Which Top 10 player has faced the toughest Finals opponents?

[EllEffEll]

The 'Finals' makes for a more wide open debate, but if you're talking about an entire playoff run, I would nominate several of those EC teams from the 80's. They had to survive some brutal battles in the conference, and then often go into battle against a more rested Laker team for all the marbles.

The 'top 10' requirement boils it down to either Jordan or Bird for me if it's the entire playoff run, and Bird or Magic if it is just in the Finals. . . .

Using the OP's criteria, I'm going with Magic because the Lakers were in the Finals so many times.

vs. 76ers with Dr. J, Andrew Toney and Moses Malone

vs. Celtics with Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parrish

vs. Pistons with Isaiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, Rick Mahorn, and Bill Laimbeer

vs. Bulls with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, and the Jordanaires

[Smoke117]

27/5/4/2 on 54%TS is dogshit?

If that's dogshit...then what Lebron did in 2007 and 2011 must be this:

[329 Services]

Kobe had it easiest, because of the finals were being played out west with san antonio and others. Apart from Celtics finals , the rest of finals were against truly poor opposition who only made it to finals because the east is so shit.

Lebron would be other way around, tougher finals and easy early roads out playing in dogshite east

[FreezingTsmoove]

The Jordan had the better team argument is such a shitty argument. It just shows Jordan could get better players to come play with him because he was such a great leader

People always give Bron a pass for having shitty teams but why couldnt he get great players to come play with him?

[SpaceJam]

Damn imagine if prime Kobe had a stacked team like Bron had in 2011

[SouBeachTalents]

Damn imagine if prime Kobe had a stacked team like Bron had in 2011

The '04 Lakers are ranked two spots below, so that might give you a good indication

[SpaceJam]

The '04 Lakers are ranked two spots below, so that might give you a good indication

I'm only f^cking around

2010 and 2006 the most equal finals, team wise?

[Smoke117]

The Jordan had the better team argument is such a shitty argument. It just shows Jordan could get better players to come play with him because he was such a great leader

People always give Bron a pass for having shitty teams but why couldnt he get great players to come play with him?

You realize that Rodman is about the only noteworthy acquisition the Bulls made during Jordan's career there right? That trade also had to be okayed by Pippen to go through. Ron Harper the other noteworthy FA acquisition during the championship period joined in 95 when he was retired. I'm not remarking on Jordan as a leader either way...just saying that most players that ended up on the Bulls were drafted or traded for...there was practically no free agents that joined that mattered.

[bukowski81]

The difference between them.


Jordan had the GOAT supporting cast


LeBron had the WOAT supporting cast


Literally

Well according to that, Shaq, Magic, Wade, Jordan, Duncan, Dirk and Olajuwon have won with a worst supporting cast than LeBron.

[BedroomBully]

The Bulls were basically one bad call away from winning the championship WITHOUT Jordan in 1994!



And now Swish wants to act like Jordan faced insurmountable odds in every Finals he faced



The Bulls were favorites EVEN WITHOUT MJ

Exactly! NEVER, I repeat NEVER were the Bulls underdogs in any of those finals. The road had pretty much been paved for them.

[FreezingTsmoove]

You realize that Rodman is about the only noteworthy acquisition the Bulls made during Jordan's career there right? That trade also had to be okayed by Pippen to go through. Ron Harper the other noteworthy FA acquisition during the championship period joined in 95 when he was retired. I'm not remarking on Jordan as a leader either way...just saying that most players that ended up on the Bulls were drafted or traded for...there was practically no free agents that joined that mattered.

Yeah I do but Rodman is an elite acquisition. Decorated career before he joined the Bulls

[LostCause]

Exactly! NEVER, I repeat NEVER were the Bulls underdogs in any of those finals. The road had pretty much been paved for them.

Except the fact that they were

They were underdogs heading into the 1991 Finals
They were underdogs in 1998

They were underdogs in 93, they weren't even favored to beat the Knicks in the ECF

From 93

The Bulls limped to a 29-15 start and a 57-25 finish, finishing ten wins fewer than the year before. In the Playoff, the Bulls swept through the first two rounds, taking care of the teams they were supposed to beat, the Atlanta Hawks and the Cleveland Cavaliers. The challenge started in the conference finals against the Knicks. Many experts believed this would be the Knicks’ year to finally beat the Bulls due to their defense and their home court.

The Knicks defended their hard-earned home-court advantage by taking a 2-0 series lead. Even though the Bulls pulled through in Game 3, the Knicks had held Jordan to 28.3 PPG on 32.5 % FG shooting. That was about to change in Game 4, as Jordan erupted for 54 points and evened the series at two. New York again held Jordan to a below-average 29 in Game 5, but it was a team effort that kept the Bulls afloat in the Garden. This time, it was B.J. Armstrong who hit the game winning corner three of a pass from Jordan. After a big defensive stand at the other end, the Bulls had a 3-2 lead. At that point, the Knicks’ confidence was shattered. After an easy win in Game 6 back in Chicago, the Bulls became only the fourth team in NBA history to rally from an 0-2 deficit to win a series, an were headed back to the NBA Finals.

The Bulls were set to meet league MVP Charles Barkley and the Suns in the Finals, who like the Knicks were favored to beat Jordan and the Bulls.

The ’93 Bulls got off to a good enough start, but didn’t dominate the way they had the past two years, and at the end of the season found themselves second best in the East behind the rising New York Knicks, and third best overall behind the Barkley-led Suns. Most critics saw both of these teams as legit threats to the Bulls’ dynasty; Sports Illustrated predicted the Knicks and the Suns in the Finals. The Bulls were finished

1998

''I can deal with losing. I just don't want to lose.'' Scottie Pippen added: ''Everyone is expecting the Jazz to walk away with this series. We're underdogs, no question.''
...
Either way, for one of the few times in their five-title run, the Bulls are not overwhelming favorites.
...
''I consider us the underdogs, but yet I still consider us to be champions,'' Jordan said. ''They still have to take it away from us, no matter what people are predicting.''

1991

“We were the underdogs,” noted Levingston. “Everyone said we couldn’t do it, it being the first time going to the Finals. We didn’t know what it was like. The first game we bought into that and we played unsure. After that we went back to the way we played and it seemed the game became easier and slowed down.

Yal stat-nerds need to actually learn the history of the game. Basketball-reference doesn't tell you who the underdogs are. If you don't know, ask someone or use google before making yourselves look stupid

As for the road being paved, its been proven that among Jordan, Kobe and Lebron, that the toughest road to the Finals goes Kobe > Jordan > Lebron

[egokiller]

Because you have the attention span of a goldfish, thats all you see without doing a close analysis.


Nobody has had worse supporting casts than LeBron

Quiet troll. Lebron played on a team that helped him get a 27 game winning streak, which is what, the 2nd longest winning streak in a single season in NBA history?

[Dray n Klay]

egokiller = Straight_Ballin