NBA Tournament of Champions: Second Round (Part 1)
The goal is to beef up the analysis of each matchup as we advance deeper into the tournament, so I won’t waste time with a lengthy intro. Click here for Part 1 of this series, click here for Part 2 and click here to view the full bracket.
Quadrant 1
(1) 1996 Chicago Bulls vs. (8) 1963 Boston Celtics
If you’ve read the first two parts of this series, you know how this turns out. Even if you haven’t read the first two parts of this series, you still know how this turns out.
’96 Bulls win, 4–0.
(12) 2010 Los Angeles Lakers vs. (13) 2001 Los Angeles Lakers
Kobe peaked from ‘08-’10 with a herculean three-year run that spanned 304 games and 11,713 minutes (38.5 minutes per game) and included three Finals appearances, two rings, two Finals MVPs, a regular-season MVP and an Olympic gold medal. He played through injuries, bit his jersey, pumped his fist and evoked Jordan comparisons that seemed appropriate for the first time.
Like Jordan from ‘96-’98, Kobe from ‘08-’10 lacked the athleticism his younger self once possessed, but he compensated with experience, savvy, guile and a renewed focus. When Kobe’s jumper eluded him against the Celtics in Game 7 of the 2010 Finals, a younger Kobe might’ve kept forcing bad shots. But after a rocky start, Kobe regrouped and imposed his will on the game by attacking the rim and pounding the glass. So despite his 6-of-24 shooting performance, Kobe left Staples Center that night with 15 free-throw attempts, 15 rebounds and his fifth championship ring. It was like a sensei figuring out a new way to fend off his student.
If ’10 Kobe was Bruce Lee, ’01 Kobe was Rambo.
In the second round of the ’01 Playoffs, Kobe punctuated a sweep of the rival Kings with 48 points in Game 4 in Sacramento while being guarded by All-Defensive selection Doug Christie. Kobe then put 45 on the head of Bruce Bowen, another All-Defense member, in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, setting the tone for the rest of the series in which he’d average 33–7–7 in another sweep. Imagine pairing that guy with a dominant inside force. …
Continuing the movie character analogies, ’01 Shaq was Optimus Prime. In the Finals, while being checked by Dikembe Mutombo, the Defensive Player of the Year and an All-NBA Second Team choice, Shaq steamrolled his way to 33.0 points per game, 15.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 3.4 blocks.
The raw star power of Shaq and Kobe catalyzed the Lakers to rip through the playoffs with a 15–1 record, with their lone loss coming when Allen Iverson famously stepped over Ty Lue during his 48-point game. The Lakers vanquished Tim Duncan, Chris Webber and Iverson — three of the four non-Shaq All-NBA First Team honorees — during their repeat campaign.
The engine for their success was Shaq, who the Lakers could dump the ball down into and generate a quality shot 100 percent of the time. The ’10 Lakers didn’t have that same luxury.
In Game 7 of the 2010 Finals, L.A. shot a ghastly 27-of-83 (32.5 percent) from the field. The only Laker to shoot above 40 percent in the game was Derek Fisher, who finished 4-of-6 overall. L.A. won because it dominated the paint, pounding the Celtics for 23 offensive rebounds and a plus-20 free-throw attempt margin. The ’10 Lakers can’t overpower ’01 Shaq like that.
The bottom line: Give me Shaq and Kobe over Kobe and Pau.
’01 Lakers win, 4–1.
(3) 2000 Los Angeles Lakers vs. (6) 1988 Los Angeles Lakers
Poor Kareem. He’s 40 years old and played three-consecutive seven-game series to close the ’88 Playoffs, then matched up with prime Hakeem Olajuwon for a seven-game series in the first round of the Tournament of Champions, and now he goes head-to-head with apex Shaq. It’s safe to say he’s running on fumes at this point.
The best way to slow down the Showtime attack is to make them take the ball out of the basket, and there’s no better player to accomplish that task than Shaq — especially when he’s being defended by 40-year-old, running-on-fumes Kareem. The ’88 Lakers were good defensively (107.3 defensive rating, 9th in the NBA that season), but not great. Shaq is in for a big series.
On the other end, the ’00 Lakers were the stingiest defense in the league, boasting a 98.2 defensive rating (1st) while featuring Kobe (All-Defense 1st) on the perimeter and Shaq (All-Defense 2nd) anchoring the inside. They can throw Kobe on Magic, and when Kobe rests, high-IQ veterans like Ron Harper and Rick Fox can at least make Magic work in spells. Even so, the ’88 Lakers have plenty of other options.
Byron Scott and James Worthy were both 20-point scorers in the playoffs, and Kareem was always steady in the post. That, plus prime Magic, makes for a very potent attack.
I keep coming back to Shaq and how the ’88 Lakers have exactly zero players who can guard him. Magic keeps the ’88 team close, but Shaq’s advantage is too great.
’00 Lakers win, 4–3.
(2) 1992 Chicago Bulls vs. (10) 2019 Toronto Raptors
The ’92 iteration of Jordan was his high-water mark in terms of all-around talent. He had fine-tuned each part of his game — his unparalleled athleticism, his uncanny touch around the rim, his unguardable first step, his lethal stop-and-pop jumper and his stellar defensive play — to construct himself into the basketball-equivalent of a supercharged sports car.
Jordan augmented his physical gifts with sociopathic competitiveness, eviscerating unsuspecting suckers like Clyde Drexler or anyone else who unwittingly “made things personal” for him. He played with the coolness of a champion and the ferocity of a lion.
So while the Raptors were a cohesive unit with a superstar of their own in Kawhi Leonard, they can’t keep up with the singular force of Jordan.
’92 Bulls win, 4–2.
Quadrant 2
(8) 1970 New York Knicks vs. (16) 1995 Houston Rockets
A healthy Willis Reed could’ve made this series more interesting, but Reed, still dealing with the torn quad he famously overcame in Game 7 of the Finals, would be no match for Hakeem Olajuwon. Houston’s cinderella run continues.
’95 Rockets win, 4–1.
(4) 2009 Los Angeles Lakers vs. (5) 1989 Detroit Pistons
The Lakers, as they’ve often been able to do throughout history, can hang their hats on the fact that they have the best player on the court. We covered ’10 Kobe already, and the same principle applies to ’09 Kobe. His mental fortitude and his ability to take punishment will serve him well against the Bad Boys.
There are two All-NBA players in this series, and L.A. has them both with Kobe and Pau Gasol. Based on that, you could make the case (albeit a flimsy one) the Lakers have the two best players in this series. Isiah Thomas, smack in the middle of his prime, did not make All-NBA in 1989 despite the league adding a Third Team in that season.
Still, Thomas is comfortably a top-30 player ever and the lead dog on a championship team — two things Pau Gasol certainly wasn’t.
Something else to consider: sometimes our memories don’t quite match up with reality. Paced by All-Defense First-Team selections Joe Dumars and Dennis Rodman and solidified by enforcers like Bill Laimbeer and Rick Mahorn, the Pistons’ defense is the star of many misleading YouTube highlight reels.
People see clips of hard fouls and assume they happened every play, and many people believe those hard fouls made Detroit one of the greatest defensive units ever. You’ve probably heard maddening statements like “You had to earn your points against the Pistons!” or “Those guys weren’t letting up any easy baskets!” many times. Let’s use Game 3 of the ’89 Eastern Conference Finals between the Pistons and the Bulls — when Jordan went 16-of-26 from the field for 46 points to lead Chicago to victory — to disprove this narrative.
MJ scored 10 times around the rim without being fouled hard, as evidenced by plays like this:
He was fouled hard twice. Here is the worse of the two:
Despite the imbalance in frequency of each type of play (10 to two), guess which clip makes those YouTube compilations. The most hilarious part is after Jordan is fouled in the second GIF, the announcer proudly exclaims, “No easy layups when you get to this point in the playoffs!” as if plays like the first GIF never happened. It’s all selective memory and confirmation bias; the Jordan Rules were more of an exception than anything else.
Here’s an undeniable truth: the mighty Pistons posted a 104.7 defensive rating, the third-best mark in the league that season and the exact same rating turned in by the ’09 Lakers. Perception does not equal reality.
Knowing the defenses are the same, I’ll take the side with the best player and the higher offensive ceiling.
’09 Lakers win, 4–3.
(3) 1971 Milwaukee Bucks vs. (11) 2012 Miami Heat
I laid out in my last article the importance of distinguishing “greater” from “better.”
The ’71 Bucks were a historically great team. They led the league in both offensive and defensive rating (a rarity), won 66 games (tops in the league), employed the world’s best player (Kareem) plus another legend (Oscar) and only lost twice in the playoffs. That’s a great resume, but the Heat are better.
The two-way athleticism of Dwyane Wade and LeBron would be an impossible -to-overcome shock to Milwaukee’s system. Those two were hyper-athletic by 2012 standards, let alone the bar set 41 years earlier.
The Bucks get a game out of respect for Kareem.
’12 Heat win, 4–1.
(2) 2015 Golden State Warriors vs. (10) 2018 Golden State Warriors
On its face, this series is easy to decide: one of these teams has Kevin Durant, the other doesn’t. There are other factors to consider, however, that make this matchup more complicated.
The ’15 Warriors were the golden boys of the league, a riveting surprise that took the basketball world by storm behind the play of newly-minted MVP Steph Curry. They played a loose, free-wheeling system that maximized the immense shooting gifts of Curry and Klay Thompson.
Golden State’s thrilling style endeared them to many, and its newness freed the Warriors from the burden of expectation. The polar opposite was true for the ’18 Warriors, a group nobody liked and one that seemed to succeed in spite of itself.
I’m a big believer in the power of chemistry and the general aura surrounding a team, so the ’15 Warriors get major points in that category.
Regardless, one of these teams has Kevin Durant, the other doesn’t.
’18 Warriors win, 4–2.