The 1981 Houston Rockets with 40 wins advancing in the NBA Finals in 1981

[Lebron23]

They eliminated the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the playoffs, beat the Spurs in 7 games, and beat the Kansas City Kings in the conference finals. But lost to the Celtics in the nba finals. It could have been one of the greatest playoffs run if they beat the Celtics in the finals. By the way two of Birds championship were against the Houston Rockets. He beat two of their best franchise players in different seasons.

[Roundball_Rock]

A product of having a 3 game first round IMO. If it was 7 games the Lakers would beat them. Moses was a great player, though. Probably the most underrated top 15-20 AT guy.

[Lebron23]

A product of having a 3 game first round IMO. If it was 7 games the Lakers would beat them. Moses was a great player, though. Probably the most underrated top 15-20 AT guy.

Just read they only played best of 3. Greater chance for a lower seed to upset a higher seed in the playoffs.

[Lebron23]

A product of having a 3 game first round IMO. If it was 7 games the Lakers would beat them. Moses was a great player, though. Probably the most underrated top 15-20 AT guy.

Malone was also the Kryptonite of Kareem Abdul Jabbar. He out played him several times in the playoffs. Magic shot poorly against Houston. 17.7 ppg on 38.8 FG%. Although he averaged 13.7 apg, and 7.7 rpg.

[SouBeachTalents]

Magic losing to a 40 win team in the first round, with a still elite Kareem & HCA, while going 2/14 in the deciding Game 3 is truly one of the least talked about horrendous losses/performances by an ATG

[Im so nba'd out]

Moses f**king Malone!

[RRR3]

Magic losing to a 40 win team in the first round, with a still elite Kareem & HCA, while going 2/14 in the deciding Game 3 is truly one of the least talked about horrendous losses/performances by an ATG
Jesus Christ, LeBron would never hear the end of that.

[3ball]

Magic losing to a 40 win team in the first round, with a still elite Kareem & HCA, while going 2/14 in the deciding Game 3 is truly one of the least talked about horrendous losses/performances by an ATG

^^^ that's how we know Magic is overrated

The numerous upsets and 5-4 Finals record makes it impossible that BOTH Magic and Kareem are top 5...

One must get bumped down, and I choose Magic because of his weak jumpshooting skill and ball-dominance - his ball-dominance lowered the Lakers' team ceiling (Finals record) below what a less ball-dominant player like Bird, MJ, or Kobe would've had with such a stacked cast.. So Magic ranks down there alongside fellow ball-dominator Lebron (similar weak Finals record/underachieving team ceiling)

MJ, Wilt, Kareem, Shaq, Russell, Bird, Hakeem, Duncan, Kobe, Magic, Lebron

[Lebron23]

^^^ that's how we know Magic is overrated

The numerous upsets and 5-4 Finals record makes it impossible that BOTH Magic and Kareem are top 5...

One must get bumped down, and I choose Magic because of his weak jumpshooting skill and ball-dominance - his ball-dominance lowered the Lakers' team ceiling (Finals record) below what a less ball-dominant player like Bird, MJ, or Kobe would've had with such a stacked cast.. So Magic ranks down there alongside fellow ball-dominator Lebron (similar weak Finals record/underachieving team ceiling)

MJ, Wilt, Kareem, Shaq, Russell, Bird, Hakeem, Duncan, Kobe, Magic, Lebron

Trolling again I see.

[3ball]

Trolling again I see.

Realest shit i ever wrote actually

[StrongLurk]

^^^ that's how we know Magic is overrated

The numerous upsets and 5-4 Finals record makes it impossible that BOTH Magic and Kareem are top 5...

One must get bumped down, and I choose Magic because of his weak jumpshooting skill and ball-dominance - his ball-dominance lowered the Lakers' team ceiling (Finals record) below what a less ball-dominant player like Bird, MJ, or Kobe would've had with such a stacked cast.. So Magic ranks down there alongside fellow ball-dominator Lebron (similar weak Finals record/underachieving team ceiling)

MJ, Wilt, Kareem, Shaq, Russell, Bird, Hakeem, Duncan, Kobe, Magic, Lebron

I have 100% seen you post this same concept with Magic and Kareem, except last time you bumped KAREEM out of the top 5 because you went with the theory of "big men can't dominate the game like a perimeter player since they don't initiate/run the offense".

You've flip-flopped more than any poster ever in ISH's history because of whatever narrative you want to run with on a given day. I still remember when you said Wilt was number 2 all time because of (insert narrative/MJ insecurity), then changed to Bird number 2 all time because of (insert narrative/MJ insecurity). Then you declined ever having Wilt number 2 all time and now I guess you put him back?

Whatever that list/order of players you have in this post is you just being an insecure loser. You must have some serious withdrawals every time you get banned from ISH.

[SouBeachTalents]

I have 100% seen you post this same concept with Magic and Kareem, except last time you bumped KAREEM out of the top 5 because you went with the theory of "big men can't dominate the game like a perimeter player since they don't initiate/run the offense".

You've flip-flopped more than any poster ever in ISH's history because of whatever narrative you want to run with on a given day. I still remember when you said Wilt was number 2 all time because of (insert narrative/MJ insecurity), then changed to Bird number 2 all time because of (insert narrative/MJ insecurity). Then you declined ever having Wilt number 2 all time and now I guess you put him back?

Whatever that list/order of players you have in this post is you just being an insecure loser. You must have some serious withdrawals every time you get banned from ISH.
He's changed around his top 10 list literally dozens of times :oldlol: Players that have been retired for years see a 10-15 spot fluctuation in ranking from one week to the next

[Axe]

When that happened, houston was just a fresh team in the western conference back then.

[Sarcastic]

Magic losing to a 40 win team in the first round, with a still elite Kareem & HCA, while going 2/14 in the deciding Game 3 is truly one of the least talked about horrendous losses/performances by an ATG

Back in the 80s it was talked about though. All of his mishaps were. He was called Tragic Johnson for a reason.

He made up for it later on in the mid and late 80s, but his early career chokes were very much a part of his narrative

[3ball]

I have 100% seen you post this same concept with Magic and Kareem, except last time you bumped KAREEM out of the top 5 because you went with the theory of "big men can't dominate the game like a perimeter player since they don't initiate/run the offense".

You've flip-flopped more than any poster ever in ISH's history because of whatever narrative you want to run with on a given day. I still remember when you said Wilt was number 2 all time because of (insert narrative/MJ insecurity), then changed to Bird number 2 all time because of (insert narrative/MJ insecurity). Then you declined ever having Wilt number 2 all time and now I guess you put him back?

Whatever that list/order of players you have in this post is you just being an insecure loser. You must have some serious withdrawals every time you get banned from ISH.

I've learned a lot and rankings are always fluid

But I realized it made more sense to put the ball-dominators below the bigs - even Kobe was a little ball-dominant so he's just ahead og Magic and lebron

Top 10: MJ... Bigs... Ball-dominators (kobe/magic/lebron)

[JBSptfn]

That Rockets team was lucky that they didn't have to face the Lakers at their best. They also didn't have to face the Pacific Division Champion Suns that year (they went 4-0 against the Rockets that year in the regular season).

[kuniva_dAMiGhTy]

I've only watched Houston games from that finals. And the last game they upset LA in.

Moses and Calvin Murphy were definitely their best players. How were they overall though? Flash in the pan? Do they stack up vs Hakeem and Sampson's Rocket clubs?

[JBSptfn]

I've only watched Houston games from that finals. And the last game they upset LA in.

Moses and Calvin Murphy were definitely their best players. How were they overall though? Flash in the pan? Do they stack up vs Hakeem and Sampson's Rocket clubs?

They were a flash in the pan. The next year, they were out in the first round to the Sonics, who returned to the playoffs after a year absence.

As for how they compare to the Twin Tower Rockets, I would take the Twin Tower teams over them easily.

[3ball]

I've only watched Houston games from that finals. And the last game they upset LA in.

Moses and Calvin Murphy were definitely their best players. How were they overall though? Flash in the pan? Do they stack up vs Hakeem and Sampson's Rocket clubs?

Is Moses ranked higher than Pippen all-time?

Crap like that lets you know how overrated Pippen has become

Moses was literally one of the most dominant players EVER... And his game FIT in a lot of formats

[Roundball_Rock]

Magic losing to a 40 win team in the first round, with a still elite Kareem & HCA, while going 2/14 in the deciding Game 3 is truly one of the least talked about horrendous losses/performances by an ATG

There appears to be one standard for LeBron and another for every top 10ish ATG.

[3ball]

There appears to be one standard for LeBron and another for every top 10ish ATG.

Not for me.. i correctly rank Magic below with other underachieving ball-dominators - that's why magic/lebron rank next to each other in my rankings, as they should in everyone's

And guys like Curry/Isiah/West should be ranked together, etc... the all-time rankings should be little cliques of similar-style players that got similar results.. the caliber and effectiveness of the playing style is really what we're ranking

[kuniva_dAMiGhTy]

They were a flash in the pan. The next year, they were out in the first round to the Sonics, who returned to the playoffs after a year absence.

As for how they compare to the Twin Tower Rockets, I would take the Twin Tower teams over them easily.

Basically the onsensus with most posters. They were a surprise team who had fortunate breaks. Moses was an outstanding player but I couldn't imagine him going through BOTH Sampson and Hakeem.


Is Moses ranked higher than Pippen all-time?

Crap like that lets you know how overrated Pippen has become

That's a no brainer. Why are you asking that question?

And how was Magic an underachiever?