The king lion was back in '95 but Nick Anderson threw him off a cliff like Mufasa. Hakeem then went on to SWEEP the team that kicked Jordan's ass to the curb.
I assumed that the Nuggets were champions (last year's caliber), so when the Wolves don't win the title this year (less than champions/Nuggets), that will essentially fulfill what I said, aka "down-hill" brand is less than championship caliber - this will be proven true when he gets beaten by Tatum... The best teams are always led by low hold-time...
But why did Hakeem all of a sudden go to another level in 94' and 95'?
What changed?
The king lion was gone... that's what changed... one day Hakeem woke up and looked around.... It dawned on him that he was now the king lion - that's when his game and confidence went to another level...
That's when he had the confidence to let his full...
Knicks were a much better team after the OG trade. Indy didn't face the Knicks with OG during the season because he got hurt.
The Knicks won both playoff games he played in spite of their other injuries. I am not counting the 5 minutes in game 7.
You're comparing a 4th year team to a 1st year team - that isn't comparable
In Jordan's 4th healthy season (89'), he was nearly beating the champs with nothing and a low seed - the Bulls were the only team to win any games from the Pistons in the 89' Playoffs, and they would've won the series if Pippen didn't miss Game 6 when he played 1...
it’s tough because i’m speaking on behalf of people but I think they consider the 2 fmvps in back to back championships erasing a lot of those early problems.
I would say the common consensus is that during those prime years you listed in the OP…his team was just not very good. Theres only so much you can do and it doesn’t help when you are...
KAT is an xfactor. he seems to be sensitive to comments about his softness which worries me bc dallas is going to be more hostile than denver and should they make it past dallas, boston is going to be even worse. i'm following them to dallas but i don't think i'd go to boston with them extremely trashy and all, may have to go to Minneapolis.
I get how you would think Rice was still decent at that time but he was way past his prime scoring just 11ppg same with Harper while Horry and Fox where at 9 and 7ppg.
High IQ players for sure but that type of production is barely decent even with a young Kobe. There is a reason Shaq needed to average almost 40ppg just to win his first ring.
Jordan's low in a series was 27 ppg, so no... that doesn't compare to any of the other examples you gave
people just like to throw Jordan in there for cumbaya purposes.. but the reality is that he had a perfect career because he's the only guy that really had to BUILD something, including Pippen... he wasn't handed ready-made stars, teams or...
I would think this would be the easiest metric for Jokic to improve with a summer of practise.
Missed at least 7 shots from 3 in game 7. If just half of those go in, then it's a different game.
He also seemed to be able to get that Pick and Pop every time with Murray. With hitting a few of those, then KAT or Gobert would have to close out...
I really wanted those as a kid :lol My mother refused to buy them for me.
I could almost dunk, could dunk with a tennisball. If I had 2 more inches from those shoes, it would have changed my life.
Even Jordan couldn't win until he had an elite team and the powers from the 80's were either extinct or on their last legs. Most of the time the cream rises to the top and the elite players win the title, but so often winning a championship comes down to circumstances and lucky breaks that are out of a players control, which is why I don't like...
He just looked really bad in that Minny series.
It showed some serious weaknesses in his game that seem exploitable going forward.
In any case, they can keep him if it doesn't stop them from getting some good backup players.
The point is more that even the most dominant center ever, couldn't just go off and average 40 ppg if needed. It takes a team. Jokic can't just go off and do that either.
Jordan could do that and that's why he is GOAT.
Okay but it's the exact kind of thing people would completely dismiss other players from being top 10 for. "Four years with no playoff series wins in his prime, hell no."
It's literally a worse and more damning indictment than "durr, 4 for 10 in finals, he cant be da G0at!"
But nobody ever uses it. EVAAAA.
Well, Kobe was not the only sidekick in 2000.
Of the top of my head:
Ron Harper
Rick Fox
Glenn Rice
Robbert Horry
That's a pretty damn strong supporting cast, even without Kobe. Glenn Rice in particular was big time and still in his prime.
MPJ was the 3rd leading scorer at 16 PPG on good efficiency.
I doubt you're going to trade him for that easily. Better than him starts to creep into "star" territory.
I just mentioned in another thread the shocking amount of mediocre playoff series Bird had that never get talked about, the fact is guys that came before the internet/social media age caught a huge break in that all their failures weren't documented permanently in real time for all the world to see. That's an advantage pre 2000's players will...