1980's Refresher

[Noyze]

In the West
Why did the Lakers lose in the 1985 West Semi's to the Rockets? How great were the short lived Twin Towers?

Magic was a sure thing at number 1, but do you think he would have played SF at his size if he had been drafted by a team with a decent point guard? An original Point Forward?

Who were the other legit contenders in the west? I know Portland came later

In the East
The competition was fierce. 76er's early on, Detroit midway, C's the whole time.

Atlanta was on the rise, what were they missing?

Chicago was young, but realistically, how many chips do they get if they peaked a few years earlier, like 85?

[SHAQisGOAT]

In the West
Why did the Lakers lose in the 1985 West Semi's to the Rockets? How great were the short lived Twin Towers?

They lost (in 1986 not 1985) because the Rockets were just better in that series, simply put... Houston had the size and athleticism to counter the Lakers' size and athleticism, good on both ends, they had some really good role players, solid bench, all-around players, and a beastly frontcourt that was too much for an old Kareem (who was still very good despite everything, probably the best Laker on the series) and the rest of them especially. Sampson hit a really lucky shot too.


Magic was a sure thing at number 1, but do you think he would have played SF at his size if he had been drafted by a team with a decent point guard? An original Point Forward?

Sure thing as the #1 in the draft? Actually, the Lakers were pondering between him and Moncrief, I believe West wanted Sidney... Still, they went with Johnson and even though Sid was great, they made the right choice.
Actually (again), the Lakers had a pretty good point-guard already in Norm Nixon, and in Magic's first years Norm was more of the PG for them, even though Johnson still played plenty of it... Magic played plenty like a point forward during that time, great at it due to his size and skill, but ultimately he had most impact at the 1 and the Lakers "saw it" too.



Who were the other legit contenders in the west? I know Portland came later

Rockets at some point (1986), they had great potential but falled apart due to off-court stuff;
Dallas in 1988 had a very good team and almost made the Finals;
Nuggets always had some nice squads but too much offensive oriented, yet they became somewhat legitly dangerous when they managed to add defense too;
Suns were nice in the early 80s, Gervin leading the Spurs too;
Jazz already had Malone and Stock in the late 80's, along with Eaton, Jeff Malone...

But the West couldn't **** with the East though, overall.



In the East
The competition was fierce. 76er's early on, Detroit midway, C's the whole time.

Atlanta was on the rise, what were they missing?

I guess you can say more experience, couple of better players (a bit more firepower probably) and luck... They were a very athletic team (and young), skilled too, nice coach, they had good role-players who knew their role, Nique was balling, but they needed more to go all the way in a league like that, especially in the East.



Chicago was young, but realistically, how many chips do they get if they peaked a few years earlier, like 85?

Say, if you had the Bulls from 1990-1998 in 1980-1988 instead (same "situations"), imo they would've won 3 rings... 2 at least, 4 at most.

.........