1987 NBA Finals

[GPK]

Game 6 being shown on ESPN right now. God, this bring backs memories (even thought the wrong team won that year).

I miss this old school basketball. Such a great rivalry back then. 3 things come to mind watching this right now:

1: RIP Dennis Johnson One of the great defensive players ever to play in the NBA
2: GREG KITE!!!!
3: I wonder if AC Green is still a virgin

[2MinsToPost]

I just got done watching the 1985 Finals on ESPN Classic -

Bird, Johnson, McHale, Kareem etc etc

I was only 10 at the time but man this is the nuts, good stuff.

[GPK]

7 Hall of Famers on those 2 teams combined.

[Cannon Shell]

Hall of fame shorts

[GPK]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Hall of fame shorts

Imagine you in those shorts Chuck...





























My God.....that thought alone strikes a fear in me I may never recover from

Hey I wore those shorts.
Never keep yearbooks, lesson learned.
I predict they will again be fashionable.

On 2nd thought, no I won't.

[hi_im_god]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Hall of fame shorts

someone needs to take a stand or we'll all wind up wearing tents sagged to our ankles.

baggy clothing is just an unconscious response to the fact that everyone got fat.

i'm rockin' a banana sling this weekend. it's the next thing.

[EpBurns]

Heard a comment the other day about that 87 series from an espn announcer " that Kobe would be the best player on the court if he had played in that series" I almost spit out my drink, dont get me wrong Kobe is a great player but to say he would be the best player on the court when you had the likes of Magic, Larry and 5 other certain hall of famers I just dont buy that. D.J. would of locked down Kobe!!

[GPK]

Originally Posted by EpBurns

Heard a comment the other day about that 87 series from an espn announcer " that Kobe would be the best player on the court if he had played in that series" I almost spit out my drink, dont get me wrong Kobe is a great player but to say he would be the best player on the court when you had the likes of Magic, Larry and 5 other certain hall of famers I just dont buy that. D.J. would of locked down Kobe!!

Damn Pat...you're still alive?

[EpBurns]

Yeah I'm still here this has been the year from hell so far I lost my mother on march 1,2008 suddenly and my father has been in ICU since Sept of 2007...so I sit and read but havent been to the track other then the Preakness....its been hell but I will survive and be a better person for it...I am coming to Saratoga this year for sure, so hope to see you there Kevin.

[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by EpBurns

Heard a comment the other day about that 87 series from an espn announcer " that Kobe would be the best player on the court if he had played in that series" I almost spit out my drink, dont get me wrong Kobe is a great player but to say he would be the best player on the court when you had the likes of Magic, Larry and 5 other certain hall of famers I just dont buy that. D.J. would of locked down Kobe!!

Kobe is going to be on the short list once it's over with. On the ability to score the ball, he's one of the three best I've ever seen, along with MJ and Pete Maravich. I think that if Kobe set his mind to it, he could be as great overall as anyone has been. But his mind is not set to that and because of that, I'd not put him up there with MJ, Bird, and Magic. Kobe would have been the most dominant scorer on the court but just like when MJ scored 63 and 49 on the Celtics in that 1986 series, the best scorer didn't mean much when it came to winning.

DJ would not have locked Kobe down though. With players like Jordan and Bryant, they can never, ever be locked down. Slowed down some, yes. But the saying "you can't stop him, you can only hope to contain him" applies.

[GPK]

Originally Posted by EpBurns

Yeah I'm still here this has been the year from hell so far I lost my mother on march 1,2008 suddenly and my father has been in ICU since Sept of 2007...so I sit and read but havent been to the track other then the Preakness....its been hell but I will survive and be a better person for it...I am coming to Saratoga this year for sure, so hope to see you there Kevin.

Good to see you around bro. Sorry about the loss of your mother my friend.

[gales0678]

Originally Posted by GPK

Game 6 being shown on ESPN right now. God, this bring backs memories (even thought the wrong team won that year).

I miss this old school basketball. Such a great rivalry back then. 3 things come to mind watching this right now:

1: RIP Dennis Johnson One of the great defensive players ever to play in the NBA
2: GREG KITE!!!!
3: I wonder if AC Green is still a virgin

kev the lakers ran them out of the building in '87 , lakers were on a higher platform that year!

Originally Posted by King Glorious

Kobe is going to be on the short list once it's over with. On the ability to score the ball, he's one of the three best I've ever seen, along with MJ and Pete Maravich. I think that if Kobe set his mind to it, he could be as great overall as anyone has been. But his mind is not set to that and because of that, I'd not put him up there with MJ, Bird, and Magic. Kobe would have been the most dominant scorer on the court but just like when MJ scored 63 and 49 on the Celtics in that 1986 series, the best scorer didn't mean much when it came to winning.

DJ would not have locked Kobe down though. With players like Jordan and Bryant, they can never, ever be locked down. Slowed down some, yes. But the saying "you can't stop him, you can only hope to contain him" applies.

Rick Barry was better than Maravich as a scorer and passer. Just not as flashy if we are looking for the great white scorer. DJ was a great defender, had some wars with Magic. But imo, no way he locks down Kobe. Kobe is way quicker than Magic. If Kobe continues at this pace he goes down as a better long range shooter than Michael. The one thing MJ has over Kobe is hands. MJ hands were/are so big he could do things with the ball on the way to the basket Kobe dreams of. The athletic skills are there, but he cant one hand the ball like Jordan. And I definitley give Michael the basketball brains.

All supposition and opinion but fun...

[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by gales0678

kev the lakers ran them out of the building in '87 , lakers were on a higher platform that year!

People forget that McHale and Walton were playing on broken feet. It's hard to run when that's the case. I'd have loved to have seen that series played with both teams healthy. I think Boston beats them.

[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by pgardn

Rick Barry was better than Maravich as a scorer and passer. Just not as flashy if we are looking for the great white scorer. DJ was a great defender, had some wars with Magic. But imo, no way he locks down Kobe. Kobe is way quicker than Magic. If Kobe continues at this pace he goes down as a better long range shooter than Michael. The one thing MJ has over Kobe is hands. MJ hands were/are so big he could do things with the ball on the way to the basket Kobe dreams of. The athletic skills are there, but he cant one hand the ball like Jordan. And I definitley give Michael the basketball brains.

All supposition and opinion but fun...

Barry was great. I don't know that I'd put him above Maravich though. Using their NBA career stats, their shooting percentages were nearly the same (.449 for Barry, .441 for Maravich), their assists were about the same (5.1 for Barry, 5.4 for Maravich) and their scoring was about the same (23.2 on 20.4 shots for Barry, 24.2 on 21.3 shots for Maravich). My preference has always been for Maravich though. I thought he played with lesser talent and was far more the focal point of defenses, especially coming out of college. I thought Barry was more of a traditional type of scorer whereas Maravich had more in his repetoire. Both were great though. But for a variety of ways to get a shot and to make it, I'd go with Maravich.

I will never forget Barry going to the finals as an underdog with the Warriors and taking his Golden State team to a 4-0 sweep. At the time it was a stunner.

Barry was really a forward and Maravich a guard so its sort of difficult to compare. Barry had unlimited range. The 3 pointer was not around(NBA). He would have won more scoring titles if it was. Barry was also one of the cockiest guys around. Did not have the Maravich speed.

[GPK]

Originally Posted by gales0678

kev the lakers ran them out of the building in '87 , lakers were on a higher platform that year!

Come on Marty....Celtics were nowhere near full strength that year, they had been decimated with injuries. That fact they even made it to the finals was amazing. They had every right to lose to the Pistons in the Eastern Conference finals that year, save the fact they had some guy named Bird on the team that just seemed to do amazing things at all the right times. They 86 Celtics that won the previous year is one of the best teams ever to step foot on the court.

[ddthetide]

Originally Posted by King Glorious

Kobe is going to be on the short list once it's over with. On the ability to score the ball, he's one of the three best I've ever seen, along with MJ and Pete Maravich. I think that if Kobe set his mind to it, he could be as great overall as anyone has been. But his mind is not set to that and because of that, I'd not put him up there with MJ, Bird, and Magic. Kobe would have been the most dominant scorer on the court but just like when MJ scored 63 and 49 on the Celtics in that 1986 series, the best scorer didn't mean much when it came to winning.

DJ would not have locked Kobe down though. With players like Jordan and Bryant, they can never, ever be locked down. Slowed down some, yes. But the saying "you can't stop him, you can only hope to contain him" applies.

you forgot about David Thompson of the ABA Nuggets. long before MJ was DT.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by King Glorious

Barry was great. I don't know that I'd put him above Maravich though. Using their NBA career stats, their shooting percentages were nearly the same (.449 for Barry, .441 for Maravich), their assists were about the same (5.1 for Barry, 5.4 for Maravich) and their scoring was about the same (23.2 on 20.4 shots for Barry, 24.2 on 21.3 shots for Maravich). My preference has always been for Maravich though. I thought he played with lesser talent and was far more the focal point of defenses, especially coming out of college. I thought Barry was more of a traditional type of scorer whereas Maravich had more in his repetoire. Both were great though. But for a variety of ways to get a shot and to make it, I'd go with Maravich.

Jerry West was a better scorer than either guy