1991 Chicago Bulls vs 2012 Oklahoma City Thunders

[Lebron23]

Who wins in a best of 7 series?

[Bigsmoke]

Bulls.

MJ was at his peak and Westbrook and Harden werent.

[SpaceJam2]

3 MVPs on one team? Headed to the Finals on FIRE with a 12-3 record?

One team with 3 MVPS, 3 Scoring Champions and a DPOY runner up in Ibaka?

Who could ever beat that squad, definitely not a weak MJ led team. MJ never faced a good team in the Finals.

[Manny98]

3 MVPs on one team, nuff said

[SouBeachTalents]

Gotta go with the Bulls, but people really do underrate that Thunder team. Even if their stars were all 22-23, they still swept the defending champ Mavs, knocked off the Lakers in 5, then backdoor swept a Spurs team that had won over 20 games in a row. Even the Finals were much more competitive than a 4-1 series would indicate, that team was legit.

[SpaceJam2]

Gotta go with the Bulls, but people really do underrate that Thunder team. Even if their stars were all 22-23, they still swept the defending champ Mavs, knocked off the Lakers in 5, then backdoor swept a Spurs team that had won over 20 games in a row. Even the Finals were much more competitive than a 4-1 series would indicate, that team was legit.

All trolling aside, big facts :applause:

[Showtime80']

LOL, let's see,

One of the smartest, most athletic defenses of all time coupled with a potent and disciplined triangle offense coached by Phil Jackson and lead by Michael Jordan at his peak along with young Scotty and Horace backed by a solid supporting cast who blitzted the NBA to the tune of 61 regular season wins and 15-2 in the playoffs for the first of their 3 straight titles...

Against a team that has Russell Dumbrick as its second option?!?

I could name 20 non-Finals teams from the last few decades that would smash that OKC team on basketball IQ alone. The fact that players like Harden and Brick are winning MVP's in the modern NBA is an indictment on how the game has fallen more than anything else.

[NBAGOAT]

LOL, let's see,

One of the smartest, most athletic defenses of all time coupled with a potent and disciplined triangle offense coached by Phil Jackson and lead by Michael Jordan at his peak along with young Scotty and Horace backed by a solid supporting cast who blitzted the NBA to the tune of 61 regular season wins and 15-2 in the playoffs for the first of their 3 straight titles...

Against a team that has Russell Dumbrick as its second option?!?

I could name 20 non-Finals teams from the last few decades that would smash that OKC team on basketball IQ alone. The fact that players like Harden and Brick are winning MVP's in the modern NBA is an indictment on how the game has fallen more than anything else.

I would love for you to name them. A later version of Durant/Westbrook(granted better) gave 73 win gs tons of trouble and beat a dominant spurs team with a lot of the same core from their title team+Aldridge. You can call Russell dumb but he was very good those years. Ofc it

[Showtime80']

Here's 20 Goat:

80' Celtics
81' Sixers
81' Bucks
82' Celtics
85' Bucks
85' Sixers
86' Lakers
87' Pistons
88' Celtics
88' Mavs
89' Bulls
90' Bulls
92' Cavs
92' Jazz
93' Knicks
93' Sonics
93' Cavs
94' Jazz
96' Magic
96' Jazz

That's just from 1980 to 96! All of those teams were top 10 in both offense and defense.

[SpaceJam2]

Here's 20 Goat:

80' Celtics
81' Sixers
81' Bucks
82' Celtics
85' Bucks
85' Sixers
86' Lakers
87' Pistons
88' Celtics
88' Mavs
89' Bulls
90' Bulls
92' Cavs
92' Jazz
93' Knicks
93' Sonics
93' Cavs
94' Jazz
96' Magic
96' Jazz

That's just from 1980 to 96! All of those teams were top 10 in both offense and defense.

:lol umm...

You were supposed to list 20 better, not worse

:roll:

[ZenMaster7210]

LOL, let's see,

One of the smartest, most athletic defenses of all time coupled with a potent and disciplined triangle offense coached by Phil Jackson and lead by Michael Jordan at his peak along with young Scotty and Horace backed by a solid supporting cast who blitzted the NBA to the tune of 61 regular season wins and 15-2 in the playoffs for the first of their 3 straight titles...

Against a team that has Russell Dumbrick as its second option?!?

I could name 20 non-Finals teams from the last few decades that would smash that OKC team on basketball IQ alone. The fact that players like Harden and Brick are winning MVP's in the modern NBA is an indictment on how the game has fallen more than anything else.

:applause: :applause: :applause:

[G0ATbe]

Thunder are winning pretty damn easily. Crazy how this team was probably lebrons easiest finals opponent but put them in the 90s they'd easily be the toughest team Jordan ever faced

[NBAGOAT]

Here's 20 Goat:

80' Celtics
81' Sixers
81' Bucks
82' Celtics
85' Bucks
85' Sixers
86' Lakers
87' Pistons
88' Celtics
88' Mavs
89' Bulls
90' Bulls
92' Cavs
92' Jazz
93' Knicks
93' Sonics
93' Cavs
94' Jazz
96' Magic
96' Jazz

That's just from 1980 to 96! All of those teams were top 10 in both offense and defense.

ah i didnt know you could count the same core multiple times since most people dont when talking about greatest team lists. that means the 80s great teams get counted multiple times I still disagree with some of them however.

the 88 mavs, 92 and 93 cavs? come on now. I'll even pick the thunder over any of the 90s jazz teams you listed and 93 sonics and likely 80s bucks too(at least the 85 team). not being top 10 in defense isnt that bad for the 12 thunder when you're 2nd in offense and 11th in defense Lol.

[Duncan21formvp]

2012 Thunder don't even make the playoffs in 1991.

[SpaceJam2]

2012 Thunder don't even make the playoffs in 1991.

Neither does Jordan without Pippen :lol

Next

[Real14]

What the f.uck are thunders?:biggums:

[72-10]

that 91 team was the worst of the 6 championship teams and the one that Jordan had to carry the most

Pippen and Grant were still molding into great defenders

they might have breezed through the playoffs, but they only won 61 regular season games

they'd lose to OKC

[Da_Realist]

LOL, let's see,

One of the smartest, most athletic defenses of all time coupled with a potent and disciplined triangle offense coached by Phil Jackson and lead by Michael Jordan at his peak along with young Scotty and Horace backed by a solid supporting cast who blitzted the NBA to the tune of 61 regular season wins and 15-2 in the playoffs for the first of their 3 straight titles...

Against a team that has Russell Dumbrick as its second option?!?

I could name 20 non-Finals teams from the last few decades that would smash that OKC team on basketball IQ alone. The fact that players like Harden and Brick are winning MVP's in the modern NBA is an indictment on how the game has fallen more than anything else.

I just stopped in to see how many idiots would choose OKC. I didn't expect to see Showtime drop a jewel :applause:

[Gil Renard]

2012 Thunder don't even make the playoffs in 1991.

:hammerhead: One of the most retarded posts I

[SouBeachTalents]

that 91 team was the worst of the 6 championship teams and the one that Jordan had to carry the most

Pippen and Grant were still molding into great defenders

they might have breezed through the playoffs, but they only won 61 regular season games

they'd lose to OKC
Bro, wtf are you talking about? The '91 Bulls had Jordan at his apex, and just strictly by overall performance were definitely better than the '93 or '98 teams. And '91 was Pippen's best playoff run :oldlol:

[Micku]

that 91 team was the worst of the 6 championship teams and the one that Jordan had to carry the most

Pippen and Grant were still molding into great defenders

they might have breezed through the playoffs, but they only won 61 regular season games

they'd lose to OKC

I would say it was 98 that was the worst one. Too many injuries and old.

[SpaceJam2]

[QUOTE=Gil Renard]:hammerhead: One of the most retarded posts I

[bigkingsfan]

2012 Thunder don't even make the playoffs in 1991.
Duncan lost to them

[Gil Renard]

Issa wrap

Thick Dick Gil swingin' in

Thanks, man :cheers: . You and DnK are two of the better posters on here.

[Gil Renard]

Duncan lost to them

:roll:

[SouBeachTalents]

Duncan lost to them
:roll: With homecourt AND up 2-0 too

[SpaceJam2]

Thanks, man :cheers: . You and DnK are two of the better posters on here.


Thank you brotha :cheers:

It's nice to see posters can see my impact

You da man

[Duncan21formvp]

:roll: With homecourt AND up 2-0 too
What does that say about Lebron losing 4-0 and 4-1 to Duncan? Also with multiple allstars on his squad. :oldlol:

[SouBeachTalents]

What does that say about Lebron losing 4-0 and 4-1 to Duncan? Also with multiple allstars on his squad. :oldlol:
Who were these multiple all-stars on his squad in '07?

[3ball]

[QUOTE=Gil Renard]:hammerhead: One of the most retarded posts I

[Duncan21formvp]

Who were these multiple all-stars on his squad in '07?
Big Z who was an allstar before ever playing with Lebron. Also made the allstar team in 2005.

[SouBeachTalents]

Big Z who was an allstar before ever playing with Lebron. Also made the allstar team in 2005.
So multiple all-stars really means, one dude who was an all-star two years earlier. Gotchya

[Duncan21formvp]

So multiple all-stars really means, one dude who was an all-star two years earlier. Gotchya
It means the guy who was an allstar before Lebron who turned Lebron into one since Lebron wasn't one until playing with that player.

[SouBeachTalents]

It means the guy who was an allstar before Lebron who turned Lebron into one since Lebron wasn't one until playing with that player.
This is one of the dumbest things that's ever been said on ISH, which is really saying something

[Marchesk]

[QUOTE=Gil Renard]:hammerhead: One of the most retarded posts I

[Gil Renard]

It means the guy who was an allstar before Lebron who turned Lebron into one since Lebron wasn't one until playing with that player.

:roll:

[Duncan21formvp]

:roll:
Did Lebron make the allstar team before playing with Big Z? It is a simple yes or no.

[Gil Renard]

This is one of the dumbest things that's ever been said on ISH, which is really saying something

That fakkit also said the 2012 Thunder wouldn

[SpaceJam2]

[QUOTE=Gil Renard]That fakkit also said the 2012 Thunder wouldn

[Gil Renard]

Stop lying. If you'd watch Jordan's entire career, you wouldn't be making such a claim.

I

[Duncan21formvp]

[QUOTE=Gil Renard]That fakkit also said the 2012 Thunder wouldn

[3ball]

I’m 44. I saw Jordan’s entire career. He’s extremely overrated and benefitted greatly from the weakest era since the 70’s. Fact is he never faced a team as good as the Thunder. Sorry if I hurt your feelings.
no you aren't 44 and never saw the goat. you fool no one

[SpaceJam2]

[QUOTE=Gil Renard]I

[Gil Renard]

They wouldn't. Lebron couldn't even beat Dwight Howard in his prime for goodness sake. How would he beat legends like Ewing, Barkley, Isiah, Magic in consecutive series in there prime especially when losing to Carlos Arroyo in the Olympics.

How did your hero Duncan do as the leader of the 2004 Olympic team?

[Gil Renard]

Bodied

Sounds like the converse of 3ball

First day posting and I got 3balt melting down :cheers: .

[Lebron23]

How did your hero Duncan do as the leader of the 2004 Olympic team?
He is Kobetard pretending to be a Duncan fan.

[Manny98]

MJ > KD
Pippen = Westbrook
Grant < Ibaka
Armstrong < Harden

Overall the Thunder are definitely more talented, Jordan and Pippen are a better duo than KD & Russ but when you throw in arguably the greatest 6th man ever in James Harden and a top 3 shot blocker in Ibaka i have got to go with OKC

[Showtime80']

Again OKC was a soft jump shooting team built for this no physicality era, under old rules Bulls in 4 on blowouts and under the new rules Bulls in 4 by a margin of 10 points per game.

Here's Kobe and Vince describing this sad era perfectly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v9IJp5Oc6g&t=34s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk4xFL011XE&t=9s

The Thunder were a team similar to the 80's Nuggets, early 90's Run TMC Warriors and 7 seconds or less Suns the only difference is they were lead by 3 baby mental midgets in Durant who ran to GS the minute he had the chance, Russell "dumb as a rock" Westbrook and James Harden who's proven to be just a volume chucker with the biggest green light to bomb away in the history of the game.

The 98' Utah Jazz would've trounced them also. they eliminated Olajuwon/Drexler/Barkley, Duncan/Robinson/Elliot and Shaq/Kobe along with two other all-stars in successive rounds in the WC playoffs. Only the magnitude of MJ and the Bulls basically running on fumes stopped them from a title.

The 2013 Spurs were also old as dirt so that leaves the 16' who people forget had an underwhelming playoffs almost getting beat by OKC and having Harrison Barnes and Donkey Green as the 3th and 4th offensive options.

Basically LeBron had no epic wins either in the Finals and definitely not in the EC playoffs which has been possibly the worst conference in sports history since 1999!

[SouBeachTalents]

Again OKC was a soft jump shooting team built for this no physicality era, under old rules Bulls in 4 on blowouts and under the new rules Bulls in 4 by a margin of 10 points per game.

Here's Kobe and Vince describing this sad era perfectly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v9IJp5Oc6g&t=34s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk4xFL011XE&t=9s

The Thunder were a team similar to the 80's Nuggets, early 90's Run TMC Warriors and 7 seconds or less Suns the only difference is they were lead by 3 baby mental midgets in Durant who ran to GS the minute he had the chance, Russell "dumb as a rock" Westbrook and James Harden who's proven to be just a volume chucker with the biggest green light to bomb away in the history of the game.

The 98' Utah Jazz would've trounced them also. they eliminated Olajuwon/Drexler/Barkley, Duncan/Robinson/Elliot and Shaq/Kobe along with two other all-stars in successive rounds in the WC playoffs. Only the magnitude of MJ and the Bulls basically running on fumes stopped them from a title.

The 2013 Spurs were also old as dirt so that leaves the 16' who people forget had an underwhelming playoffs almost getting beat by OKC and having Harrison Barnes and Donkey Green as the 3th and 4th offensive options.

Basically LeBron had no epic wins either in the Finals and definitely not in the EC playoffs which has been possibly the worst conference in sports history since 1999!
I love how context is provided for this era, but OP makes no mention that Houston team was "old as dirt", that Kobe was 19 and coming off the bench, and Duncan was a rookie when the Jazz beat them.

You talk about opposition, that Thunder team swept Dirk and the defending champs, beat Kobe & the Lakers in 5, then beat the Duncan/Parker/Manu/Pop Spurs who were on a 20 game winning streak.

And yeah, defeating a 73 win team with 3 All-NBA players and the first unanimous MVP in history isn't an "epic" Finals win :oldlol:

[Lebron23]

I love how context is provided for this era, but OP makes no mention that Houston team was "old as dirt", that Kobe was 19 and coming off the bench, and Duncan was a rookie when the Jazz beat them.

You talk about opposition, that Thunder team swept Dirk and the defending champs, beat Kobe & the Lakers in 5, then beat the Duncan/Parker/Manu/Pop Spurs who were on a 20 game winning streak.

And yeah, defeating a 73 win team with 3 All-NBA players and the first unanimous MVP in history isn't an "epic" Finals win :oldlol:
That troll hates LeBron, and 2000's and beyond basketball. I already put him in my ignore lists.

[Showtime80']

Kobe seems to "hate" 2000's NBA as well. Here he is talking about another factor that has ruined the league, AAU:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEyKG1jMEE8

LOL!

The 98' Jazz beat the 61 win Lakers led by a monster version of Shaq flanked by 3 all-star players which had the #1 offense in the league and the 56 win Spurs which had the #1 defense in the league.

A 22 y/o Tim Duncan in 1998 who won rookie of the year and played like a 5 year vet had better stats across the board than the 35 y/o 2012 watered down version not to mention David Robinson in 1998 was better than EVERYBODY on the 2012 Spurs including Tim Duncan and ROOKIE Kawhit.

The 2012 Mavs and Lakers were both middle of the road teams in wins, offense and defense led by past their primes Kobe and Dirk. The Mavs in particular were one the weakest champions of all time (kicked LeBald's as! in the process) and had one of the worst defenses of a title. These were not good teams.

If it weren't for the greatest player of all time putting out all the stops in 97 and 98 the Jazz would be remembered as one of the top teams of all time and Malone/Stockton would've shot up the all-time rankings.

The 2012 OKC Thunder on the other hand were a forgettable one hit wonder era specific team led by three mental midgets, a "big man" who's allergic to the paint and a lower tear coach in Scott Brooks. That team would've had their heads explode if they had to match wits with Jackson/Jordan/Pippen or Sloan/Malone/Stockton in a 7 game series or any of the teams in posted above for that matter.

A team were Russell Brickhouse plays a prominent role is not winning anything in ANY ERA!

[72-10]

Bro, wtf are you talking about? The '91 Bulls had Jordan at his apex, and just strictly by overall performance were definitely better than the '93 or '98 teams. And '91 was Pippen's best playoff run :oldlol:

so what if MJ was at his apex - he was carrying the team - the team wasn't as cohesive and they hadn't honed their defense

[ZenMaster7210]

Again OKC was a soft jump shooting team built for this no physicality era, under old rules Bulls in 4 on blowouts and under the new rules Bulls in 4 by a margin of 10 points per game.

Here's Kobe and Vince describing this sad era perfectly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v9IJp5Oc6g&t=34s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk4xFL011XE&t=9s

The Thunder were a team similar to the 80's Nuggets, early 90's Run TMC Warriors and 7 seconds or less Suns the only difference is they were lead by 3 baby mental midgets in Durant who ran to GS the minute he had the chance, Russell "dumb as a rock" Westbrook and James Harden who's proven to be just a volume chucker with the biggest green light to bomb away in the history of the game.

The 98' Utah Jazz would've trounced them also. they eliminated Olajuwon/Drexler/Barkley, Duncan/Robinson/Elliot and Shaq/Kobe along with two other all-stars in successive rounds in the WC playoffs. Only the magnitude of MJ and the Bulls basically running on fumes stopped them from a title.

The 2013 Spurs were also old as dirt so that leaves the 16' who people forget had an underwhelming playoffs almost getting beat by OKC and having Harrison Barnes and Donkey Green as the 3th and 4th offensive options.

Basically LeBron had no epic wins either in the Finals and definitely not in the EC playoffs which has been possibly the worst conference in sports history since 1999!

:applause:

[Rico2016]

I love how context is provided for this era, but OP makes no mention that Houston team was "old as dirt", that Kobe was 19 and coming off the bench, and Duncan was a rookie when the Jazz beat them.

You talk about opposition, that Thunder team swept Dirk and the defending champs, beat Kobe & the Lakers in 5, then beat the Duncan/Parker/Manu/Pop Spurs who were on a 20 game winning streak.

And yeah, defeating a 73 win team with 3 All-NBA players and the first unanimous MVP in history isn't an "epic" Finals win :oldlol:

Quick, concise, thorough execution. Demolition complete.

[Lebron23]

Jordan never beat any teams as good or even better as the 2012 OKC Thunder.

[ZenMaster7210]

Jordan never beat any teams as good or even better as the 2012 OKC Thunder.

97 Jazz are better than the Okc.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-best-nba-teams-of-all-time-according-to-elo/

[IllegalD]

Jordan never beat any teams as good or even better as the 2012 OKC Thunder.


You retard. Thunder were a bunch of early 20 year olds and Harden was a bench player.

Love the mental gymnastics you retards need to do in order to artificially inflate LeBron's legend.

[Lebron23]

97 Jazz are better than the Okc.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-best-nba-teams-of-all-time-according-to-elo/
Thunder would beat them. Lmao at stockton and hornacek guarding westbrook and harden.

[Lebron23]

You retard. Thunder were a bunch of early 20 year olds and Harden was a bench player.

Love the mental gymnastics you retards need to do in order to artificially inflate LeBron's legend.
Same Thunder team who dethroned the nba champion Dallas Mavericks.

[IllegalD]

Thunder would beat them. Lmao at stockton and hornacek guarding westbrook and harden.


LMAO at Ibaka guarding Malone.

And Stockton doesn't need to guard Westbrook. Westbrook does a great job of guarding himself with his low IQ, reckless play.

Harden was a bench player... :lol

[IllegalD]

Same Thunder team who dethroned the nba champion Dallas Mavericks.


Wow. You really are retarded. Mark Cuban blew up that championship team after 1 chip to chase free agents. It wasn't even the same team, you complete inbred dumbass.

Imagine being this stupid or pathetically desperate to prop up your lover.

BTW, do you mean the 2011 Mavs that handed your lover the most embarrassing upset/loss in sports history?

[Lebron23]

Wow. You really are retarded. Mark Cuban blew up that championship team after 1 chip to chase free agents. It wasn't even the same team, you complete inbred dumbass.

Imagine being this stupid or pathetically desperate to prop up your lover.

BTW, do you mean the 2011 Mavs that handed your lover the most embarrassing upset/loss in sports history?
They also beat the lakers and the spurs in the playoffs. You retarded fakkit. Harden was putting up prime Manu Ginobili stats in the playoffs and regular season.

[ZenMaster7210]

LMAO at Ibaka guarding Malone.

And Stockton doesn't need to guard Westbrook. Westbrook does a great job of guarding himself with his low IQ, reckless play.

Harden was a bench player... :lol

:applause:

:dancin :hammertime:

[IllegalD]

They also beat the lakers and the spurs in the playoffs. You retarded fakkit. Harden was putting up prime Manu Ginobili stats in the playoffs and regular season.


Wow, beating an aging Lakers team without Lamar and a geriatric Spurs team (I know you're confused about that since LeBron also embarrassingly lost to those same geriatric Spurs even older).

[Lebron23]

Wow, beating an aging Lakers team without Lamar and a geriatric Spurs team (I know you're confused about that since LeBron also embarrassingly lost to those same geriatric Spurs even older).
Wade and Bosh were both unproductive in the playoffs and finals. I think they were both tired and fatique after four trips to the finals.

[72-10]

Jordan never beat any teams as good or even better as the 2012 OKC Thunder.

are you joking

the 96 Sonics would probably beat the Thunder in like 5 games

96 Sonics, 98 Jazz, 97 Jazz, 93 Suns all better teams.

[Lebron23]

are you joking

the 96 Sonics would probably beat the Thunder in like 5 games

96 Sonics, 98 Jazz, 97 Jazz, 93 Suns all better teams.
Nobody is stopping LeBron from winning a title in 2012. He was a man possessed.

[IllegalD]

Wade and Bosh were both unproductive in the playoffs and finals. I think they were both tired and fatique after four trips to the finals.


Excuses.

So a younger Wade and Bosh are tired but an old Manu, TD, and Parker on their 6th finals aren't?

:roll:

[IllegalD]

Nobody is stopping LeBron from winning a title in 2012. He was a man possessed.


He nearly lost to an aging Boston Celtics squad and needed an alltime performance to beat them. Probably one of the most overrated championship runs of all time when it comes to competition.

[Lebron23]

He nearly lost to an aging Boston Celtics squad and needed an alltime performance to beat them. Probably one of the most overrated championship runs of all time when it comes to competition.
Put up one of the best performance of all time.

[IllegalD]

Put up one of the best performance of all time.


Against an aging Celtics team. Not impressive.

[Naero]

The 2012 Thunder were a great team, but too many glorify them for the wrong reasons and therefore overrate them. It's this specious "three MVPs" narrative, which is typically regurgitated by those who didn't even follow (or don't remember) the team thoroughly enough to dissect them any better than that, that clouds their true case.

No one was calling them a three-headed monster during their Finals run; it's revisionism we only started hearing when the three future MVPs all entered their peaks 3-5 years later, and it considerably overrepresents their 2012 impact when only Durant was playing at an MVP level by then.

The fans and media certainly weren't calling Harden, who was a sixth man, a future MVP with his paltry 12-PPG, 37.5-FG% averages, and Westbrook didn't exactly peak on the biggest stage aside from his one-hit-wonder Game 5. Moreover, as great as the young team's Finals run was, it's obvious they faltered on the biggest stage (aside from Durant) as young stars tend to in their first appearances.

They didn't synergize like true superteams do, either, under Scott Brooks. They ranked in the bottom-five in assists and passes made, and the asynergy was even more evident by watching their off-ball stagnance in the Finals; you could sometimes even hear Thunder fans clamoring for their team to set screens because of how fruitless their iso-play became.

Even more undemonstrably untrue is the enthymeme that they tasked a David-and-Goliath effort out of LeBron. He played very well, but he didn't need any truly all-time-great game to win that series; the Heat managed to win in five while he played at his regular-season level because they collectively outperformed the Thunder, since the latter weren't the three-MVP team that revisionists conveniently call them.

All in all, nobody could have watched that series and objectively thought the Thunder were the better team. It's laughably overreaching to say they outrate anything Jordan ever faced, and it only gets them underrated by counternarrative. If you rated them more rationally, more would be willing to acknowledge them for the actual caliber they were: not a historical juggernaut by any stretch, but a contemporarily great team and worthy Finals opponent.

[3ball]

.

Associated Press, 1991 Preseason:


"the Pistons’ second straight dominating season has the rest of the East’s coaches scratching their heads over what to do about it. But everyone concedes Detroit is the favorite to become the first team since the 1959-66 Celtics to win as many as three consecutive championships."

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-10-28-sp-4734-story.html


Conclusion: MJ was an underdog to win it in 1991 to a Warriors'-like dynasty that was pursuing a 3-peat.. Yet he beat that dynasty to make his first Finals and then won as an underdog (http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showpost.php?p=12503385&postcount=33) versus a 5-time Finals winner and the widely-regarded goat at the time..

So the burning question for the goat is "could this be MJ's greatest ring?"

Impossible to say - each ring reached all-time level for different reasons.. But the one constant was MJ's unique feat of winning as the league scoring champ (goat burden to win a ring) and having a goat margin over his 2nd option (10-20 more than 2nd option in every Finals, aka goat carry-job/burden)..

From a professional statistician point of view, 538.com ranks Jordan's baby cast from 1991 among the weakest casts to ever win a ring (link (https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/where-this-years-cavs-rank-among-lebrons-nba-finals-supporting-casts/)), along with Dirk's 2011 and Hakeem's 1994 casts - but only MJ has two such carry-jobs that rank near the bottom of supporting casts (91' and 93'), aka GOAT carrier of casts..

Indeed, we know that Lebron missed the playoffs 3 times with casts that were lottery the prior year (04', 05', 19'), and therefore never carried a lottery cast to a low seeded playoff birth like MJ did - Lebron only made it with good teams/high seeds/fortified teams (i.e. missed playoffs with the East all-star center in 05', and then made it in 06' by adding the future COY and a 20-pt all-defender sidekick).. So the biggest knocks of his career might not be 3/9 or his numerous chokes - it might be his inability to carry truly weak teams to low seeds (needing high seeds/good teams to make playoffs), and also going only 3/7 with 2 super-star teammates, i.e. "super-teams" from 11-17'... so basically, underachieving regardless of cast, aka loser)
.

[Duncan21formvp]

Nobody is stopping LeBron from winning a title in 2012. He was a man possessed.
Dude was down 3-2 with HCA to a team that couldn't even win 40 games.

[SouBeachTalents]

Dude was down 3-2 with HCA to a team that couldn't even win 40 games.
Neither could the '99 Spurs

[Duncan21formvp]

Neither could the '99 Spurs
Lost 2 games in the playoffs. Heat was down 3-2 with HCA.