If Pacers wins 2025 Championship, it will be the hardest earned title in NBA History!

[Manny98]

The Pacers may elimiante two 64+ win teams, which has never been done by an eventual Champion in NBA history

[L.Kizzle]

Beating Stockton (1st team) & Malone (1st team); Barkley (2nd team) & KJ; Robinson(1st team) & Rodman (3rd team); Shaq (2nd team) & Penny (1st team) in one playoff run will never be duplicated.

7 of the 8 were All-NBA, and KJ would have if he played more than 47 games.

[Meticode]

The 2016 cavs ate off the warriors net rating in that run 95%.

But they weren't full strength when they played them with Dray being suspended and both Bogut and Iggy getting injured. Thats like half the team.

[FilmyCogTurner]

Beating Stockton (1st team) & Malone (1st team); Barkley (2nd team) & KJ; Robinson(1st team) & Rodman (3rd team); Shaq (2nd team) & Penny (1st team) in one playoff run will never be duplicated.

7 of the 8 were All-NBA, and KJ would have if he played more than 47 games.

91 was pretty wild too. Beating the Pistons then Lakers, that's basically two finals match ups.

[L.Kizzle]

91 was pretty wild too. Beating the Pistons then Lakers, that's basically two finals match ups.

But they beat a team under .500 in the 1st round and a 44 win team the next round. BBQ chicken in the 1st two rounds.

[ArbitraryWater]

That was the engine of their elite defense all year dude. Dray, Bogut, and Iggy.

Bogut played 17 mpg in the playoffs and 12 mpg in the finals. He was completely neutralized against the Cavs.

Bron and Kyrie had 41 point games in game with Iggy and Bogut there. Iggy played all series. Green missed 1 game.

But whateva. Weve been through all of this.

You will repeat this shit for eternity, regardless of Bogut having been a net negative on court and not playing more than a quarter to begin with.

Bogut was literally benched in the 2015 finals after having a negative +/- all first 3 games, and missed the last 2 games.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/...nals/16ysw8l7k
https://*********.com/rumor/1015996/

He just wasnt of use against the Cavs. Him getting injured had 0 effect on the series as he didnt pay time or had any positive impact to begin with.

Igoudala felt back stiffness for 1 game, which he was still good enough to play.

So yes, it absolutely was a "coincedence".

[ArbitraryWater]

Wan't Bogut benched in 2015 during the Finals as well?

Good point. Made me look it up.

Was a net negative the first 3 games, then got benched and they won 3 straight. Crazy how he still tries to use that

[John8204]

I always go with 1977 Portland Trailblazers, Houston Rockets at 2

Rd 1 - Bulls (Artis Gilmore, Norm Van Lier)
Rd 2 - Nuggets (Dan Issel, Paul Silas, Danny Thompson, Bobby Jones)
Rd 3 - Lakers (Kareem) (1 Seed)
Fin - 76ers (Dr. J, World B Free, McGuinnes, Collins, Dawkins)

[L.Kizzle]

I always go with 1977 Portland Trailblazers, Houston Rockets at 2

Rd 1 - Bulls (Artis Gilmore, Norm Van Lier)
Rd 2 - Nuggets (Dan Issel, Paul Silas, Danny Thompson, Bobby Jones)
Rd 3 - Lakers (Kareem) (1 Seed)
Fin - 76ers (Dr. J, World B Free, McGuinnes, Collins, Dawkins)

Portland won 49 wins that season, but let's look at their opponents.

Bulls won 44 games and Gilmore wasn't even an All-Star that season.
Nuggets won 50. 3 HoFers but no one top 75.
Lakers won 53 and only Kareem is the Lone Star.
Sixers won 50.
They beat teams that were around their level all season.

[John8204]

Portland won 49 wins that season, but let's look at their opponents.

Bulls won 44 games and Gilmore wasn't even an All-Star that season.
Nuggets won 50. 3 HoFers but no one top 75.
Lakers won 53 and only Kareem is the Lone Star.
Sixers won 50.
They beat teams that were around their level all season.

Little silly to say Gilmore wasn't an all-star when the West sent three Hall of Fame centers to the All-Stars that year (Kareem, Issel, and Lanier). Walton didn't make the All-star cut that season either (he did make the MVP cut later). But those Trailblazers beat 6 of the All-Star starters to win the title. Portland was maybe the weakest team