It is difficult to know which has been the best team in history. Bill Russell’s Celtics, Michael Jordan’s Bulls or the recent Warriors dynasty usually occupy many covers of this debate. The 11 rings in 13 years (8 consecutive) of the greens, 72-10 and the 6 championships of the Chicago team or 73-9, Golden State’s three titles and five straight Finals weigh heavily in any debate. There is also talk of Magic Johnson’s Lakers or the Celtics, this time, of Larry Bird. And there are those who, with a long memory, timidly remember George Mikan and those Lakers who were in Minneapolis and who were founding members of the best League in the world. There is much to choose from, where to search and where to find, countless arguments to give in favor of one or the other and many discussions (in the good sense of the word) that come together in a common denominator: what these teams did was make the world fall in love and allow the NBA to have the honor of boasting the most captivating game on the planet.
However, certain moments of very specific teams can slightly modify the debate. The prime of those groups, in superb moments that have seemed unbeatable, makes us wonder if someone could have beaten them. This is, for example, the case of the 2001 Lakers, those of Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and Phil Jackson. A squad worse than the previous year, which had a rather questionable regular season, but absolutely historic playoffs in which they seemed truly impregnable: 15-1, going over the Blazers, Kings and Spurs, and being beaten only by Allen Iverson’s Sixers and those 48 points in the first game of the Finals, with extension included, on a day for history that allowed the Sixers star to go to bed, that night, as the best player on the planet.
There have been two other teams that only added one loss in the playoffs: the Sixers of Julius Erving, Moses Malone and his fo, fo, fo, and the aforementioned Warriors. The former miraculously failed to fulfill their center’s predictions and lost a game for a 12-1 record. at a time when the first two of each Conference directly played the semifinals. They fell in the third game of the Eastern Conference finals against the Bucks (those of Sidney Moncrief and Don Nelson on the bench) and overwhelmed the Magic and Kareem Lakers in the Finals, with 26 points and an average of 18 rebounds from Moses . The Warriors dominated like no one else in 2017, already with Kevin Durant on the roster, and went on to win 15 consecutive games in the finals before falling to the Cavaliers in Game 3 of the Finals. The 16-1 is also the best historical mark, but in a circumstantial way, since the Sixers went directly to the semifinals and at the time of the Lakers, the first round was the best of 5 games, a rule that changed from of 2003. Of course, those Warriors
a superlative level
The Lakers in 2001 was simply magical. The Lakers were 48-26 with 8 games left for the end of the regular season. Phil Jackson always liked to finish well to face the playoffs in good shape, and that year his wishes were fulfilled: 8 consecutive victories to overtake the Kings in the standings, leaving the Maveris and Jazz behind and taking second place in the Western Conference after the Spurs. And some playoffs with an important condition: the rivals they came across were superlative, enormous. Weight rivals in whose previous ones many did not know how to discern which was the favorite. Blazers, Kings and Spurs were the opponents that the Lakers shamelessly crushed, as if they were ants. With absolute superiority.
The Lakers faced the 2000-01 months after winning the ring. AC Green and John Salley were leaving the team and Horace Grant, a member of the first big-three of the Bulls, he held the power forward position with Robert Horry still on the bench. Ron Harper would extend his career for another year before facing an eternally postponed retirement and he would act as Kobe’s mentor for another year, but he was injured and Derek Fisher made the jump to the starting lineup. With Kobe as shooting guard and Shaq as center, the other member of the quintet would be Rick Fox. And with people like Brian Shaw and Tyron Lue on the bench, the Angelenos faced a playoffs in which Horry had more and more minutes to the detriment of Grant. : Jackson preferred a wide four, who could shoot and swing the ball well, which is key for the triangle. And against smaller quintets, especially in the Finals, Horry had more minutes than Grant., while both took care of Tim Duncan’s defense in the West finals.
The first victim was the Blazers: 27 points and 15.7 rebounds for Shaq, 25 points and 7.7 assists for Kobe. In the semifinals, Rick Adelman’s funny Kings played: Webber, Divac, Stojakovic, Christie, Jason Williams and company. In the first two games, Shaq had more than 40 points and 20 rebounds in a row, something that had never happened before. In the third match, Kobe went to 36 points and, in the fourth, to 48, with 16 rebounds. The Lakers traveled to San Antonio unbeaten and Kobe continued his good run: 45+10+3, with 5 kills above the zone led by David Robinson and Tim Duncan. In the third match, the exhibition was final: 35 + 17 from O’Neal and 36 + 9 + 8 from Bryant. The Lakers won that match by 39 points and the fourth and final game by 29. And the Sixers, with Iverson’s 48 points, ended a streak that was 19 consecutive wins, counting the regular season and the playoffs.
The Lakers won 9 of the 16 games in the playoffs by 10 or more points, they went from conceding 97 points per game to just 90 with a radical change in defense, they beat teams with more than 50 wins in all rounds and went through above stars of the level of Pippen, Sabonis, Webber, Duncan, Robinson, Mutombo or Iverson. Kobe averaged 29.4 points, 7.3 rebounds and 6.1 assists; Shaq, 30.4+15.4+3.2. The escort launched with almost 47% in field goals. The pivot, with more than 55%. And the superiority was shown in everything: the impotence of David Robinson, the apathy of Tim Duncan or the desperate attempts of Popovich to introduce people in the rotation that he hardly ever introduced (like Steve Kerr) were a good example of it. Also the superiority with which the Staples Center public behaved, cold and of little mutation but having reasons, beyond the usual paraphernalia, to boast of being fans of the best team in the world. The Lakers’ sense of superiority during the playoffs was seen even in the form of Rick Fox chewing gum, that he grew a long mane and threatened not to cut his hair until the Lakers lost… something they finally did. In short: some historic playoffs.
Knowing if the Lakers made, that year, the best playoffs in history is totally debatable. The already mentioned Sixers and Warriors or the 15-3 of, for example, the Bulls in 1996 (72-10 in regular season and 87-13 overall all season) could be considered. Also the 15-2 of the Spurs in 1999, who still faced in the Finals the eighth classified of the Eastern Conference, the Knicks. But the magnitude of the rivals, the difference in points and the superiority, puts those Lakers at a peak where they can be, of course, accompanied. With worse management than those already mentioned, Kobe (who had his first big jump in the regular season, with an average of 28.5 points) and Shaq (second in the voting for the MVP of the season after Iverson) were simply unstoppable, with Derek Fisher as top lieutenant: 15 points per night in the best level of his career and 28 points, with 6 of 7 in triples, in Game 4 of the Western Finals against the Spurs. An impressive and legendary. And those that can be, why not, the best playoffs in history. Who knows.
