What was the best team MJ faced in the Finals?

[Phoenix]

I agree but I'm going to play devil's advocate here because most of these points go both ways.

The Pistons core was old in the sense of them having been through 3 straight finals runs which is curtains for most cores as we know them. That and the fact of them never leaving the 1st rd again after that season on a steep decline into the lotto.

The 91 Pistons core( Isiah 30, Rodman 30, Dumars 28) is basically the same ages as the Warriors core are now( Durant 30, Steph 31, Klay 28) who have come off 4 straight finals, and nobody looks at them as old. Quite the contrary, most have inked them in for this years championship and next year if KD stays. It's possible had Detroit not run into a young and hungry Bulls team that they had one more title in them. I mean who would you choose between the 91 Pistons and Lakers? That could have gone either way. Yeah they really fell off after 92 but let's deal with 91, because teams can rise and fall from one year to the next. The 91 Pistons were a prime MJ away from potentially a 3peat. But we want to discredit them as a means to discredit MJ not beating the Pistons 'until they got old'. People forget MJ and the Bulls were the only team in 89 that took any games off the Pistons. The Bulls conceivably could have won the chip in 90 if MJ's running mates hadn't buckled. So he really only needed a second CONSISTENT star and the Pistons would have fallen before they did. Pippen weren't shit in 89 and he was still up and coming in 90. 91 was when he took that leap to legit championship second option. You could have transplanted the 89 and 90 Pistons into 91 and they're losing to the 91 Bulls too. Not a sweep, but we saw MJ and the Bulls coming before 91.

So yeah, the whole 'Pistons were old because of multiple deep runs' is overplayed. The Bulls made the conference finals in 89 and 90, then reeled off 3 straight title runs. Nobody looked at them as too old either when they beat the Suns and before MJ retired. In fact with Kukoc coming on board the Bulls were the easy 94 favorites until MJ dropped his bomb.

[sdot_thadon]

The Pistons core( Isiah 30, Rodman 30, Dumars 28) is basically the same ages as the Warriors core are now( Durant 30, Steph 31, Klay 28) who have come off 4 straight finals, and nobody looks at them as old. Quite the contrary, most have inked them in for this years championship and next year if KD stays. It's possible had Detroit not run into a young and hungry Bulls team that they had one more title in them. I mean who would you choose between the 91 Pistons and Lakers? That could have gone either way. Yeah they really fell off after 92 but let's deal with 91, because teams can rise and fall from one year to the next. The 91 Pistons were a prime MJ away from potentially a 3peat. But we want to discredit them as a means to discredit MJ not beating the Pistons 'until they got old'. People forget MJ and the Bulls were the only team in 89 that took any games off the Pistons. The Bulls conceivably could have won the chip in 90 if MJ's running mates hadn't buckled. So he really only needed a second CONSISTENT star and the Pistons would have fallen before they did. Pippen weren't shit in 89 and he was still up and coming in 90. 91 was when he took that leap to legit championship second option. You could have transplanted the 89 and 90 Pistons into 91 and they're losing to the 91 Bulls too. Not a sweep, but we saw MJ and the Bulls coming before 91.

So yeah, the whole 'Pistons were old because of multiple deep runs' is overplayed. The Bulls made the conference finals in 89 and 90, then reeled off 3 straight title runs. Nobody looked at them as too old either when they beat the Suns and before MJ retired. In fact with Kukoc coming on board the Bulls were the easy 94 favorites until MJ dropped his bomb.

You make some good points there about them possibly beating Detroit ahead of 91. That's part of young teams' growth. Hell they maybe could have made it in 89 if Mj had a better game 5 in the ecf. But back to my point, if the Pistons weren't done at that point wouldn't they have stayed in contention? Remember contending doesn't necessarily mean being champions, these dudes had a fork in them.

[TheCorporation]

What is the best wheelchair OP ever rolled in?

What ith the beth wheelthair I ever rollth'd in


Hmmm, not sure, but...

What was the best team MJ faced in the Finals?.

[Phoenix]

You make some good points there about them possibly beating Detroit ahead of 91. That's part of young teams' growth. Hell they maybe could have made it in 89 if Mj had a better game 5 in the ecf. But back to my point, if the Pistons weren't done at that point wouldn't they have stayed in contention? Remember contending doesn't necessarily mean being champions, these dudes had a fork in them.

That's what I'm saying though. Detroit was done by 92. That's not in dispute. But they were viable in 91 when the Bulls beat them. I'm keeping it in the context of *that* season. What happened in 92 is what happened but not relevant to 91, other than to say the Pistons were on their last real run when Chicago beat them. But they were still potent and as I said, if MJ had a better player on his side earlier than 91 I think history sees that 3 year window between 88 and 90 differently. It's just the way things went. I mean let's put it this way. Take Chicago out of the equation in 91. Who else in the east is beating Detroit that year? New York wasn't ready. EDIT: Cleveland didn't even make playoffs that year. Boston was done. Philly with Barkley and Hawkins? Hmmmmm.

I think take 91 Chicago out of the equation, and it's even money with the Pistons against the Lakers.

[Da_Realist]

91 -- Chuck Daly accepted the offer to coach the Dream Team and angered Isiah Thomas by not advocating for his roster spot on the team. Daly lost the team when he lost Isiah.

92 -- Detroit spent the year holding it together while slowly imploding, eventually losing to the team that pushed Chicago to 7 games.

93 -- Daly read the tea leaves and left Detroit, coached Isiah's nemesis on the Dream Team and landed in New Jersey for the 93 season. Vinnie Johnson left for SA. James Edwards left for LAC.

94 -- Isiah snapped his Achilles heel and retired shortly afterward.

[Manny98]

What ith the beth wheelthair I ever rollth'd in


Hmmm, not sure, but...

What was the best team MJ faced in the Finals?.

Straight_Lispin

[And1AllDay]

Straight_Lispin

The kids are so shook I think only one person even answered the OP question



They don't want to accept that their fraud beat nobody

[TheCorporation]

[QUOTE=TheCorporation]Well let's not get ahead of ourselves because you're making less and less sense. KISS: Keep it simple stupid

First of all the Thunder never won a championship, but guess what how many of MJ's opponents ever did??

'91 Lakers [Yes] although this was a hobbled version of them, Magic had HIV, Kareem was off the team and Worthy was hurt

'92 Trailblazers [No] Definitely the weakest joke team he ever faced.

'93 Suns [No] Although I will give Jordan credit for this, this was a big win for him.

Side question, how many other times did Barkley lead the Suns to a finals appearance let alone chip?

'96 Supersonics [No] Jordan was a complete joke in this series and you could swap him out with nearly any top 50 player and they still win.

[Round Mound]

IMO...The 96 Sonics.

[SpaceJam2]

IMO...The 96 Sonics.

Better than your 93 Suns?

Those pitiful 96 Sonics never even sniffed another 2nd round win let alone Finals appearance after their fluke Cinderella run in 96