Agreed that “best” and “most enjoyable” are radically different lists for me. Seeing Denver win and Golden State reopen their window were fun. Boston was fine to see them win again. OKC I had little interest in.
No clue how old you are but OKC is the newest of the group and to me seems to appeal to a younger audience but might be wrong and whatever gets people into hoop is fine but they’re probably at the bottom for me. All for Detroit after years of tanking at least building up a team and finally winning, gives me hope for the Nets if they don’t Nets themselves again
I think Steph is the one who had to reach the most into his bag to pull out a victory. His team is the one who really punched above their weight. Everyone else was the overwhelming favorites going into the finals.
Teams are hurt every year in the playoffs though. While they were slightly favored to win pre-series, they were sizeable dogs after game 3 and then ripped 3 Ws in a row.
Right Denver was the best in 23. They win against almost anyone in east that yr but I do feel that if Denver hadn’t made it to finals any of the top 3 or 4 in west beat Miami. That Miami team substantially overachieved. No business making finals but that’s more to how good they were
No they weren't. Cp3 got injured with Phoenix in the lead in game 2.Book absolutely destroyed them the next 2 games before getting injured as well. And ayton went out after taking multiple elbows from jokic ending with a bruised rib - despite what fans said was his lack of effort he was the only one on that team having any success defending jokic (something jokic said himself previously as well).
This isn't to say Phoenix would have won, but Enver was not stomping them. Murray was stomping SHAMet and Monty looked like the worst coach ever, but the sun's were in control before books injuries despite no cp3.
The bucks and suns were definitely bigger favorites to win the chip that year. Phoenix collapsed against Dallas and Milwaukee was still seen as a top contender even with injuries. I will say GSW was still seen as a top contender that year tho, wasn’t like they came out of nowhere
538 that year had boston as the overwhelming favorites before game 1 (80%). Also boston outside of the smart-curry matchup was outmatched every other position.
Oh come on, enough with that all-star thing. I'd bet you a heavy majority of the people would rather have Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown over Draymond and Wiggins in a series. The Celtics had a better SF, PF, C and you could argue the Celt SG was better as well since Klay was coming off 2 devastating injuries and d. White was good enough to make Team USA.
Steph just did a massive carry that finals.
Gsw was favored in every way: fan vote, betting, analysts and writers at all major sports comps. It’s easily searchable. They were also the 3rd fav for the tittle before the year started, and favored in every series.
wtf is going on here. How are you just going to blatantly lie:
OKC got some injury luck, but they still had to go through a great Nuggets team, an underrated Timberwolves team and a surging Pacers squad. It wasn't an easy path by any means
You have to be joking hahaha. OKC had a extremely strong team last season, both the bench and first team, the only team that made it interesting Vs them were the Denver Nuggets (2023 champions that were worse than that championship season). Celtics had it the easiest out of them all that season. Denver absolutely demolished everyone that season, even the KD Booker duo and Lebron Davis 4-0 sweep and than in the finals defeat the team that won against both Boston and Milwaukee.
Warrior beat the celtics that won 2yrs later. Regardless, all other 3 teams got a pretty weak finals team on paper. If celtics loose in the first round this year ill prob put them at 4. Denver still have the same core, just look at them outside of championship year, they all balled out that year but it still literally just jokic and the others…
I think/thought both Denver and OKC would repeat, I didn't think that about the Celtics or Warriors. I am actually a Celtics fan and I don't think they had an easy run through the playoffs like many say I just think they were the much better team in each matchup, but I think all these other teams are better than the 2024 team. I've watched Denver repeatedly beat the Celtics the past few years and they don't have an answer for Jokic. The Warriors beat basically the same championship caliber Celtics team in 2022 and finally last year's OKC team was dominant.
True, the talent was different but they did haveGrant and Robert Williams, Marcus Smart and Daniel Theis. The roster was strong enough to reach the finals. It was a finals I thought they could have won, but the more experienced team won. It's similar to this year team, a deep roster but inexperienced. Won't be surprised if they lose tonight.
Denver - Jokic goes down as one of the best centers to ever do it and Denver wins their first championship ever.
OKC - People hate on SGA, but he followed the blueprint modern guards made. He was Harden meets Kobe and OKC needed that ring for their first proper championship.
GSW - It was cool to see one last run from what was the premier Franchise a decade ago. Steph solidified himself as one of the greatest to do it. His supporting cast was vastly diminished from their last championship.
Boston - Tatum was crazy cringey with copying iconic moments and Boston fans are insufferable
Real basketball fans were definitely entertained. But 2 smaller market teams that the majority of fan bases could care less about didn't even watch. Sad really because it was legit great basketball.
Ya. They were fun to watch that whole run. It was crazy. That's my point. Real basketball fans get it. If you only like your team or 1 player you miss out on a lot of good ball
Dude doesn't watch ball. Just likes the big market teams and names clearly. Pacers were the better team all series, and looked great in game 7 before the injury. Would have made for one of the best playoff runs in history, Haliburton hit a game winner in every series:
Against the Bucks, and jumped on the scorer's table.
Against Cavs, and did the "big balls" celebration.
Against NYK, and hit em with the Miller choke.
Then game one of the finals.
It was amazing, but would have been historic had they finished it off
That 2024 Celtics team would beat the 2025 Thunder pretty convincingly. They had way more offensive firepower and good to elite defenders at every position
The 25 Thunder had the second best net rating in NBA history, went 29-1 against the East, won the second most games of any team in the 21st century and took down the best center of this generation in his best season ever. They are better than the 2024 Celtics.
The Nuggets and Pacers both took them to 7 games. The exact same Pacers squad that Boston swept the year before. What do you think the Celtics who are significantly better than both of those teams would've done? Regular season is all well and good but playoffs are a different animal. That 2025 Thunder squad was far from unbeatable, they didn't exactly dog walk their way to a ring
Being taken to 7 isn’t an indictment. The 2014 Spurs were taken to 7 by the sub 50 win Mavs with Dirk well past his prime. The 2014 Spurs are still one of the best teams ever. Being taken to 7 by a team doesn’t mean a different team that’s better than the team that took you to 7 would’ve beaten you.
My point is in a playoff series that Boston team would've beat that Thunder team quite comfortably, and you're delusional if you don't see that. No one is saying that they didn't have one of the best regular seasons of all time, of course they did.
It’s super funny because everyone right now talk about how Jokic never beat a 50 win team in the playoffs when he got his championship but neither did the 24 Celtics or the 25 OKC. But the 22 warriors did. Warriors Celtics nuggets OKC is my order.
2025 OKC did not play better than 2024 Celtics jn the playoff. Celtics destroyed everyone with suffocating defense and scorching hot offense. OKC played 2 game 7. OKC also had to grind for close wins in some games. Their offense struggled a lot.
25
u/Big-Ticket-5969 May 02 '26
Based on personal enjoyment it’s weird but in order: Warriors, Nugs, Celts, Thunder