NBA Finals Won with Luck

[3ball]

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There have been 3 times in recorded history, where the team with the WORSE offensive rating (ORtg) managed to win the Finals.

They were all 7 game series - and we all remember them as series where the winner got lucky.


1988 Finals - Detroit outplays LA the entire series and gets a 3-2 series lead... But Isiah goes down in the 3rd quarter of Game 6, ruining any chance of winning a Game 7 if the Pistons can't finish the series in Game 6... Unfortunately, LA gets home-cooking with a bad call in the final seconds of Game 6 to tie up the series 3-3... they went on to win the Finals versus a hobbled Isiah in Game 7.... here's the bad call: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYPHhY-MGj4


2005 Finals - Detroit abuses San Antonio the entire series... but in an amazing, fluke-like, completely anomalous circumstance, Robert Horry literally turns into Jordan for one quarter and COMPLETELY TAKES OVER THE 4TH QUARTER, to save the Spurs in a critical game 5, and shift momentum... here's Horry being Jordan for a quarter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZdik09RGJI


2013 Finals - Spurs outplay the Heat the entire series, exploiting lebron's game and containing him... but that Ray of sunshine completely reverses momentum for the Heat at the end of Game 6.

[fpliii]

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There have been 3 times in recorded history, where the team with the WORSE offensive rating (ORtg) managed to win the Finals.

Minor correction. B-R only has ORtg for the Finals going back to 1985.

Since teams are playing at the same pace, we can do a straight comparison of PPG (to check, divide PPG by ORtg for both teams in any Finals series; the ratio is the same for both teams each Finals).

Others that qualify, going back to the beginning of the shot clock era:

1984 - http://www.basketball-reference.com/...84_finals.html
1982 - http://www.basketball-reference.com/...82_finals.html
1969 - http://www.basketball-reference.com/...69_finals.html
1963 - http://www.basketball-reference.com/...63_finals.html
1958 - http://www.basketball-reference.com/...58_finals.html
1955 - http://www.basketball-reference.com/...55_finals.html

So there have been 9 total times where the team with the worse ORtg/PPG won the series.

Not that I disagree with you. I think you're right, in a short series of at most 7 games, there can be freak occurrences. Do you have any thoughts on the above 6 series? Wouldn't be surprised if the winners were lucky in those as well.

[ThatCoolKid]

2014: SA Spurs cut the air conditioning to take down Lebron James. Completely shifts the momentum of the series.

[BuffaloBill]

2014: SA Spurs cut the air conditioning to take down Lebron James. Completely shifts the momentum of the series.

That's not luck, that's cunning.

[Asukal]

Makes you wonder how the all time top 10 ranking would look like if detroit won that 1988 finals.

[mehyaM24]

1969 - fluke game 7 that ANY other ALL time great (center) would have capitalized in, against an OLD and depleted celtics team. wilt and his coach beefed and he ended up sitting late in the 4th quarter.

1991 - bulls were fortunate enough to play an over hill the laker team, who's 2nd and 3rd options were injured (throughout the postseason) - and the fact kareem had retired a year earlier was huge in itself. an 87-89 kareem with THAT lineup, healthy - and the lakers take care of the bulls in 5 or 6 games.

1993 - bulls once again fortunate enough to play a suns team, who feat an injured kevin johnson, otherwise one of the best pointguards in the game had it not been for his injuries. tough luck i suppose.

1996 - sonics and karl not realizing that putting payton on jordan would have held jordan to a low shooting % (evidenced by his 5/17 and 6/19 games when payton was assigned to jordan). the sonics won 2 of the last 3 games in that series.

2005 - agreed, horry got hot and the rest was history

2013 - agreed as well

funny how 2 of the best franchises in the modern era, the spurs and bulls, have been a part of MULTIPLE "lucky finals"...

[Hey Yo]

OP ruined

[3ball]

1991 - bulls were fortunate enough to play an over hill the laker team, who's 2nd and 3rd options were injured (throughout the postseason) - and the fact kareem had retired a year earlier was huge in itself. an 87-89 kareem with THAT lineup, healthy - and the lakers take care of the bulls in 5 or 6 games.

1993 - bulls once again fortunate enough to play a suns team, who feat an injured kevin johnson, otherwise one of the best pointguards in the game had it not been for his injuries. tough luck i suppose.

1996 - sonics and karl not realizing that putting payton on jordan would have held jordan to a low shooting % (evidenced by his 5/17 and 6/19 games when payton was assigned to jordan). the sonics won 2 of the last 3 games in that series.

2013 - agreed as well

In 1991, Worthy and Byron Scott's playoff averages for ppg, rebounds and assists are EXACTLY in line with their career playoff averages.

On the other hand, Pippen and Rodman were ACTUALLY injured in the 1998 Finals - Pippen averaged 15ppg on 41% shooting, and Rodman only averaged 8.3 rebounds per game - but no problem because Jordan still wasn't going to lose... He just upped his load and clutch play by scoring a record 38% of his team's points and giving us the greatest clutch plays the game's ever seen.

In 1993, Kevin Johnson was a focal point of the Bulls, and he got shut down... not sure where you are getting that he was injured... he played every game, heavy minutes.

In 1996, the entire Bulls team relaxed after being up 3-0, while the Sonics were in desperation, nothing-to-lose mode - the next couple games were garbage time and didn't matter... Jordan would have adjusted to any defender in games that actually mattered - in the first 3 games, the ones that mattered, he averaged 32ppg on 48% shooting to get his team a 3-0 lead so they could relax and chill the rest of the series.

[Angel Face]

1969 - fluke game 7 that ANY other ALL time great (center) would have capitalized in, against an OLD and depleted celtics team. wilt and his coach beefed and he ended up sitting late in the 4th quarter.

1991 - bulls were fortunate enough to play an over hill the laker team, who's 2nd and 3rd options were injured (throughout the postseason) - and the fact kareem had retired a year earlier was huge in itself. an 87-89 kareem with THAT lineup, healthy - and the lakers take care of the bulls in 5 or 6 games.

1993 - bulls once again fortunate enough to play a suns team, who feat an injured kevin johnson, otherwise one of the best pointguards in the game had it not been for his injuries. tough luck i suppose.

1996 - sonics and karl not realizing that putting payton on jordan would have held jordan to a low shooting % (evidenced by his 5/17 and 6/19 games when payton was assigned to jordan). the sonics won 2 of the last 3 games in that series.

2005 - agreed, horry got hot and the rest was history

2013 - agreed as well

funny how 2 of the best franchises in the modern era, the spurs and bulls, have been a part of MULTIPLE "lucky finals"...

[kennethgriffin]

Didnt 3 of jordans titles end on a game winner or some sh*t

Paxson, kerr then a push off by jordan

Theres 3 that coulda went either way

[Asukal]

1991 - bulls were fortunate enough to play an over hill the laker team, who's 2nd and 3rd options were injured (throughout the postseason) - and the fact kareem had retired a year earlier was huge in itself. an 87-89 kareem with THAT lineup, healthy - and the lakers take care of the bulls in 5 or 6 games.

1993 - bulls once again fortunate enough to play a suns team, who feat an injured kevin johnson, otherwise one of the best pointguards in the game had it not been for his injuries. tough luck i suppose.

1996 - sonics and karl not realizing that putting payton on jordan would have held jordan to a low shooting % (evidenced by his 5/17 and 6/19 games when payton was assigned to jordan). the sonics won 2 of the last 3 games in that series.

1991 - How was that a fluke? It didn't even go 6 games.

1993 - arguable, johnson was fit enough to play during the finals albeit coming off injuries during the season. 1998 pippen faced the same problems yet the bulls won.

1996 - it wasn't payton's defense if you actually watched the series, jordan mostly missed open shots. Payton did prevent him from going to the paint and he missed his jumpers.

You'd say anything to discredit Jordan. Keep working on it son, maybe someday you'll realize just how far the gap is between he and lebum.

[G0ATbe]

Theoretically, MJ was lucky to be on the most stacked team of all time in a weak era. So I'd add all 6 of his to this list as well.

[SouBeachTalents]

The '02 Lakers are as deserving as any other team listed in this thread. In the "real" NBA Finals that year, the WCF, they needed the miraculous Horry 3, a rigged Game 6, and the Kings missing half their free throws in Game 7 to win that series. It's arguably the luckiest series win in NBA history

[SouBeachTalents]

1969 - fluke game 7 that ANY other ALL time great (center) would have capitalized in, against an OLD and depleted celtics team. wilt and his coach beefed and he ended up sitting late in the 4th quarter.

1991 - bulls were fortunate enough to play an over hill the laker team, who's 2nd and 3rd options were injured (throughout the postseason) - and the fact kareem had retired a year earlier was huge in itself. an 87-89 kareem with THAT lineup, healthy - and the lakers take care of the bulls in 5 or 6 games.

1993 - bulls once again fortunate enough to play a suns team, who feat an injured kevin johnson, otherwise one of the best pointguards in the game had it not been for his injuries. tough luck i suppose.

1996 - sonics and karl not realizing that putting payton on jordan would have held jordan to a low shooting % (evidenced by his 5/17 and 6/19 games when payton was assigned to jordan). the sonics won 2 of the last 3 games in that series.

2005 - agreed, horry got hot and the rest was history

2013 - agreed as well

funny how 2 of the best franchises in the modern era, the spurs and bulls, have been a part of MULTIPLE "lucky finals"...

One of the worst posts ever written in ISH history, which is REALLY saying something

[3ball]

Theoretically, MJ was lucky to be on the most stacked team of all time in a weak era. So I'd add all 6 of his to this list as well.

obvious, baiting posts like this are such obvious trolls - since i know it's a troll, I know the correct way to interpret the post is to take the opposite of what the post said.

so the troll translates to:

MJ won championships with the LEAST stacked team ever, as evidenced by stats proving he carried the largest load of any player ever, and he played in a tough era.