Broussard: MJ's ex-teammates say Kobe is better than him

[Oliver P]

That sounds more like it's based on your personal preference, though. You aren't as excited about basketball. You just watched the old Knicks/Bulls series. Your favorite decade was the 90s. It all makes sense because the Knicks were one of the dominant teams of the 90s...so I'm not really sure what to say. New York basketball was irrelevant for quite some time after Ewing retired.

 

It is based on mly personal preference indeed, I said it so myself. I believe that the 90's/80's are the two greatest eras of the history of basketball, I might be wrong but that is my opinion. And it's not only because the Knicks were one of the dominant teams in the 90's... It certainly has something to do with it though, I don't deny that. But it's definitely not the only reason why. I can appreciate games not involving my favorite team. Fortunately... I admit that the 90's Knicks-Bulls series are my favorite ever but not the only ones I loved at the same time. I loved all the 90's Finals for example, despite the fact that only two were involving the Knicks (the 99 one is also my less favorite Finals of the decade). And I prefer all those Finals than all the 2000's Finals. Again I'm not saying they were better but just that I personally enjoyed them more.

 

I didn't follow the 80's as I was too small and living in France didn't help... I started to be a basketball fan in the early 90's. But I watched a lot of game from the 80's (and other eras for that matter) nonetheless and I honestly prefer to watch the 80's teams (especially the Lakers and Celtics, it's a real delight to watch those teams) for example than any team of our era.

 

As I said in my other post I believe that the games were just more intense and interesting to watch overall in the 90's/80's. But I can understand that someone does not agree about that with me. It's just my opinion. That's all.

 

The only decades I don't consider when trying to figure out the greatest would probably be anything before the mid-70s, due to the lack of teams and players in the NBA, lack of size and athleticism.

 

Yes that is true but at the same time can the great players that were Wilt and Russell be blamed for that ? They did not choose to play in that era and who knows what they would have done in other eras... Just impossible to tell. And I believe that a case can still be made for them both.

 

As I said in my other post I know a poster (who were on CTS but sadly didn't join here) who makes a great case for Russell as number one. I'm not gonna talk for him but I read a lot of his posts about this topic and what he's saying is very interesting.

 

I know another poster who believes that O is the best player ever. And this poster actually followed Robertson's career. He watched all the greatest players ever at their prime. And he makes a great case for Robertson as well. I'm not saying that the fact that he followed the NBA at the time makes him necessarily right though, I would say myself that O is the best ever otherwise, but it certainly gives more weight to his words.

 

However, looking at it that way, there's really no point to ever debate anything, because stats never tell the whole story (too many other factors surrounding them) and most everything else is based solely on opinion.

 

Exactly. That's precisely my point. Those debates could not lead anywhere. But I wouldn't say that it's totally pointless to debate about it at the same time though, cause you still can learn things when you debate, it still can be interesting. But in the end I do not believe that anyone will be able to say that one particular player is the best ever indeed.

[Real Deal]

2005 Spurs/Pistons

2008 Celtics/Lakers

2010 Lakers/Celtics

 

Just taking three here...you're telling me that those three Finals series aren't as good as those back in the 90s? Of course, it's just an opinion...but I'm trying to understand what makes those 90s series better. I thought the Rockets/Magic series was trash (any sweep is), and I wasn't really a big fan of the Bulls/Blazers Finals, either. The Bulls/Lakers Finals wasn't that great, given the fact that the Lakers team wasn't the one winning championships back in the 80s.

[Oliver P]

Well first of all the first four games of the Spurs-Pistons series were garbage honestly... I mean four blow outs ? I really couldn't believe it at the time, that was just terrible. The last three games were better. And game 5 was a great game, I agree but I personally didn't appreciate cause... I don't like the Spurs. Never liked their style of play and so didn't enjoy this game.

 

I was excited by another Lakers-C's in 2008 but was quite disappointed in the end as the Lakers were definitely not at their best... Without Ariza and Bynum they clearly couldn't stand a chance. So the Finals were nice but not great overall.

 

Last year Finals were clearly the best we had since 98 IMO. That's true those Finals were great. My favorites since the 98 ones with the 2001 Finals. Yes the 2001 ones are my favorite Finals of the last decade, even if the Lakers were clearly the better team and they were the big favorite it was great to watch this brave Sixers team who not only won the first game but gave all what they got in every game and could even have won games 2 and 3. For the last two games well they were starting to be very tired and the Lakers won more easily... But it was still overall a great Finals to watch IMO. Other than 2001 and last year we didn't have a great Finals IMO. Some nice ones, I didn't hate it at the same time let's not exaggerate, but not great to be honest...

 

As for the 91 Bulls-Lakers, well it's true that the Lakers were clearly not the same team and that the Bulls were clearly better that year, I even think that the Bulls should have won 4-0. They lost the first game cause they were too nervous as it was their first Finals series... But it was still a very good Finals to watch, I mean Magic in his last Finals against Jordan in his first one, the first time the Bulls won a ring, some great Jordan plays (including one of his most famous lay ups ever in game 2), the crowd in Chicago Stadium who was just totally insane, I honestly enjoyed those Finals very much. Even if I agree that it was certainly the less good one of the six Bulls Finals.

 

And I loved the Bulls-Blazers. I mean Jordan who was rightaway on fire with his 35 pts in the first half of the first game, he destroyed the Blazers rightaway with one of the greatest performances ever. But the Blazers never gave up they eventually won two games and almost even won a third one. Game 6 was amazing, when the Blazers led at the beginning of the fourth quarter things sure didn't look good for Chicago, Phil decided to put Pippen surrounded by scrubs on the floor and that lousy team actually got the Bulls back in business ! That was an amazing ending.

 

Yes the 95 Finals were quite disappointing. The Magic were disappointing. But I still enjoyed it nonetheless. Just because of game 1. It's honestly one of the best games ever. I don't know how many times I watched this game... When the Magic dominated in that game, who could have thought that the Rockets would eventually sweep them ? Certainly not me, actually I even clearly remember saying to myself at some point that I was sure that the Magic would certainly sweep Houston. How wrong I was... Fantastic game. And even if the Magic weren't able to eventually win one game the other three games were still nice to watch. It's not my favorite Finals ever, it was a sweep after all but I still enjoyed it more than the 2005 7 games Finals if you wanna know the truth.

 

And all the other Finals we had in the 90's were great, I mean the two Bulls-Jazz and the 93 Bulls-Suns were just amazing, definitely among the best Finals ever. I know that many people didn't like the 94 Finals but they're among my very favorites as well, all the seven games were won by less than 10 points. I even think that it never happened in another series. And as a fan of huge defense and a Knicks fan (especially that the 94 team is actually my favorite Knicks team ever) I could only love those series, even if we eventually lost... In 96 the Bulls dominated the Sonics in the first three games and there was no doubt that the Bulls would eventually win. But it was still great to watch this unbelievable team at his best. And the Sonics come back in games 4 and 5 thanks to McMillan's return was just amazing.

 

So yeah I clearly enjoyed the 90's Finals more.