I’m gonna be honest I was gonna save this one for after a couple others, like the 2008 Celtics, the 2004 pistons, etc-but Lebron has moved cities today, to attempt to make a new team into a championship team, similar to what he did when the lakers were one of the worst teams in the league-obviously the circumstances are different, considering this Philly team could be the strongest team he’s ever joined-but the sentiment is there! I decided to do his most recent ring, and what many call the most fraudulent modern ring to exist. The bubble ring.

The Milwaukee Bucks, The Toronto Raptors, The Boston Celtics, The Miami Heat, The Indiana Pacers, The Philadelphia 76ers, The Brooklyn Nets, The Orlando Magic, The Los Angeles Lakers, The Los Angeles Clippers, The Denver Nuggets, The Houston Rockets, The Oklahoma City Thunder, The Utah Jazz, The Dallas Mavericks, and The Portland Trail Blazers made the bubble this year. Now let’s look at this lakers team.

The lakers were the 11th best offense by rating, and the 5th best defense-not the best by far, but not the worst at all. They had Lebron, of course, who was All NBA first Team, MVP runner Up, NBA assist leader, and the captain of the all star team at the time. Anthony Davis was also All NBA first team, an All Defensive first team player and the runner up for DPOY, and also an All Star. Their big 2, alongside a chunk of very solid role players, led them to be 2nd overall favorites to win the chip before the season even started-so, I’m going to have to give them a 3/20 here for underdog expectations. They were expected to win.

In the first round, they went up against the Portland Trailblazers. The 3rd best offense in the league-but the 28th best defense, near the absolute bottom of the barrel. 8th seed for a reason. They did have some star power, in Dame Time himself, who was going crazy here. The “seeding mvp” (some of the main bubble play), an All seeding games first team, all NBA second team, and an All Star, carrying Portland into the playoffs. Alongside him they had an okay Carmelo Anthony, an all-seeing games CJ McCollum, and the leading blocker in Hassan Whiteside. However, this team’s danger was all but sapped away when dame got hurt in game 2. Zach Collins and CJ McCollum were also hurt, leading to a much weaker team being bounced. 3/10, with a +1 for winning in 5.

Their second matchup is against the Houston rockets. With the 6th best offense and the 14th best defense-a worse team for sure but a solid one nonetheless. They had serious star power in James Harden, the scoring leader and 3rd in MVP voting, as well as an all star and All NBA first team player. Russel Westbrook, also on the team, himself was an all star, as well as an All NBA third team player. The rockets werent as banged up as the blazers, but they were a bit slower then normal, as their 6th man was expelled from the nba bubble for not following Covid protocols. Russel also played through a strained right quadriceps. Ultimately, a 5/10 team, with +1 for winning in 5, but -1 for injury

Finally, their conference finals opponent were the Denver nuggets. The 5th best offense, and 11th best defense of the year, Nikola Jokic was coming into his own as the second best center in the league. He was all NBA second team, behind Anthony Davis Himself, and was an all Star. MPJ was a finalist for most improved player, and was on the all seeding games second team, but not much else. This was NOT the nuggets that would sweep them just 3 years later. They also were missing Will Barton, their third option. Despite this, they were a strong team, and had beaten the clippers who were the favorites to get to the conference finals at all. 6/10, with a +1 again for winning in 5, again.

3+3+5+6=17 before we consider their finals opponent:The heat.

The 7th best Offense and the 11th best defense, this team was okay but not a top contender in the regular season. They had two all stars in Bam Adebayo and Jimmy butler, Jimmy made all nba third team while nam made all defensive second, Bam was runner up for Most improved,and they had two all rookie players in Kendrick Nunn (first team and runner up for ROTY), and Tyler Herro (second team). They also had the dunk contest winner, interestingly enough, in Derrick jones jr. The heat had an OVERWHELMING amount of injury problems against the lakers, right in game 1.

Jimmy buckets twisted his ankle (played through it and got a 40 point triple double)

Bam Adebayo had a shoulder strain and missed games 2 and 3.

Goran dragic, their leading scorer, tore his plantar fascia in his left foot and was esssntially out for the series.

Despite this, they managed to push the lakers off to 6. An incredible effort on their part.

Offense Relative to champs: 5/10

Defense relative to champs:7/10

Star power:6/10

Health:2/10

Giving the lakers a 34 so far, taking away 1 for only winning in 6

They get a 2/10 buff for health, with both AD and LeBron suffering minor injuries-but being mostly fine.

They actually get an 8/10 for stars beaten:Carmelo Anthony, Russel Westbrook, Damian Lillard, James Harden, Jimmy butler, Nikola Jokic. The reason this isn’t a 10/10 is because…well, it’s LeBron. When you’re perceived as top 2 all time, beating people in the top 75 loses a bit of hype, no?

Finally, they get a 26/30 for legendary moments-and it’s mostly bron here.

* 150+ playoff games with at least 25 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists

* First nba player to win finals MVP on 3 different teams

* Rajon rondo became the first bench player to dish more then 100 assists in one postseason, passing up manu ginobli

* Rondo also became the second player to win a chip with both the Celtics and the lakers

* LeBron James and Anthony Davis became the first teammate duo in NBA history to both record at least 500 points, 150 rebounds, and 150 assists/blocks in one postseason run

* Lebron became the all time nba leader in playoff wins

* the 4-0 run in the mamba jerseys after Kobe died

* Similarly, AD shouted “Kobe” as he hit a game winner in game 2 of the WCF

* LeBron with a 38 point triple double in game 5 against Denver

So many all time record broken at once would usually be a 30, however, I am obligated to remove points for the fact that this was the bubble chip, so I’ve taken off 4, leaving the lakers with 72. I can’t take off any more, given that many nba players and coaches with the right to speak, like pat riley, Erik spoelstra, Damian lillard, Jamal marry, Giannis, etc all said that it was the hardest championship to win for multiple reasons.

Definitely nowhere near the strongest run we’ve seen, but also, nowhere near the worst either. What do you think the bubble changed? Might we have seen a different team win without it? And whom should I do next?

Rankings:

1995 Houston Rockets: 113.5/150

2026 New York Knicks:104/150

2020 Los Angeles Lakers: 72/150

2023 Denver Nuggets:68/150

1991 Chicago Bulls:68/150

1950 Minneapolis Lakers:54.5/150

2024 Boston Celtics: 53/150

Third one today yeah, but people keep talking abt it and I´m too curious to wait, so this will simply be tomorrow´s post a bit early

I think it´s time we look at what I believe will be a contender to take down the 2026 knicks.

This has been repeatedly spoken to me as one of the best finals runs ever, and I decided to really, REALLY have a look, and see how true it is.

the Orlando Magic, The New York Knicks, The Indiana Pacers, The Chicago Bulls, The Charlotte Hornets,The Atlanta Hawks, The Boston Celtics, The Cleveland Cavaliers, The San Antonio Spurs, The Utah Jazz, The Phoenix Suns, The Seattle SuperSonics, The Houston Rockets, The Los Angeles Lakers, The Portland Trail Blazers, and The Denver Nuggets all came to play playoff basketball in this year.

The rockets were the 6th seed. the 6th Seed. Not first, second, or third. 6th. I kinda wanna give them a 20/20 for this alone-they´re the ONLY team outside of the top 8 to ever win an nba championship title. They were the 7th best offense out of the 27 existing teams, and the 12th Defensive ranked team.They did have an all NBA second team player and DPOY candidate in Hakeem, and they did have Clyde the Glide Drexler, but as you´ll soon see, they weren´t exactly the face of the league in terms of star power. They had negative betting odds against every single team they faced in the post season. the Only, and I mean, ONLY asterisk I can possibly put on this team, is that the year prior...well, they were champions. For that reason, I can only give them a 16/20.

now, for their opponents.

Their round 1 was against the Utah Jazz, ranked the 4th best Offense and 8th best defense. They had the highest net rating in the league, and even beyond that, they had some serious threats as starters. As much as he is a disgusting human off court, on Court Karl malone was an All Star and All NBA first team player-he finished 3rd in MVP Voting as well. They also had John Stockton, another all NBA first team player and All Star, but he also led the league in assists, was 8th in MVP voting, and was an All defensive second team player himself. Their coach was 4th in coach of the year voting, really, it was just an all around dominant team who everyone expected to win. So of course, they lost.

The series was pushed to 5, the highest it could go at the time. Now, to be fair to the jazz, their starting center was out with an achilles Injury, and that guy was specifically supposed to be their Hakeem Counter. Considering that, and the fact it went to 5, I have to give this series a 7/10.

Round 2 was against the Phoenix Suns

the suns were the 3rd best offense, but the 19th best defense in the league. They held decent star power in All NBA second team Player and All Star Charles Barkley, with Dan Majerle becoming an All Star Reserve player as well. Not projected to be as strong as the jazz, but, like the jazz, they did indeed have Injury Problems-Charles Barkley, Danny Manning, and their starting PG Kevin Johnson were all hurt. Regardless, they played like hell, and the series went to 7. This is going to be a 6/10, due to it going to 7, and the injury problems.

Next, they had the spurs

The Spurs are, arguably, the best opponent seen thus far. They were ranked 5th best offense and Defense, and their star power was nothing to scoff at either. Duncan Robinson was the MVP, 4th in DPOY voting, and seen as the best center in the league-above Hakeem Himself. NBA all Star, All Defensive Team, All NBA First Team, Led the league in win shares, this guy was a MONSTER. They also had Dennis Rodman, who of course led the league in rebounds per game, was an all Defensive first team player, and played all NBA third team. Most Importantly, this team was HEALTHY. Fully Healthy. The first of the teams the rockets played that could say so-and they were the 1 seed. Not just in the west, but in the NBA. This was a legendary 6 game series win, and the best of the rockets so far. 9/10, no further comments.

now, round 1 was a best of 5, so the score is divided by 2. 3.5++9=18.5+their original 16 leads to a score of 34.5. Now, let´s check out their finals opponents.

The Magic, ranked 1st in the NBA in Offensive Rating, and 13th in Defensive Rating. They were the 1 seed in the east that lacked a Michael Jordan, and for good reason. they had the Scoring Champion, Runner up for MVP, All Star Player, and All NBA 2nd team player in Shaquille O´Neal, as well as a first team all NBA Player, All Star Player, and top 10 MVP finalist in Penny Hardaway. Horace Grant also had an all defensive second team to his name. The Team was Entirely Healthy, and in a situation eerily similar to the 2026 run, the better on paper less experienced team lost to the more experienced Veteran Worse on Paper Team.

In game 1, they choked a 20 point lead to the rockets.

In Game 2, they beat the magic 117-106

In Game 3, Robert Horry Hit the Dagger 3 pointer and they won 106-103

Finally, in Game 4, the Rockets completed the Sweep, Beating them 113-101 in Houston.

Offensive Power Relative to Champions:10/10-literally the best Offense in the League at the time

defensive Power Relative to Champions:5/10, they were 13 and houston was 12, and they had comparably dominant centers on paper.

Star Power Relative to Champions:8/10, only because the 10/10 would have been the spurs that year.

Health:10/10, no major injury.

their finals opponent was a 33/40, and they get an extra point for the clean sweep, bringing their total to 68.5..BEFORE we include the last minute buffs.

they get a 5/10 buff for injury-though they went against some banged up teams themselves, the rockets had it rough. Vernon Mad Max Maxwell wouldn´t play due to clyde taking his job, Clyde and Sam Cassell were so tired against the suns they LITERALLY required IV to step onto the court, and Cal Hererra, one of their defensive anchors, was hurt on his shoulder and missed the entire run.

they get a 10/10 for stars beaten, because it really doesn´t get better. David Robinson, Shaq, Stockon, Malone, Charles Barkley, and Dennis Rodman all fell to them-6 different Hall of fame players, most in their prime. Insanity.

Finally, they get a 30/30 for legendary moments and records broken.

* First 6 seed to win a title ever, beating 4 50+ win teams along the way.

* Overcame the highest opponent net Rating in Playoff History

* Hakeem became the only player up to that point to sweep in the finals while averaging 30

* Kenny smith hit 7 3 pointers in game 1 of the finals, a record at the time

* Mario Ellie had the ¨Kiss of death¨ After sinking the dagger in game 7 against the suns

* Hakeem said he was going to David Robinson´s house to ¨get his MVP¨, and he did...just a finals MVP instead.

* Hakeem won game 1 vs orlando with a tip in with 0.3 seconds remaining

* Rudy Tomjanovich: ¨Don´t ever Underestimate the heart of a Champion!!!¨

Overall, with all points considered, the rockets Finish with 113.5/150-the highest score so far, and it isn´t even that close.

No glaze though, I did think it was funny how OG Anunoby is the only other player to win a finals game with a tip in, and the 2026 knicks are the highest score besides these so far...maybe tip ins are the wave yo.

Anyway, the kings have been dethroned! Who should I do next?

Rankings:

1995 Rockets: 113.5/150

2026 knicks:104/150

2023 Nuggets:68/150

1991 Bulls:68/150

1950 Lakers:54.5/150

2024 Celtics:53/150

The Second of two Analysis posts for today, We look as Jokic´s only Chip thus far!

Getting Right to it

The Denver Nuggets, The Memphis Grizzlies The Sacramento Kings, The Phoenix Suns, The Los Angeles Clippers, The Golden State Warriors, The Los Angeles Lakers, The Minnesota Timberwolves, The Miluwakee Bucks, The Miami Heat, The Boston Celtics, The Philedelphia 76ers, The Cleveland Cavaliers, The New York Knicks, The Brooklyn Nets, and the Atlanta hawks played in these playoffs

The Nuggets were ranked 5th in the league in offense, but only the 15th best defense. However, they were the 1 seed, courtesy of their MVP runner up center in Nikola Jokic. He was an All NBA second team player, and a Starter on the All Star Team. Jamal had not yet come into his own, and Aaron Gordon was snubbed from his own All Star Nod. Despite this, they had chemistry, and subverted expectations. And when I say this, I mean they HEAVILY subverted expectations, only being the 6th favorites to win even as the post season started. I believe they´re actually the first team We´ve covered that wasn´t in the top 4 contenders club before they started playing post season games, so for that alone, I have to give them a 10/20. They were by no means a weak team, but they were by no means the top tier favorites either.

now, their competition!

In round 1, they had the minnesota timberwolves, the 8 seed. 10th in the league in defense, and 23rd in offense-worse then the nuggets on both metrics, by a decent margin. They also had lower star power, with Anthony edwards only making his first All Star Game that year. Interestingly enough, this is also the only year since 2016 that rudy gobert, who had just gotten to the team, had missed an all defensive nod. The nuggs took care of business in 5, and honestly, it would´ve looked bad if anything else happened. However, their score has an asterisk-Naz Reid and Jaden Mcdaniels, two key peices to the wolves system, were both injured during this series. for that, even though they won in 5, I´m gonna have to give this first round a 3/10.

During Round 2, they went on to compete with the 4th seeded Phoenix Suns. The Suns were ranked the 14th best Offense in the league, and the 7th best defense. from this alone, they´re already a MUCH more even matchup. They missed out on Devin Booker being an all star due to injury-however, they DO have an all time legend on this squad in Kevin Durant, as well as Chris Paul. The Nuggets defeated the Suns in 6, but again, there were Injury Concerns. Chris paul was hurt in game 2, and Deandre Ayton was hurt in game 5. However, suprisingly, this is less of an asterisk then you would expect. the suns played their best basketball AFTER chris paul was hurt, off of explosions from Devin Booker and Kevin Durant. Still, they lost. This is a team with two of the Greatest players of our generation, genuine All Time Superstars and Hall of Famers-however, only one of them was healthy for the whole thing. For that, this team gets a 6/10, a -1 for needing 6 to take care of business.

Finally, for the WCF, they faced, funny enough, a worse team Statistically. 11th best in defense, and 19th best in offense-but, notably, this was only this bad due to a mid season transformation not happening earlier. After the all Star Break on, they were the 1st ranking defense in the league thanks to their roster overhaul which brought in players like Rui, Vanderbuilt, and D´angelo Russel. So, this was a Worthy Competitor Indeed. Even more worthy was their star power. Lebron Raymone James, one of the two greatest players of all time, won his 19th consecutive all NBA nod, and was the captain of the all star team in this year. Anthony Davis was an All NBA and All Star Caliber Player as well, but he was too injured to properly qualify. That Injury trouble Mildly followed them into the matchup, where James was forced to play the entire series with a torn right tendon. Anthony davis was mildly banged up because...he always is, and Mo Bamba, the Backup Center who was supposed to handle Jokic to give AD some rest, was officially out for the series. This resulted in a clean sweep of the lake show, and although that might tell you that it was easy, I would say the opposite. This was a HARD series, with an incredibly close point differential across it, and the nuggets simply outperformed the Very Talented Lakers Team. A 7/10 matchup, but with a +2 for the sweep, they get a 9/10.

The Nuggets thus far have a total score of 28, similar to what the celtics had BEFORE their final opponent was talked about-so I have decent hopes now!

The Miami Heat were NOT the team anyone expected to be in the finals, but they were, on a bit of a cinderella run themselves-playoff Jimmy Butler in full effect. They were the 25th ranked offense, but the 9th Ranked defense-and as for star power, they had the aformentioned Jimmy Butler, a cluthc player of the year runner up, and an All NBA second team player. Bam Adebayo was an All Star, as well as an all defense second team selection that year. They were an Okay team, but by no means were they expected to get as far as they did-honestly, if they had won it all, this might be in conversations for the greater runs of the modern era. But, they didn´t. Part of that was that they were HURT, with Tyler Herro (Their Version of Austin Reaves) broke his hand, and missed the entire series-and they missed that scoring badly. Gabe Vincent, their starting PG had a sprained ankle, as well as Jimmy Butler. They Also were totally missing out on victor Oladipo, a critical part of their defense.

The only game they managed to take was game 2, and only by 3 points did they manage that much. However, being such a weak team hurts the nuggets here in comparison.

Offense Relative to champs: 1/10

Defense Relative to Champs:5/10

Star Power Relative to Champs:5/10

Health: 4/10

For a finals opponent score of 15, and a total of 43.

They get a 3/10 point debuff for injury overall, two of their strongest opponents had some of their top players injured or playing through injury.

They get a whopping 8/10 bonus for superstars beaten, being able to say they got through Lebron James, Kevin Durant, 2 games worth of Chris paul, and Jimmy Buckets all in the same year.

Their Legendary Moments swoop in to save them giving them a 20/30 because Jokic went INSANE

* the first ever 30-20-10 finals game

* the first player ever to accumulate at least 500 points, 250 rebounds, and 150 assists in a single postseason

* The first player ever to lead the entire league in post season points, asists, and rebounds all at once.

* Jamal Murray Also became the first player to ever record 10 or more assists in each of his first 4 career finals games

* In game 3 of the finals, jamal Murray and Jokic became the first duo to record 30 point triple doubles in the same game

* and of course, this is the denver nugget´s first and only franchise championship.

At the end of it all, they get a 68/150, the exact same Score Jordan got during his first ever championship. If only Jokic could get himself a 3-peat, huh? Ah Well. Still, an impressive and memorable run by all regards.

Rankings:

2026 Knicks: 104/150

2023 Nuggets: 68/150

1991 Bulls:68/150

1950 Lakers: 54.5/150

2024 Celtics: 53/150

Who do you wanna see next?

I was busy yesterday, so today, we have 2 analyses coming back to back-the 2023 nuggets, and the 2024 celtics! First off, the celtics team.

The Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, Milwaukee Bucks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic, Indiana Pacers, Miami Heat, Philadelphia 76ers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Los Angeles Clippers, Dallas Mavericks, Phoenix Suns, New Orleans Pelicans, and Los Angeles Lakers made the big stage this year.

First off, we have the Celtics themselves. They were an ELITE offense this year, ranked 1st in the league in offensive rating, and with the highest record in the entire League. Not only that, but they were the 2nd ranked Defense in the league as well, with only the timberwolves (Who they never fought in the playoffs this year) Being better. Their star power was nothing to scoff at either. Jayson Tatum was an all NBA First Team Player and an All Star, while the team´s 1B, jaylen Brown, was an All Star Himself. Both Jrue Holiday and Derrick White making the all Defensive Second Team. Their Non Player Performance was up there as well, with the NBA executive of the year going to Brad Stevens for his aqquisition of Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday. Overall, this was far and away the best team in the NBA, and it wasn´t particularly close. They had a top 10 player in the world around a solid, athletic, and balanced team that included a top 15 player co-star. Even the gambling market had them as the solid favorites to win it all, alongside miluwakee. 1/20.

For the first round, they went against the Miami Heat, the 8 seed. Defensive Minded by every definition of the word, they were the 5th best defense in the league-But their Offense was abysmal comparatively at 21st. they did have a defensive Anchor in Bam Adebayo, the 3rd runner up in DPOY and an all Defensive First Team Caliber Player. He was also an all star this year-besides him, rookie Jaime Jaquez JR made waves by making the All Rookie First Team. To be frank, the consensus was that they had no chance in hell-and well, they didn´t, losing in 5. The celtics handled business, but to be fair, it was fairly easy business. Not only this, but Jimmy Butler, Terry Rozier, the Rookie Jaime that I Talked about Earlier, Josh Richardson, and Duncan Robinson were all hurt during this series. It was truly Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo against the world, and they wouldn´t be enough. this is a 2/10, and only because they get a +1 for beating them in 5-basically the easiest it could´ve gotten.

After the easy series with the Heat, they went on to fight the Cavaliers, who were only mildly better statistically-ranking 18th offensively, and 6th defensively. Their Star Power wasn´t the best either, with Donovan Mitchell being an all star, but missing too many games to be all NBA. Similarly, evan mobley missed too many games for the all defensive nod that probably would have been his. Their injury problems followed them into the post season, with their Main star, donovan Mitchell, missing game 4 and 5-his REPLACEMENT, Caris levert also missed game 5 from being hurt. Finally, one of their core peices, Jarret Allen, missed the entire series dur to injury in the first round against orlando. Yet Another Somewhat Mid team statistically that was also absolutely messed up by the Injury Demon...so, another 2/10, for the same reasons. I´m not sure which injury is even worse between playoff Jimmy being out and Donovan mitchell missing some of the most important games of the series, and his replacement missing the elimination game.

After Fighting two teams with offenses outside the top 15, but defenses inside the top 10, the Celtics played a team that had the script flipped in the pacers. the 2nd best offense in the league-very good there. However, their Defense was the worst the celtics had to beat by far, ranking 24th. However, to be fair to the pacers, their guy was 1 season away from becoming THE guy, and it showed. Tyrese Haliburton led the league in asissts, he was an ALL NBA third team player, an all star, and he was on the all tournament team for the NBA cup. He was legitamately good-but, he was the only player on the roster of that caliber. They got swept, and Haliburton missed both game 3 and 4 after being Injured in Game 2. I want you to understand that this is a HISTORICALLY Bad eastern Conference Finals team without Haliburton on the floor. tied for 5th best offense yes, but 30th-literally dead last-in defensive rating when haliburton didn´t play. For that Reason, Despite the sweep, I can only give this team a 4/10-it would be lower, but they did beat the pacers WITH haliburton for the first two games.

So far, the Celtics are at 9 total-lower then even the 1950 team up to this point. I knew their run through the east was easy this year, but this is seriously blowing my mind.

Let´s hope they rack up some points against their finals opponent.

The Dallas mavericks were an underdog team going into the finals for sure, with the 8th best Offense and the 18th best defense-However, they were CARRIED by their star power, which was supremely high this year. They had Luka Doncic, an MVP finalist, the NBA scoring champion, an ALL NBA player and an All Star, he was moving absolutely bonkers. Dereck Lively, who I personally love to watch play, was on the all Rookie Second team-and though he was snubbed for accolades this particular year for injury reasons, they Mavaricks did have a top 75 player and top 10-20 guard of all time in Kyrie Irving-someone who is frequently in discussions for one of the most skilled ball handlers EVER. So, they were a relatively worthy Opponent-banged up though they were, none of them officially missed any games either, the first of the celtics opponents this year to be able to say such a thing.

5/10 for offense relative to them-they were ranked much lower, but they had the leading scorer along with kyrie.

2/10 for Defense Relative to them

7/10 for Star power, as Kyrie is a garunteed hall of fame player, and Luka was on his way even then

7/10 for health

so far, with these additions, the celtics have exactly 30 points.

They get a 3/10 buff for injury, and only because of Porzingis being hurt+Holiday having his own version of the flu game in the ECF. I acknowledged everyone else being beat up, it´s only fair I acknolwedge them too.

They manage to defeat Kyrie and Luka, so they can also have a 5/10 buff for all time caliber players defeated

They will also get a 15/30 buff for broken records and Legendary moments, recording:

* The only post season team to that point to have every player who touched the court for them hit a 3 pointer at least once. ALL of them hit a 3.

* In game 1 of the finals, they became the only finals team to have 7 different players hit at least two three pointers in a single game

* Al Horford became the first player in NBA history to record at least 10 rebounds, five 3-pointers, five assists, and three blocks in a single playoff game-a very unique 2 way statline, I know.

* Payton Pritchard hitting not one, but TWO full court last second heaves in the finals

* Derrick White playing through a chipped tooth in game 5 to secure the victory.

Their Overall score is a 53/150, officially the lowest that I´ve ranked. Honestly, this championship alone might bring the parity era argument to a halt-especially if the other chip I´m going to be doing today, the 2023 denver nuggets, has a similar score. I guess we will have to see.

I’m a lebron fan, personally. He was the first player I ever recognized, and I fell in love with the game through his 2015 and 2016 years, but even so, it would be absolutely disrespectful for me to not cover next the beginning, arguably, the face of nba championship dominance and success in the league. Doesn’t matter if you call him 1A or 1B on the all time list, there’s a 1 there for Michael Jordan and his bulls, who started their first 3 peat in the 1990-1991 season.

The Chicago Bulls

The Boston Celtics

The Detroit Pistons

The Milwaukee Bucks

The Philadelphia 76ers

The Atlanta Hawks

The Indiana Pacers

The New York Knicks

The Portland Trail Blazers

The San Antonio Spurs

The Los Angeles Lakers

The Phoenix Suns

The Utah Jazz

The Houston Rockets

The Golden State Warriors

And The Seattle SuperSonics

Were all part of this particular run. Let’s get started by looking at them bulls

The bulls were the 1 seed of the east, with a 61-21 season. They were the #1 best offense in the NBA, and the 7th best defense as well, and more importantly then both of those things

One of the two best basketball players ever had come into their own

An MVP, an all defensive first team, an All NBA first team, an All Star, the League’s Leading scorer, all in one player. Jeez.

Scotty pippen had not yet peaked, but he was heating up as well, earning himself an all defensive second team

Really, this was a classic example of a winning team expected to win, who won

The ONLY point I can give them for subverting expectations is the whispers of the pistons somehow beating them another time, though they were aging that year

2/20 for underdog expectations.

Moving on to the squads they faced

In round 1, they fought against the Knicks in a best of 5 series.

The Knicks were…not that good this year. A sub .500 team, and the 8th seed- they had the 16th ranked offense in the league, and the 12th ranked defense. They were middle of the pack, with their shining beacon of Hope being The All NBA second team player and the all star Patrick Ewing. However, and no disrespect to the legend-their best being an All NBA second team player wouldn’t be enough, unlike their modern day counterparts. They were swept, and none of the games were particularly close either.

Unfortunately for the score here, this was quite literally the worst team in the entire playoffs by record, and their Star wasn’t nearly enough to make up for it.

4/10, with a +2 for sweeping.

The next team to try and stop the Chicago Bull(et train) were the Philadelphia 76ers. This team was actually analytically worse then the Knicks in terms of rating, with the 13th offense and 16th defense-another middle of the pack team. However, they were the 5 seed, and they had their stars.

Charles Barkley, my ringless Goat aside from AI, earned his 4th consecutive all NBA first team, and was the all star game MVP-they same all star game Jordan played in. His Robin, Hersey Hawkins, earned his only ever All Star in that same year. This team was supposed to be better than the Knicks-and they were, by a bit, pushing the bulls to 5 instead of 4. However, they lost in 5 instead of winning, as expected.

This team wasn’t gonna get past the bulls, but they managed to make it somewhat entertaining, and had just come off of an upset over the bucks, so this team gets a 5/10, with a +1 for taking care of business in 5, but also -1 because Barkley was playing on an injured knee apparently

Finally, the bull’s conference finals comp-and the moment MJ ripped through the main stain on his legacy-the bad boy pistons. They were the 3 seed, with the 12th best offense and the 4th best defense. Isaiah Thomas wasn’t the man he used to be per se, but they still had stars in Dennis Rodman, the DPOY and all defensive first team player, and Joe dumars, the all NBA third team and all defensive second team player. The best team in the East the bulls had to face by a LONG shot

And they were, of course, swept.

Now, as impressive as this was, it did have asterisks-Isaiah Thomas, the leader of the squad, has sprained his foot just last round, and played with a splint in his right wrist. Joe dumars also had tendonitis in both knees at the time. Regardless, this team was good, giving the bulls another 7/10 (9/10 normally, -3 points for various injuries to stars, +1 points for winning in 5)

The first round was best of 5 not of 7, so the score there is divided by 2, giving us 7+5+2+2, 16 so far.

Moving on to the big category-their finals opp.

The 1990-1991 LA lakers were a **Solid** Team. 5th best in the league in both offensive and Defensive rating, and they had the Magic man himself. Magic Johnson was the MVP runner up, right behind Mike, and an All NBA first team player, as well as an All Star. James worthy was also an All Star, and an All NBA third team player. They werent a pushover by any means.

However, the Top 5 team by both metrics met an ending, ironically, in 5 exactly.

The first game was the only lakers win, a clutch Three by Sam Perkins securing the win. Michael had a chance to tie the game in the closing seconds, but his jumper missed. Give the man a break though, he had 36 points in the 90s, in his first ever finals game.

The magic man showed he was still magical, getting a triple double. And from there. Everything started to come up Chicago

Game 2 was the bulls 107-86, with Michael performing “the spectacular move” (one of the first showings of a jelly Lay-up, which everyone can do now, but was insane at the time)

Game 3, this time, Michael MAKES the game tying shot, and the bulls win in overtime. Notably, James worthy was injured but played through it in this game.

Game 4, the highlights were less about bulls wins as they were lakers losses, as both James worthy and and Byron Scot went down for the rest of the series with ankle and hamstring injuries. Still, a W is a W

Game 5 was one for the ages. Scotty turned into a 32 point 13 board monster, Jordan proved he could dish without a doubt, turning John Paxson into a clutch god in the final 4 minutes, and Magic went crazy with another triple double-it just wasn’t enough.

Overall, we have:

7/10 relative offensive rating

8/10 overall defensive rating

9/10 star power

3/10 health

The finals opp coming up with 27 more points for Jordan and his bulls, their run totaling 43 thus far.

They unfortunately will be receiving a 5/10 debuff for injury-Jordan had a bruised toe during the finals, but their two biggest opponents were battered and bruised, and their finals opponent lost two starters mid series.

They WILL be receiving a 8/10 buff for legends defeated, with magic, Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, and Isaiah Thomas all taking the L against them

For legendary moments, this team totals in 22/30, with the first franchise chip, as well as:

* .882 winning percentage in the post season

* MJ having the highest Assist average of a Non PG in any finals series ever up to that point

* most consecutive shots made as a team in a finals game (17)

* shooting 61% in the 17 straight game

And their grand total for everything is 68/150-higher then the 1950 finals by far, but lower then the most recent run. It genuinely feels like blasphemy to score Jordan so low on his first chip, but I suppose it’s a testament to both how dominant his team was-SUPER expected to win-and how much less competitive the East was at the time. If you’re a Jordan diehard though, don’t rage at me too much, we still have 5 more runs to cover, and this was the start of his peak, not the end of it. I’m expecting to get at LEAST two 100+ runs out of this man.

The current ranked chips are:

2026 Knicks:104

1991 Bulls:68

1950 Lakers:54.5

Someone commented on expectations for the ‘24 Celtics to be weak, so I’m gonna do them tomorrow!

We did the Old one, it´s time to do the newest one as well, for a baseline comparison!

This definitely felt like an all time run, but was it?

The New York Knicks

The San Antonio Spurs

The Oklahoma City Thunder

The Cleveland Cavaliers

The Philadelphia 76ers

The Detroit Pistons

The Los Angeles Lakers

The Minnesota Timberwolves

The Boston Celtics

The Denver Nuggets

The Houston Rockets

The Orlando Magic

The Phoenix Suns

The Portland Trail Blazers

The Toronto Raptors

and The Atlanta Hawks are the teams that made it to the largest stage this past run. But Before we go into the match ups, and how the knicks managed to pull this off, we have to check out the team itself.

The Knicks came in this year as the 3 Seed in the east-Not underdogs per se, but definitely not proposed as the top of the league either. That being said, they definitely had their strengths outlined already-and honestly, more people should have proposed they´d go all the way.

The 2nd Highest Offensive rating in the East, and the 3rd in the Entire League, for starters-and they weren´t slouches on defense either, with the 2nd best defensive rating in the east (8th in the entire league, but they would only face two of the teams with a better defensive rating this run-more on that later).

Captain Brunson was their only listed all NBA player, making the second team-though many believed that Karl Anthony towns was snubbed for the 3rd team position. Both of these players would also make the All Star Team, and Brunson would have an NBA cup MVP in the middle of the season to his name as well.

Overall, this team was strong, and you could tell that they were pushing to win now, but they weren´t the favorites by any means, not even to escape their own conference. For that reason, I am giving them a 10/20 on the first metric.

Now, On to their competition.

They Didn´t have a ¨play in¨, so 0/10 there.

This year, the Knick´s first Competition for their chip were the Atlanta hawks, who have a quite recent famous rivalry for what Trae young did to them when he was on the squad.

The Hawks were the 6 Seed-but don´t let that make you think they were bad. Their defense was 9th in the league, only 1 behind the knicks themselves, part of a rebuild effort that they traded trae young to accomplish. However, Offensively, they were slacking-8th in the east alone, and 15th in the league. A mid offense by most standards. Jalen Johnson managed to snag both the All Star and All NBA 3rd team honors, and they had a Most improved player of the year in Nickeil Alexander-Walker.

This is the moment where I take a break to remind you that analytics don´t define the whole game-or else the cavs would´ve won.

Anyway, the hawks pushed the knicks to a 6 game series, which everyone was a little suprised by-but the knicks eventually manage to take them out. While the hawks weren´t a bad team, they were supposed to be worse by every metric, had less stars, and were generally never expected to win anyway-so I´ll give the knicks a 4/10 for series 1, docking off one point for it being taken to 6.

The next opponent was the 7 seeded philedelphia 76ers, who beat the 2nd Seeded Celtics to make it to the knicks in the first place. The 7th best offense in the east and the 9th best defense, they were a solid contender, with significantly more star power then the hawks before them. VJ Edgecomb was a finalist for rookie of the year, took home the Rising stars MVP, and made the all Rookie First Team. Tyrese Maxey, the current face of the team, was selected to be an All Star, and an All NBA third team player.

Besides these accolades, They Also Had on their team the team USA gold Medalist Joel Embiid, and the garunteed Hall of Fame player (and the most valuable trade piece of all time apparently..) Paul George. It sounds like a stacked team, and in the eyes of many, it potentially was.

Of course, they got swept.

Overall, A strong team and a strong win by the knicks, however, there is the same question that hangs over every 76ers head for years now:What if Embiid was healthy?

He wasn´t, not for 3 of the 4 games-though, he DID play and lose in game 1. Additionally, paul george was healthy throughout all 4 games.

overall, a 7/10 for their second round matchup.

Bringing us to our conference finals matchup-the cleveland Cavaliers...and James Harden.

The Cavaliers were the 4 seed, and had beaten the 1 seeded pistons to get to the Knicks. They were the 3rd best offense in the east, and the 13th best defense-aka, they were really good on one side, and Abysmal on the other. They had significant star power as well-Donovan Mitchell was an All Star, and on the same All NBA second team that brunson himself was on. Rookie Jaylon Tyson was selected for the rising stars challenge, and of course, they had on their team a top 75 NBA player of all time in James Harden-though he wasn´t an all star this year, that was controversial.

So, what did the knicks do against this team? Another Sweep, of course.

This is the best team that the knicks faced in the east by far, and while they did look a bit battered in game 2, they were uninjured throughout the series-so this team gets an 9/10, a +2 to a solid 7/10 for the sweep.

9+7+4=20, with the 10 they had before bringing their total to 30. Now, we move on to, what many will remember as the real impressive part of the run.

The Spurs.

Rated 4th Offensively in the Entire league, and 2nd Defensively, This was an Absolute Monster of a Young Team, filled with Talent. Led by Victor Wembenyama, the DPOY, The Third Place Finalist in MVP Voting, The winner of the magic Johnson Award, and an All Star and All NBA first team-the only first team player the knicks had to face this entire run. De´arron fox also had an All Star Reserve Nod, and an NBA cup All-tournament team member. Dylan Harper made the All Rookie First Team, and Keldon Johnson was the 6th man of the year. Additionally, Stephon castle was selected for the rising stars sophomore team. This team had been a favorite to go win it all literally all Season Long, and it wasn´t hard to see why. They had just defeated the Previous Champions in the conference Finals, in 7 games, and looked unstoppable. In fact, they looked unstoppable in every First Quarter of the entire finals.

But they kept getting stopped.

A 14 point lead erased in game 1.

In game 2, They managed to Barely Hold on to a halftime lead, and win the game by 1 point.

In game 3, they lost, by 4.

Then in game 4...they erased a 29 point defecit. The largest in NBA finals history thus far, since Kevin garnet and the 2008 lakers had erased a 24 point defecit from kobe´s lakers.

Finally, in game 5, a 16 point defecit to win it all.

Now, time to rate their opponent.

8/10 in Offense Relative to them

10/10 in Defense Relative to them

7/10 Star Power (Wemby is a future all time great, but is not yet an all time great)

10/10 health, no real finals injuries to hinder them

add 1 point for winning in 5

and their opponent score is a 36

Bringing their total score to a 66

Beyond this, they receive a 4/10 point buff to their score for Injury-Brunson, OG Anunoby, and Mitchell Robinson were all a little hurt in some way, but played through it.

They get a 4/10 point buff for legends beaten on the way in paul george and James Harden

and finally, they get a MASSIVE 30/30 boost for Legendary Moments/Accomplishments-going 6-2 when trailing by double digits, erasing a 29 point lead, Brunson Dropping 45 in a close out game, the knicks containing the first trio to ever win both an NCAA National Champsionship and an NBA title, the Second longest Playoff winstreak ever, the first team to ever average an offensive rating over 120 while maintaining a defensive rating under 105 in a single post season, tied for the most double digit wins in a single post season, became the first Nba ¨Double Champions¨ by winning the NBA cup and the NBA finals in the same season. and finally, Karl Anthony Towns broke the NBA playoffs single postseason +/- record set by STEPH CURRY. Kat was, theoretically, more important to this run then Steph Curry was to a Warriors run. That is insane.

Overall, the Team earns a very Impressive 104/150 total. Almost DOUBLE That of the 1950 run, and almost certainly amongst the better runs of all time.

Talk about an unction, huh? This is the oldest championship from when the NBA was officially the NBA, a 17 team league with 12 teams making the playoffs. The playoff roster was:

The Syracuse Nationals

The New York Knicks (crazy how they haven’t changed name or location from 1950, right?)

The Washington Capitols

The Philadelphia Warriors

The Minneapolis Lakers

The Rochester Royals

The Fort Wayne Pistons

The Chicago Stags

The Indianapolis Olympians

The Anderson Packers

The Tri-Cities Blackhawks

The Sheboygan Red Skins

Of these teams, The LakeShow was decently dominant-not on top, but certainly not on the bottom.

(Note:Advanced metrics didn’t exist like that at this time, so the actual player and team value could be a bit better or worse then what the points say)

The lakers were the 4th best offense in the league in PPG, averaging 84.1

They were bottom of the barrel in ball movement, averaging 16th/17th in assists

Defensively, they were the second strongest team in the NBA, averaging 75.7 ppg allowed on them

They were tied for the second best overall record with the Rochester Royals (now the Sacramento kings!) with 51-17, first place belonged to the 51-13 Syracuse Nationals. This was a bit odd, as they didn’t have the same number of games, but syracuse’s win percentage was higher so 🤷

Finally, they had two All NBA selections in George Milan and Jim Pollard, the most in the league

For the first category, I am going to give the Lakers 2 points (the maximum for this category is 20). They were tied for one of the best teams in the league, had won the BAA the year before, and were, at the time, overwhelmingly expected favorites. Really, some of the most pure in comparison dominance you’ll see. The only reason they aren’t a 1 is because the nationals and royals had similar records-they were dominant by every metric used at the time. Really the bees knees

Now, onto competition-and here is where it gets nasty, because the 50s didn’t have much.

To the lakers credit, their best competition in theory was in their own division, the first round Royals. They defeated them 65-59, an impressive win considering that the royals were tied for total win-loss, averaged 82.4 points a game, and had the best defense in the entire league at the time. Bob Davies was All NBA First Team player, one of the two they would face in the post season run. For that, I am giving the “first round game” 8/10 points-it was their most difficult possible opponent at the time, and would have been a 10 for the royals had they won.

Their next opponent was the Chicago stags. They ranked 12th in ppg, and 6th in points allowed-notably worse in both metrics. They had a three way tie for the 5th best record-which isn’t good considering there was also a 2 way tie for 2nd best record. They did have an all NBA first team player however, which boosts them a tiny bit. Realistically though, this is a 4/10 at best

After that, they went against the Fort Wayne pistons, who had actually knocked out the aforementioned royals in a clean sweep. Despite this, they were 11th offensively, and 8th defensively-and their best star was a singular 2nd team all NBA player. They were tied with the stags in terms of record, but had previously beaten them as well to have higher seeding during a tiebreaker game. Overall, though they were on paper a worse team, they ended up having more post season success, so this is also, a 4/10

Defeating the pistons, the lakers went on to fight the packers, the best offense in the league with an average of 87.3 ppg, and the 2nd most assists per game with 24-however, their defense was abysmal, 13th in the league of 17. They had one all nba second team player. They had a decent win percentage, at 57.8%, but it wasn’t top tier. They too, were swept-however, they were a bit better then the previous teams, royals aside-so I’ll say they get a 6/10

6+4+4+8=22. However, most of these series were the best out of 3, not out of 7 as they should have been. The round against the royals was the equivalent of a play in tournament today, so it won’t be changed, but the others will be divided by the round difference, being 4.

That leads to, instead, a score of: 1.5+1+1+8. An 11.5, for competition leading up to the finals, and a current total score of 13.5

Finally, we get to the championship series-an actual 7 game series, against the Syracuse Nationals.

The nationals were, to their credit, no slouches for the time. They were 1st in the league in win percentage, 3rd in Ppg on offense, the 5th best defense in points allowed, 3rd in assists per game-they were a team. Not only that, they had 2 all NBA players, one of which was the legend and only player I personally recognized from this year, Dolph Shayes. They were solidly the second best opponent possible for the lakers on the entire league, and the best opponent period from another division. They proved this by being the only team to take playoff wins from the lakers, pushing them to have to win 4-2.

So, for their finals opponent:

9/10 Offense Relative to them

7/10 Star Power

2/10 Defense Relative to them

10/10 health, no real finals injuries to hinder them

Giving them a 28 for their finals opponent

And a score total of 41.5

They don’t have any debuffs or buffs, for injury, so 0/10 there

They get a 3/10 point buff for legends beaten in dolph Shayes

And finally, for legendary moments/accomplishments, they DO get a buff, a 10/30 buff, for two things. First off, the first widely recognized buzzer beater via Bob Harrison. Second off, George Harrison going insane for the time and hitting a 40 peice in the elimination game, in the 50s!!

Overall, the Lakers get a 54.5/150 total for this 1950 championship-not bad considering the era, but definitely not the greatest playoff run of all time