If every team was healthy, who would have won the 2021 championship?

[dankok8]

If every team was healthy in the 2021 Postseason, who would have won the title?

- Clippers with a healthy Kawhi
- Lakers with a healthy Anthony Davis
- Nets with a healthy Harden and Kyrie
- Bucks win regardless

Injuries robbed us of an even more historic postseason and the legacy implications for some of those teams and players would have been huge. Imagine how the Clippers and Kawhi would have been looked at if they won. Or how KD would have been looked at if he won outside of GS while being so dominating individually. Or Lebron with a 5th ring. Or how Giannis would have been looked at if he was still ringless.

[SouBeachTalents]

I just don't see how you could choose the Bucks when they squeaked by the Nets by the thinnest of margins with Kyrie/Harden both missing several games, then still trailed Phoenix 2-0 in the Finals.

Who I would choose out of those 3 remaining teams is absolutely fvcking brutal, gun to my head, I'd prob go with Brooklyn.

[RRR3]

Very likely the Lakers but injuries are part of the game and the Bucks earned it.

[ArbitraryWater]

No team showed me anything that was on the level of the 2020 / 2021-before-injuries-hit Lakers, tbh.


Remember the 2021 Lakers were the 1st seed and started 21-6 when AD got injured in the 2nd quarter against the Nuggets.


AD only came back for the last 12 games, after the adjustment/getting back in groove period, Lakers won the last 5 games.

They then went to the 2nd seed Phoenix, won on the road, won game 3 easily, were up in game 4 when AD went down again.


Tragic stuff.

[tpols]

The Nets were clobbering the bucks before Kyrie got hurt. And without Harden who got hurt Game 1. And the Bucks went on to win the chip so what does that say?

In the 1st round vs Boston Durant averaged 33/7/3, Harden averaged 28/11/7, and Kyrie averaged 25/6/3

There would be a lot of digging to do but I don't think any trio in NBA history combined for the production that trio produced together in a playoff series.

[tpols]

No team showed me anything that was on the level of the 2020 / 2021-before-injuries-hit Lakers, tbh.


Remember the 2021 Lakers were the 1st seed and started 21-6 when AD got injured in the 2nd quarter against the Nuggets.


AD only came back for the last 12 games, after the adjustment/getting back in groove period, Lakers won the last 5 games.

They then went to the 2nd seed Phoenix, won on the road, won game 3 easily, were up in game 4 when AD went down again.


Tragic stuff.

I thought AD was empty stats though. :lol

I do remember that year and yea the Lakers were hopeless without Davis. They didn't just get beat when he went down.

The Suns massacred them.

[SouBeachTalents]

The Nets were clobbering the bucks before Kyrie got hurt. And without Harden who got hurt Game 1. And the Bucks went on to win the chip so what does that say?

In the 1st round vs Boston Durant averaged 33/7/3, Harden averaged 28/11/7, and Kyrie averaged 25/6/3

There would be a lot of digging to do but I don't think any trio in NBA history combined for the production that trio produced together in a playoff series.
AW's corrected you on this so many times, the series was 2-1 and the Bucks were up 44-40 when Kyrie got hurt, on no planet is that someone get "clobbered".

You have a terrible habit of posting incorrect info off of faulty memory.

[tpols]

AW's corrected you on this so many times, the series was 2-1 and the Bucks were up 44-40 when Kyrie got hurt, on no planet is that someone get "clobbered".

You have a terrible habit of posting incorrect info off of faulty memory.

The Nets handily won game 1 on the Bucks entering the 4th quarter with a double digit lead and then won Game 2 by a margin of 125-86. And then barely lost Game 3 by 1 possesion.

They were clobbering them and were the better team before the injuries occurred. It's not my fault you didn't know this stuff... but that's what happened.

[ImKobe]

AW's corrected you on this so many times, the series was 2-1 and the Bucks were up 44-40 when Kyrie got hurt, on no planet is that someone get "clobbered".

You have a terrible habit of posting incorrect info off of faulty memory.

Nets looked like the better team before the Kyrie injury, Bucks were so close to being down 0 - 3 and even with the Kyrie injury & with Harden not being able to move at all they were within a point of losing that series in 7.

Lakers - Nets would've been the Finals series most likely with everyone healthy and in that I'd say the Lakers would've won in 7 games.

[RRR3]

Nets looked like the better team before the Kyrie injury, Bucks were so close to being down 0 - 3 and even with the Kyrie injury & with Harden not being able to move at all they were within a point of losing that series in 7.

Lakers - Nets would've been the Finals series most likely with everyone healthy and in that I'd say the Lakers would've won in 7 games.
While this is true this is just because Budenholzer was too stupid to double Kevin Durant, not because the Bucks didn't have a better lineup on the court atp.

[SouBeachTalents]

The Nets handily won game 1 on the Bucks entering the 4th quarter with a double digit lead and then won Game 2 by a margin of 125-86. And then barely lost Game 3 by 1 possesion.

They were clobbering them and were the better team before the injuries occurred. It's not my fault you didn't know this stuff... but that's what happened.
2-1 series, 44-40 score in Game 4, they got clobbered bruh :lol

And the greatest irony is I remember you were genuinely arguing with me that Harden didn't get injured in that series lol

Found the link

http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?508104-Clyde-Drexler-or-James-Harden/page2

[tpols]

Yea when a team wins the 1st two games of a playoff series in blow out fashion and barely loses a game that would put them up 3-0 by a sliver of a hair that's getting clobbered.

Middleton probably saved them from a sweep in Game 3 when he dropped 35 in a game that ended 86-83.

[ImKobe]

While this is true this is just because Budenholzer was too stupid to double Kevin Durant, not because the Bucks didn't have a better lineup on the court atp.

Yeah but both teams healthy you'd have no way of really doubling KD with Kyrie & Harden out there, which is why they were so unstoppable when all 3 played. Harden was a literal corpse and Giannis still struggled scoring over him :oldlol: that was a fun series regardless. If we even got Philly Harden in that series man they'd have ran away with that shit in 5 games, even with Irving injured. He was so good in that Boston series he'd have done the same to Milwaukee.

[dankok8]

Funnily enough, I actually think the Clippers would have won. They finished off the #1 seed Jazz and then gave the Suns a tough fight with Kawhi not even playing. Playoff P had his best postseason run, that team had some serious depth and they wanted to avenge their collapse in the bubble.

[John8204]

Suns, I mean it's Chris Paul's fault for going out there and playing hurt but if he was healthy I think they flip the two games and beat the bucks.

[ArbitraryWater]

Yea when a team wins the 1st two games of a playoff series in blow out fashion and barely loses a game that would put them up 3-0 by a sliver of a hair that's getting clobbered.

Middleton probably saved them from a sweep in Game 3 when he dropped 35 in a game that ended 86-83.


Okay, but they lost game 3, and then they were losing game 4 when Kyrie got hurt also :lol


tpols literally building his own comfortable basketball matrix lmao

[ArbitraryWater]

Ironically, didnt Middleton miss the ECF or at least multiple games as well? :D Everyone was injured.

[SouBeachTalents]

Okay, but they lost game 3, and then they were losing game 4 when Kyrie got hurt also :lol


tpols literally building his own comfortable basketball matrix lmao
That's what I mean, you can claim they got clobbered in Brooklyn, but the next 6 quarters were razor thin. Roughly half the series at that point had been competitive with Kyrie playing in it.

And it was Giannis who got hurt and missed 2 games in the conference finals, not Middleton. Trae got hurt in that series and missed 2 games also.

[Axe]

The hawks look like they had some chance that year as well. Their best season in the last 10 years probably. (https://i.ibb.co/SxWM8PC/IMG-20230805-073843.jpg)

[Full Court]

The hawks look like they had some chance that year as well. Their best season in the last 10 years probably. (https://i.ibb.co/SxWM8PC/IMG-20230805-073843.jpg)

Yep, another retarded post from the consensus dumbest poster in ISH history.

Dumb AND stinky.

:lol

[kawhileonard2]

If every team was healthy in the 2021 Postseason, who would have won the title?

- Clippers with a healthy Kawhi
- Lakers with a healthy Anthony Davis
- Nets with a healthy Harden and Kyrie
- Bucks win regardless

Injuries robbed us of an even more historic postseason and the legacy implications for some of those teams and players would have been huge. Imagine how the Clippers and Kawhi would have been looked at if they won. Or how KD would have been looked at if he won outside of GS while being so dominating individually. Or Lebron with a 5th ring. Or how Giannis would have been looked at if he was still ringless.

Clippers no doubt. Lakers were healthy. It was greatest upset in NBA History.

[dankok8]

Hawks (Young), Sixers (Embiid) and Nuggets (Murray) also had major injuries. Crazy how that year...

[999Guy]

Brooklyn, no question.

They had the best offense in the history of the sport, and come playoff time they found a really tight defensive rotation based on guys like Griffin and Brown playing really strong D.

They would’ve figured out every defense in the playoffs and rolled everyone to a pretty comfortable title. Led by Harden primarily by the way. Clearly their best and most impactful player the whole year.

But I do want to note just how deep they were offensively. They had so many different skill sets past the big 3. So much shooting with Harris, Mills, Shamet and Green. Finishing and cutting with Brown, Claxton, Griffin, Jordan.

They were never healthy and still an insane handful on offense. Fully healthy and we get a 50/40/90 offense led by Harden’s immense pressure on defenses and Kyrie/KD bailout shots are the end of the clock if you can even withstand whatever shots and flow Harden generates. Absolutely no team had anything close to that.

[ArbitraryWater]

Brooklyn, no question.

They had the best offense in the history of the sport, and come playoff time they found a really tight defensive rotation based on guys like Griffin and Brown playing really strong D.

They would’ve figured out every defense in the playoffs and rolled everyone to a pretty comfortable title. Led by Harden primarily by the way. Clearly their best and most impactful player the whole year.

But I do want to note just how deep they were offensively. They had so many different skill sets past the big 3. So much shooting with Harris, Mills, Shamet and Green. Finishing and cutting with Brown, Claxton, Griffin, Jordan.

They were never healthy and still an insane handful on offense. Fully healthy and we get a 50/40/90 offense led by Harden’s immense pressure on defenses and Kyrie/KD bailout shots are the end of the clock if you can even withstand whatever shots and flow Harden generates. Absolutely no team had anything close to that.


Bro at the time you said the Jazz were the best team in basketball and would win the title cause top 4 offense and defense, gtfoh

[Axe]

Hawks (Young), Sixers (Embiid) and Nuggets (Murray) also had major injuries. (https://i.ibb.co/JmpGnKz/IMG-20230528-095117.jpg) Crazy how that year...
Hawks coach mcmillan was great bt. Nobody expected them to make it that far in the playoffs. But they went downhill after that.

[iamgine]

How healthy are we talking about? Like Embiid was playing but he was far from 100%. Ben Simmons has always had mental health problem. Then Danny Green went down too.

[Manny98]

It would be Lakers Vs Nets in the finals with the Nets probably winning in a hard fought series

[SouBeachTalents]

Bro at the time you said the Jazz were the best team in basketball and would win the title cause top 4 offense and defense, gtfoh
Look at what he was saying about the Nets at the time, straight up 3ball levels of doing a complete 180 :lol

http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?491779-Who-Will-Win-the-2021-Championship&p=14283643&viewfull=1#post14283643
http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?491716-Aldridge-Durant-Harris-Harden-Kyrie&p=14280259&viewfull=1#post14280259

[BarberSchool]

Bucks defensive synergy and Brook Lopez wildly underappreciated value, as one of the greatest paint defenders of all time (hint: blocked shots are not the main metric here) would have still emerged on top that year, over all these other hypothetical scenarios.

[ArbitraryWater]

Look at what he was saying about the Nets at the time, straight up 3ball levels of doing a complete 180 :lol

http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?491779-Who-Will-Win-the-2021-Championship&p=14283643&viewfull=1#post14283643
http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?491716-Aldridge-Durant-Harris-Harden-Kyrie&p=14280259&viewfull=1#post14280259


:roll::roll::roll:


Amazing.

[ArbitraryWater]

How healthy are we talking about? Like Embiid was playing but he was far from 100%. Ben Simmons has always had mental health problem. Then Danny Green went down too.

I think most people know none of these is moving the needle as far as the title outcome goes

[999Guy]

Look at what he was saying about the Nets at the time, straight up 3ball levels of doing a complete 180 :lol

http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?491779-Who-Will-Win-the-2021-Championship&p=14283643&viewfull=1#post14283643
http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?491716-Aldridge-Durant-Harris-Harden-Kyrie&p=14280259&viewfull=1#post14280259

This is why I don’t post emotionally anymore. You can be so stupid.

I felt they were too small and weak defensively but I changed my mind when I saw them in the playoffs. There’s no way anyone beats them. They almost made it to the ECF without Kyrie and Harden healthy. Brown was playing really well and Griffin was playing really good defense.

They were really good. Harden was really good. I’m generally skeptical of KD and especially Kyrie in those days but they were clearly the best team in retrospect.