

OKC, Clippers, Portland, etc... could have given the Heat a run for their money.

 

[Davis_Mike]

Facts

These aren't facts, just opinions.

This is nonsense. First start out with the "fact" that the NBA today is shell of it's form self. Secondly, it's all opinion.

In my opinion, the 91 Lakers, 93 Suns, & the 97 Jazz were all better teams than the 2014 Spurs. And I would argue that the 92 Trailblazers & the 96 Sonics were just as good as the 2014 Spurs.

Stop making excuses for a team that padded their record playing in an all-time historically bad eastern conference. The top 4 teams in the NBA all came out of the western conference.

The Spurs had a great run & leave it at that.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

Spurs were obviously the best team. but I believe they won all 4 games by 15+ points. Surely the Heat sucking had something to do with that.

 

[Davis_Mike]

Spurs were obviously the best team. but I believe they won all 4 games by 15+ points. Surely the Heat sucking had something to do with that.

^^^This!

 

[Kinzu]

The 97 and 98 Jazz teams were legit. John Stockton is the greatest pure point guard to ever play in the NBA, and he and Malone perfected the art of the pick and roll. The thing is those Bulls teams during the 2nd 3-peat were likely the best team in NBA history. You can't take away anything from a team that only lost 10 games during the regular season, and then ran through the playoffs like it was easy. While the Lakers never really faced a tough opponent in the Finals you fail to point out they beat the Spurs to reach them. A Spurs team that had Duncan, Ginobli, and Parker on it.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

Its fairly popular to bash Lebron for losing another finals, and then immediately point out the success of Jordan/Kobe.

But, in my opinion, Jordan or Kobe never faced a team like the 2014 Spurs.
There is no shame in losing to them.

The 2014 Spurs were better than the 1991 Lakers, 1992 Blazers, 1993 Suns, 1996 Sonics, 1997/98 Jazz, 00 Pacers, 01 Sixers, 02 Nets, 09 Magic, or 10 Celtics (Only the 1993 Suns gave me pause.)

LEBRON haters need to acknowledge this a bit.

It was not about the HEAT or LBJ failing.
It was about a dominant great Spurs team.

There is no shame in losing to the Spurs...clearly they were the best team...all of these people that are on LBJ need to give it rest...as far as who the Spurs are better than...let's just say they're better than the Heat! All these other teams you're mentioning only brings hypothetical into play and then you can go anywhere with it...i.e. no way to prove it.

 

[gordontrue]

The thing is those Bulls teams during the 2nd 3-peat were likely the best team in NBA history. You can't take away anything from a team that only lost 10 games during the regular season, and then ran through the playoffs like it was easy.

Yeah, and that's the other side of it. Not only can you make the case that the Spurs are better than the teams the Bulls faced... you can make the case that those Bulls teams were much better than this Heat team. Depending on how much credit you give Jordan for those teams being so great and how much culpability you give James for the Heat team not being as good... this furthers the case that comparing Jordan's and James' finals records makes no sense.

 

[Inimical]

I dont even know where to begin with this thread. Im surprised you would put something like this out there Horn...ugh.

 

[RobToxin]

Spurs were obviously the best team. but I believe they won all 4 games by 15+ points. Surely the Heat sucking had something to do with that.

Fair point.

However....

beginning with Game 7 vs the Mavs, there was just one game that the Spurs won that they did not win by double digits.

They beat the Mavs in Game 7 by 23.

Wins over Portland were by the margins of 24, 17, 15 and 22.

Wins over OKC were by 17, 35, 28 and 5.

Wins over Heat were by 15, 19, 21 and 17.

13 wins. 12 of them by 15 or more points.

4 different teams.

I think maybe, in that context, it says a lot more about the Spurs than it does about the Heat.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

Fair point.

However....

beginning with Game 7 vs the Mavs, there was just one game that the Spurs won that they did not win by double digits.

They beat the Mavs in Game 7 by 23.

Wins over Portland were by the margins of 24, 17, 15 and 22.

Wins over OKC were by 17, 35, 28 and 5.

Wins over Heat were by 15, 19, 21 and 17.

13 wins. 12 of them by 15 or more points.

4 different teams.

I think maybe, in that context, it says a lot more about the Spurs than it does about the Heat.

True, but they lost multiple games to the Mavericks & Thunder. Heat basically showed to be about as good as Rip City at best.

 

[Shanemansj13]

I dont even know where to begin with this thread. Im surprised you would put something like this out there Horn...ugh.

It's true. Those would have lost to this Spurs team most likely. Probably the best passing team of all-time and they have so many scorers and versatility. There was a reason they set a Finals record for best FG pct in a quarter and a half. They had streaks where they were unstoppable.

 

[boogiewithstu2007]

Its fairly popular to bash Lebron for losing another finals, and then immediately point out the success of Jordan/Kobe.

But, in my opinion, Jordan or Kobe never faced a team like the 2014 Spurs.
There is no shame in losing to them.

The 2014 Spurs were better than the 1991 Lakers, 1992 Blazers, 1993 Suns, 1996 Sonics, 1997/98 Jazz, 00 Pacers, 01 Sixers, 02 Nets, 09 Magic, or 10 Celtics (Only the 1993 Suns gave me pause.)

LEBRON haters need to acknowledge this a bit.

It was not about the HEAT or LBJ failing.
It was about a dominant great Spurs team.

Hmmmmm.... That's a tough one.... 91 Lakers with Magic were pretty good... Also the Jazz with Malone and Stockton were a threat... 96 Sonics also with Kemp and Gary in there primes... Miami might have the edge BUT the one thing I saw from Miami is they appeared a little worn out... Spurs bench kept there starters fresher... It's tough to say for sure because sometimes teams match-up better to certain teams...

 

[Clayton]

Anyone remember the 2007 Heat? Swept out of the first round the year after winning. They got too old. Who is to say that we didn't just see the same thing?

 

[gpm1976]

I said in another thread that there is only one Finals that James has lost that I think Jordan could've potentially won. Replace LeBron with Jordan... and the Spurs still win the 07 title and the 2014 title.

I could be convinced that Jordan in LeBron's place might've pulled of the 2011 title, LeBron didn't have his best series there.


Bottom line... this year wasn't about LeBron or Jordan. It was about the Spurs putting together one of the best series of basketball ever seen.

Or maybe the heat really were just that bad. You watched the games, do you ever remember seeing a more out of sync team than the heat? They have the talent, they just can't play together. Lebron constantly trying to take over the game probably hurts more than it helps. Also don't overlook just how bad the East was this year. The Pacers just flat out sucked and yet they managed to bumble their way to the east conf. finals where they put up a pretty good fight against the heat. I'm still not sure the heat could truly hang with any playoff teams in the west.