80's Lakers vs. 90's Bulls

[G-Funk]

Lakers would put it on em'.

5 rings in the toughest era. 3 Finals Mvp players ,all 3 in the 50 greatest players, 2 of them are top 10! enought said.

[G.O.A.T]

Lakers would put it on em'.

5 rings in the toughest era. 3 Finals Mvp players ,all 3 in the 50 greatest players, 2 of them are top 10! enought said.

Was it the toughest era?

They sort of had a cake walk through the West didn't they?

[Swaggin916]

Hard to say. Pippen/Jordan got to guard a much slower Magic in the 91 Finals... Prime Magic would have been hard to handle, but they would still do a good job... better than anyone else. Grant or Rodman would be able to contain Worthy most likely. The matchup to watch would be Cooper guarding Jordan.

It would be a tough series... Probably home court would decide it.

[G.O.A.T]

the '85 or '87 Lakers win against MJ from 91-93

96-98 MJ's will beats any Laker team ever.

[andgar923]

I think the Lakers will eventually win.

Kareem, prime Worthy, Magic would be too much to handle regardless of which Bulls team we match them up against.

Ewing used to give the Bulls problems, and that was without a great PG and scoring PF... I can't imagine what the combination of Kareem, Worthy, and Magic would do.

Only if the Bulls vs Lakers matchups in the 80s were even, can the Bulls have a chance.

[Bigsmoke]

the '85 or '87 Lakers win against MJ from 91-93

96-98 MJ's will beats any Laker team ever.

i hope so.

I cant imagine seeing Luc Longley and Bill Wennington defending Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bob McAdoo in a 7 game series.

The Lakers had soo much talent including the best PG and arguably the best center to ever played.

[G-Funk]

Was it the toughest era?

They sort of had a cake walk through the West didn't they?

Well they only faced one of the greatest teams of All-time in Celtics. And you know Celtics are better than anything Those 90's Bulls ever faced.

But hey, Im probably just being a homer.

[jlauber]

Was it the toughest era?

They sort of had a cake walk through the West didn't they?

I have read that argument many times, which attempts to minimize the Laker run, but think about this...

Let's take a look at Boston's three title team's in that decade.

In 80-81, they beat a 45-37 Bulls team in their first playoff series. They did have to beat a tough Philly team, that went 62-20, but they barely edged them, 4-3. How close was that series? The 76ers led the series, 3-1, and Boston won the last three games by 2, 2, and ONE point. This was basically the same Philly team that the Lakers beat in six games in '80 (with Kareem missing game six BTW), and then again easily dispatched them in six games in '82. AND, who did the Celtics beat to win the title? A 40-42 Rockets team, that somehow managed to win two games against them.

In 83-84 the Celtics beat a 47-35 Knick team, 4-2, and then a 50-32 Bucks team, 4-1. Neither team was a powerhouse. Then, as I have already pointed out, it took the Lakers HANDING them TWO games, to beat LA in seven games to win the title.

How about their last title team, in 85-86? They routed a 30-52 Bulls team, 3-0. They easily slapped a 50-32 Hawk team. And they swept a 57-25 Milwaukee team. Then, they beat a 51-31 Rockets team to win the title.

IMHO, they only faced a truly great team, TWICE in all of those series wins...the '81 76ers, and the '84 Lakers. And they were hardly dominant in either of those wins.

[Kurosawa0]

96-98 MJ's will beats any Laker team ever.

Yeah, with the ability to throw Rodman or Pippen at Magic, can't see the Lakers winning.

[G.O.A.T]

Well they only faced one of the greatest teams of All-time in Celtics. And you know Celtics are better than anything Those 90's Bulls ever faced.

But hey, Im probably justt being a homer.

Well The closest thing for the Bulls would have been The 1991 Bad Boy Pistons. They had won back-to-back titles and were the ones who dethroned Boston in te East and Los Angeles in the NBA Finals permanently.

I wonder though if the 1960's weren't more competitive. With just 8-9 teams for most of the decade and such duos as West/Baylor, Barry/Thurmond, Wilt/Arizin, Oscar/Lucas, Reed/Frazier those are five sets of guys named to the 50 Greatest and none of them ever won a title in the decade. That tell's you something about the competition.

I agree that there were never two more equally matched teams at the top of the league than the Celtics and Lakers in that decade and with the Pistons, Sixers and Rockets all having good teams in the decade it holds up well, but there were also a LOT more bad teams in those days.

[TheLogo]

Lakers would beat the Bulls.

[G.O.A.T]

IMHO, they only faced a truly great team, TWICE in all of those series wins...the '81 76ers, and the '84 Lakers. And they were hardly dominant in either of those wins.

I sort of think both teams had it pretty easy for the decade with a few exceptions '80-'83 Sixers, '86 Rockets...

The Lakers getting upset in the opening round by the '81 Rockets and the Celtics being swept by the 1983 Bucks is something that never happened to the 1990's Bulls, 1960's Celtics or 1950's Lakers.

[ShaqAttack3234]

It depends on what Laker team. The '87 and '88 versions featured an improved Magic Johnson, but Kareem was nowhere near his prime. The 1980 team would have given them some problems due to Kareem's incredible dominance, but Jordan and Pippen proved they could guard Magic who had expanded his range and added a post game since the mid 80's, though Magic was at his peak in '87, however the 1991 version was tougher to guard than the early 80's version due to the fact that Magic relied on transition opportunities for a lot of his scoring. The 1991 or 1992 Bulls vs 1987 Lakers would have been very interesting.

90's Bulls vs 80's Celtics would have been interesting because of Pippen vs Bird. It would've been interesting to see how well Scottie guarded prime Larry Bird. I don't think Jordan could guard Bird so Boston may have posed a tougher matchup because both Jordan and Pippen could guard Magic, but only Pippen on that Chicago team would have stood a chance, IMO.

[Sarcastic]

The Lakers probably were better as a team, but I wouldn't put anything past prime Jordan.

[necya]

why it's so important to say this team would have beaten the other team??
we will never know. you can analized every match up, it's useless.
but we know that bulls 90's, celtics 80's and lakers 80's were the top.
and a ****ing good mention for the pistons end of 80's.