Skip Bayless: "Has there ever been an easier run to the Finals?"

[IllegalD]

He means the Warriors right?

The pelicans...
The broken down broken faced Grizz
Tony Allen missed significant time. Conley played with a broken FACE.
The dysfunctional rockets..

didnt play the Clips, nor the Spurs....

but the cavs had it easy without Love and Kyrie for several games... GTFOH

You're actually proving the point even more.

Even the "underwhelming" competition that the Warriors faced in the West is still head and shoulders above most of the teams LeBron faced, and has faced his entire Leastern Conference career.

I mean, the Thunder missed the playoffs and the defending champion dynasty Spurs got eliminated in the first round, fer christ's sakes.

You know one thing all those "dysfunctional" "broken" teams you mentioned have that NONE of the teams LeBron faced this postseason had?

SUPERSTARS/MVP CANDIDATES (11 out of the 12 players receiving MVP votes this season are in the West, the only one in the East...LeBron)

[pauk]

Alright thats it, Skip is one of the Lebron hating trolls from ISH, with a TV job, im convinced.

[IllegalD]

Alright thats it, Skip is one of the Lebron hating trolls from ISH, with a TV job, im convinced.

Aren't you the dude who had a meltdown post the other day saying how you were "coming clean" and admitting to "just trolling this whole time"?

[SHAQisGOAT]

Compared to the team they (the 3 teams) were playing against ('87 Lakers and '15 Cav's), that was a relatively easy run.

Then again, would that Sonics team even make the PO's? 39 wins in an EXTREMELY weak WC.

Definitely an easy run for both teams, and LA also is one of the GOAT teams to boot...

Regardless, all I know is that those Sonics really caught fire in the post-season and really started to play to their full potential.

They pulled the upset against the 55W Mavs (team with Aguirre, Blackman, Harper, Sam Perkins, young Detlef and Tarpley; that would've beaten this year's Boston, Chicago or Atlanta)...
Dale Ellis went ****ing ham against his former team, putting up 30 PPG on 58.0% eFG.
Then they also won against Hakeem's better seeded Rockets.

Ellis was a terrifc shooter, major off-ball but also legit 6'7, athletic and pretty good in the post; Chambers was a 6'10 athletic freak PF, who could score inside, hit outside jumpers and handle the rock; pre-injuries X-Man could score over 20 per game, very good post-game, great finisher, very athletic, really good rebounder, played defense; Lister, big dude down the middle, great rebounder, very good shot-blocker; McMillan was a pretty good playmaking PG, playing great defense; they had veterans like Mo Lucas and Fast Eddie Johnson on the bench...
^Seriously, can't see the '15 Hawks beating them, consider their "conditions" in the Playoffs.

Apart from the Showtime Lakers (one of the best teams ever), those very good Mavs, Sonics pulling upsets, the 1987 WC also had the Blazers with Drexler, Kiki, Kersey, young Terry Porter and Duckworth, or Utah with young Malone and Stockton, Griffith, Eaton, Thurl Bailey and Rickey Green... So let's not treat it that lightly.

[kshutts1]

Not reading the thread because of expected trolls. But aside from the fact that the Cavs were also very banged up, I guess not.

But to consider the injuries that other teams have faced, and not Cleveland, while also ignoring how well the supporting cast has stepped up... that's just silly. Cleveland is playing really well, and they earned this. And I do not like Lebron or the team.

[LAZERUSS]

So a Cavs team with it's second best player hurting to the point where he has missed playoff games, and it's third best player essentially has not played in the post-season...

and has still gone 12-2 and has been dominant in the process...

is supposed to forfeit their playoff wins because of a "weak" conference?


They have no say in their conference, or schedule, or playoff schedule. They can only play (and beat) whoever is next.

[imdaman99]

Let's be real, neither team has really had a tough path to get to the Finals. Hawks were pretenders and Rockets were perennial underachievers up until the last round. Grizz are a tough team but once you figure out how to beat them, they roll over and die because they can't really score. Bulls had 1 ALL NBA guy and he was hurt for key stretches of the series. He is the only ALL NBA guy the Cavs have beaten on their way to the Finals

If the Cavs have had a super easy path to the Finals, than the Warriors have had an easy path there.

[IllegalD]

So a Cavs team with it's second best player hurting to the point where he has missed playoff games, and it's third best player essentially has not played in the post-season...

and has still gone 12-2 and has been dominant in the process...

is supposed to forfeit their playoff wins because of a "weak" conference?


They have no say in their conference, or schedule, or playoff schedule. They can only play (and beat) whoever is next.

This is absolutely correct, but we as fans aren't obligated to give LeBron the same credit as other all time greats who have faced much tougher competition.

LeBron Stans are just gonna' have to eat sh*t and take their licks over the same exact bullspit they use to get on Kobe Stans about ("b-b-b-b-BUT he beat WEAK teams in the Finals")

[StephHamann]

The east is Bill Russell 50/60s bad.

[Duncan21formvp]

https://twitter.com/RealSkipBayless/...76524989960192

Yes. 2012 and 2013 was easy in the east. 2012, they played a hobbled Knicks, Pacers, Celtics and avoided the Bulls due to injury. 2013 they played the Bucks, the Bulls who were missing 3 starters and a Pacers team that didnt even win 50 games.

[Mawly-G]

Skip is acting like the Cavs didn't have their own challenges to deal with. No Kevin Love, a banged up Kyrie, JR Smith 2 game suspension, Shumpert playing through a groin injury, etc...

But then again I'm not too surprised by Skip's assessment, because he is probably the biggest LeBron hater that I know of.

Even though the Celtics series was a sweep, the Cz played the Cavs extremely tough and showed a lot of competitive drive. The Bulls series could've been very different if LeBron misses the game winner, and if Pau Gasol didn't sit out two games (however, the Cavs were still missing Kevin Love, and didn't have JR Smith for the first 2 games of this series. So this is pretty much a wash). I honestly didn't expect the Cavs to steamroll over the Hawks the way that they did (especially without two of their big three), so that was a huge surprise for me.

Bottom line is, you gotta give credit where it is due. The Cavs were dominant even with all of their injuries. Sure, the East is weak...no doubt about that, but let's not act like the Cavs didn't look impressive despite their hardships.

[strike first]

Lebron makes it look that easy, thats how good he is.

[sportjames23]

Lebron makes it look that easy, thats how good he is.

Didn't seem to work last year.

[Deuce Bigalow]

Clearly Skip doesn't know a damn thing about NBA history, there have been a lot of finals runs that were much, much easier than this one.

The easiest run ever was probably the 58-59 Celtics, all they had to do to get to the finals was beat a single sub .500 team.

58-59 Celtics

1st round: skipped
2nd round: did not exist
ECF: vs Syracuse Nationals (35-37)
Finals: vs Minneapolis Lakers (33-39)

What an era

[Beastmode88]

Skip is the biggest lebron haters ever.
Stephen a smith is the reverse prophet. If you ever want to make some qjuick cash bet against his prediction in the finals.