Originally posted by Don Marco:
Here's a question for you as a Laker fan - was the Bulls team that won 72 games the best ever? Which of the great Laker teams would you pick?
As I am only 24 years old, I will limit my choices to those teams that were around during my lifetime. I am certain that the 95-96 Bulls would have lost to the 66-67 Sixers, the 71-72 Lakers, the 69-70 Knicks, and several of the Celtic championship teams.
The 95-96 Bulls would have lost to...
79-80 Lakers. Magic's rookie year, Kareem was regular season MVP, and they also had Jamaal Wilkes, Norm Nixon, Spencer Haywood, Jim Chones, and Michael Cooper. This team shot a combined 52% from the field for the entire season. In Kareem, Magic, Chones, and Haywood, they had four guys capable of getting 8-10 rebounds a night.
82-83 Philadelphia 76ers. This team had 4 All-Stars in Dr. J, Moses Malone, Mo Cheeks, and the very underrated Andrew Toney. They won 67 games and went 12-1 in the playoffs, including a sweep of the defending champion Lakers
83-84 Celtics. Larry Legend, The Chief, and McHale. 40-1 record at the Boston Garden.
86-87 Lakers. Magic's first year leading the Lakers in scoring at 23.9 per game. Kareem still throwing in about 18 a night, Worthy a bona fide star, Byron Scott an outside threat, and Defensive POY Michael Cooper.
Any of these teams could have taken those Bulls. The Bulls of the 90s were the beneficiaries of being good at a time when the rest of the league was weak. In the 80s, the Celtics and the Sixers had to slug it out with each other, and then face L.A. in the finals.
