The Heat

(1) 1997 Miami Heat (61-21)

That’s right, 60+ wins right here. And it’s by the teams that brought us the AWFUL Heat-Knicks playoff battles…Alonzo Mourning is the anchor, averaging 20-10 on a bruising team. Tim Hardaway had 20-3-9, and they acquired Jamal Mashburn (13-6-4) to finish out the year. Voshon Lenard had 12-3-2, PJ Brown had 10-8, while Bruce Bowen made his NBA debut, one game, one minute, and one block….Pretty good team here….

The Grizzlies

Time for Memphis…Pau Gasol, Rudy Gay….and Big Country Bryant Reeves! Hell yeah! Let’s get started.

The Lakers (Part 3)

(21) 1997 Los Angeles Lakers (56-26) vs. (40) 1979 Los Angeles Lakers (47-35)

It’s rookie Kobe time! Nothing good from him at all though…8-2-1 is all they got. Shaq played only 51 games (26-13), but they got 17-4-3 from Eddie Jones, and 15-3-9 from Nick Van Excel. Elden Campbell had 15-8.

Decent year, led by Kareem (24-13-5-1-4…great year…), and also had Jamaal Wilkes (19-7) in the foreground. Adrian Dantley completed year two of his Lakers stay, also his last, as he had 17-6. Norm Nixon had 17-3-9, and an aged Lou Hudson had 10-2-2.

The Lakers (Part 2)

(11) 1980 Los Angeles Lakers (60-22) vs. (50) 1993 Los Angeles Lakers (39-43)

This team is still above 60 wins…Boston lasted till 14 till they slipped (and that was because of the shorter year in the 60s…so really 16 teams were above 60 wins…). These guys are getting close to 59…This is Magic’s rookie year (18-8-7), a successful Finals champ, though Kareem really is the alpha-dog (25-11-5). Jamaal Wilkes is good this year, with 20-6-3, and they got 18-3-8 from resident point guard Norm Nixon. Spencer Haywood added 10 points, and Michael Cooper had 9-3-3…but no all-D team.

The Lakers (Part 1)

This may be the best team of all time (says a Celtics fan…). They were consistently great every era…no holes at all (except for short 2-3 year stretches before the next all-time great joins). The Celts were  a better team based team…and these guys have some of the best talents out there…Russell and Bird…they are both definitely top 5…but that is because of extra, all out, hard work. Give them the attitude of Tim Thomas and Bird is like Kyle Korver. Russell is like Joel Anthony. This Lakers franchise has more talent (and I’m not saying that they didn’t work hard…maybe not as much as Boston…but still world class effort). Unfortunately, we miss 28 point a game Mikan because of the 1952 rule (they widened the foul lane for 1952, which brought his PPG down by 5…). Get ready, here come the all-time greats. There’s Mikan, Baylor, West, Chamberlain, Kareem, Magic, Worthy, Shaq, Kobe, and the LA/Minneapolis Lakers! (I actually am really excited about this…as evidenced by the excessive preamble…

The Clippers (Part 2)

We're finishing off the first of the LA teams today....

(11) 1981 San Diego Clippers (36-46) vs. (32) 1973 Buffalo Braves (21-61)

OK team I guess…Freeman Williams led them with 19 points, and Phil Smith had 17-2-5. Swen Nater had 16-12, and Michael Brooks had 15-5-3. Bill Walton was out all year. Nothing special (but really, what Clippers team is…), but not TOO bad…

The Clippers (Part 1)

Well, it’s Clippers time. As we said before, a WHOLE lot of blown out knees…Not much positiveness…only Bob McAdoo…Remember they used to be in Buffalo, where we start.

(1) 1975 Buffalo Braves (49-33) 

They didn’t have ONE 50 win team in 41 years….Every team formed before 1995 (before the Grizzlies/Raptors expansion, though Memphis has won 50 before...) have won 50 in a year…not LA. Bob McAdoo played in his best Buffalo year, averaging 35-14. Randy Smith had 18-4-7, Jim McMillian had 14-6, and Gar Heard had 11-10….pretty good team I guess.

The Pacers (Part 2)

(11) 1990 Indiana Pacers (42-40) vs. (26) 2009 Indiana Pacers (36-46) 

The Pacers (Part 1)

The Pacers….nothing has really happened when they were in the NBA except Reggie Miller (of course, they were good while in the ABA, but that’s for later….). Let’s get rolling!

(1) 2004 Indiana Pacers (61-21)

That’s right, the Pacers were pretty good in the early 2000s (making the Finals one year…though this is not it). This team faced the Pistons in the East Finals (which led to a short lived rivalry, until the league shut it down because of a fight the next year. You may have heard of it. Ron Ron decided to try to attack a fan…Smart decision making there…I blame Artest for screwing the Pacers ((actually, it was Wallace’s fault…why would you push him like that…that was a little foul. Nothing big, you made it big…then it’s also Ron’s fault, because he probably knew something was going to happen, and finally, I blame Reggie Miller for not stopping him…))) but lost the champs. This team isn’t really Reggie’s anyway. It’s Jermaine O’Neal’s (20-10). Artest had 18-5-4, and Al Harrington had 13-6. Reggie only mustered up 10-2-3…hey, he IS 38….

The Rockets (Part 2)

Finishing up the Rockets today....

(11) 1977 Houston Rockets (49-33) vs. (34) 1972 Houston Rockets (34-48)

A successful 70s year, which is an oddity. I think the arrival of Moses had something to do with it (he had 14-13). Rudy Tomjanovich was still very good, good enough for 22-8-2. Calvin Murphy had 18-2-5, and Mike Newlin had 13-3-4.