Best Teams in Modern History That Never Won a Title?

[mehyaM24]

i'll start with 1989, which is the last 25 years.

1989 Lakers - best team in the nba before their injuries (magic practically missed the bulk of the finals)
1990 Bulls - if not for jordan's 5/16 and 7/19 performances, who knows what the bulls with an all-star pippen do in the finals? (i think they beat portland)
1993 Knicks - screwed themselves in that game 5- that defensive sequence between pippen/rodman and smith was legendary
1994 Bulls - one call away from going to the conference finals- i think they go all the way and really give houston trouble in the finals
1996 Sonics - payton held jordan to b2b shooting games of 5/19 and 6/19- had karl put him on jordan in the beginning of the series, who knows how the outcome would turn out?
2000 Blazers - great core, depth, but couldnt capitalize in game 7
2002 Kings - one of the best passing teams of all time
2005 Heat - if wade doesnt get hurt, miami beats sa in the finals IMO
2007 Suns - jobbed by horry/refs
2009 Celtics - even better than the 08 team- unfortunately kg got hurt and missed the entire postseason
2013 Spurs - up 5 with 30 seconds left in a game 7, nuff said

any others in your opinion?

[Duggrr]

1997 Jazz
2000 Blazers
2002 Kings

[BigBoss]

Kobe

[mehyaM24]

2000 Blazers
2002 Kings

ya, they should be on everyone's list. GREAT teams with impressive cores.

1993 Knicks - screwed themselves in that game 5- that defensive sequence between pippen/grant and smith was legendary

*fixed that

[Artillery]

Where's the 2006 Mavs? Most rigged series in NBA history after the '02 Kings-Lakers debacle.

[elementally morale]

What do you mean? Never?

The 1st team on your list did win a title, in fact, multiple titles. Just not in 1989.

[Real14]

1993 knicks
1993 suns
1994 knicks
1995 magic
1998 jazz
1999 knicks
2002 kings
2004 lakers
2005 pistons
2006 mavs
2007 mavs
2008 lakers
2011 lakers
2012 thunder
2013 knicks
2013 spurs

[jbryan1984]

Been a major fan since the early 90's. 80's I was too young to understand. But off the top of my head........

Early 90's Blazers
Mid/Late 90's Knicks
Mid/Late 90's Pacers
Mid 2000's Pacers
Late 2000's Cavs
Late 90's Jazz
Mid 90's Sonics
Mid 90's Magic (LOVED that team)
Early 2000's Kings (LOVED that team)

I am probably missing a few but those ones came to mind.

[jayfan]

1988 Pistons - Zeke injury, Laimbeer phantom foul.








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[SOD 21]

What do you mean? Never?

The 1st team on your list did win a title, in fact, multiple titles. Just not in 1989.

Yes, that is definitely true.

But I believe that he's saying that they were so dominant in the first three rounds of the playoffs, they were actually 11-0 in the playoffs throughout the WCF's, until they were undone by injuries. The first injury was to Byron Scott before the finals began and then Magic pulled his hamstring in the third quarter of Game 2 of the finals. That Laker team essentially had to face a great Detroit team without their starting back court and never had a chance in the finals as a result. Unfortunately, those things happen.

One team that was very good was the 2013 OKC Thunder, who had one of the best point differentials in the last 20-30 years at plus 9.2 per game, I believe. It's too bad that they lost Westbrook in the second game of the playoffs and couldn't make a deep playoff run. It would have been difficult to beat Miami in the finals but it would have been fun to see.

[mehyaM24]

What do you mean? Never?

The 1st team on your list did win a title, in fact, multiple titles. Just not in 1989.

teams =/= franchises

the 2004 lakers were not the SAME team as the 2005 group.

Yes, that is definitely true.

But I believe that he's saying that they were so dominant in the first three rounds of the playoffs, they were actually 11-0 in the playoffs throughout the WCF's, until they were undone by injuries. The first injury was to Byron Scott before the finals began and then Magic pulled his hamstring in the third quarter of Game 2 of the finals. That Laker team essentially had to face a great Detroit team without their starting back court and never had a chance in the finals as a result. Unfortunately, those things happen.

One team that was very good was the 2013 OKC Thunder, who had one of the best point differentials in the last 20-30 years at plus 9.2 per game, I believe. It's too bad that they lost Westbrook in the second game of the playoffs and couldn't make a deep playoff run. It would have been difficult to beat Miami in the finals but it would have been fun to see.

exactly. great post btw.

the '13 thunder would have been an interesting one had westbrook been healthy. i still think the spurs were too good, as they showed this past postseason, taking care of OKC rather easily.

[FatComputerNerd]

'99 Knicks

If Ewing and LJ hadn't been injured they may have beat the Spurs.

[elementally morale]

teams =/= franchises
the 2004 lakers were not the SAME team as the 2005 group.

That being the case, all great teams are teams that NEVER won a championship (exluding the ones which have).

[SOD 21]

teams =/= franchises

the 2004 lakers were not the SAME team as the 2005 group.



exactly. great post btw.

the '13 thunder would have been an interesting one had westbrook been healthy. i still think the spurs were too good, as they showed this past postseason, taking care of OKC rather easily.

I don't know if OKC would have beaten the Spurs or the Heat in 2013 if they were healthy. Hard to say.

It is difficult to draw any conclusions from this year's playoff matchup between those two teams because there were some important differences from this year to last season. For example, OKC would have had home court advantage, they would have been healthy (at least in this hypothetical scenario) with no injuries to RW or Ibaka, and one of the things that they missed this year is that additional scorer that they had last season in Kevin Martin. While I know that he's not a great player, he was very important to that team because he provided an additional scorer that had to be respected and to help space the floor.

Most OKC fans were more concerned about a potential match-up in the Finals against Miami than they were against the Spurs. The interesting thing about this Spurs/OKC match-up is that arguably the most important player turned out to be Boris Diaw, Boris freak'n Diaw. The mismatches that he caused with his inside/outside ability along with passing skills gave OKC fits this year.

[magnax1]

Recently I'd say the 12 spurs 09 Celts and 07 suns. That was definitely the best version of the spurs. They just got unlucky in the conference finals.