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Larry O’Brien Legends, Part 4: The Dream

When Michael Jordan retired for the first time in 1993, each and every team with any sort of chance at a championship saw it as serendipitous. They had been gifted an opportunity to win a championship now that the bad man was gone. There was lots of speculation about which team would take full advantage of the power vacuum. The Suns had just been to the finals, maybe they’d get back. The Knicks finally wouldn’t have to worry about the Bulls in the East. Maybe the Trail Blazers or Cavs could finally break through. None of these teams would come to define the mid 90s, instead, it was a team that had just 7 playoff wins in the previous 4 seasons. Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon had established himself among the very best players, even leading the Rockets to the 1986 Finals, but a combination of coke-addicted teammates and incompetent management had held the Rockets back. Hakeem nearly left over disputes with ownership. Thankfully for the city of Houston, they managed to patch it up and Hakeem proceeded to go on arguably the greatest 2-year run in NBA history. The Dream entered the 93-94 season with a team that had the same pre-season odds as the Charlotte Hornets to win the championship. Hakeem immediately staked his claim to the throne of best player in the league with a legendary season. He finished top 3 in points per game, defensive rebounds per game and blocks per game. He also finished top 5 in total rebounds. He became the 2nd player ever to win both MVP and defensive player of the year and he did it without a single all star beside him. The Dream would save his best for the playoffs. Did you think 27 points, 12 rebounds and 4 blocks were good averages? How about 29, 11 and 4, you think that’s good too? That is what Hakeem AVERAGED on his way to Houston’s first NBA championship. In the finals, against Patrick Ewing, he averaged 27, 9 and 4 while holding Ewing below 20 points per game throughout the series. He also got in an iconic block on John Starks to send the series to game 7, which Houston won thanks to Olajuwon’s efforts. Hakeem became the first and only player ever to win MVP, DPOY and Finals MVP in the same season. His 92 blocks in that postseason is by far the most in a single playoff run ever. For reference, he is the only player to ever put up more than 80 blocks in a playoff run. Only 2 other players have more than 75. Hakeem staked his claim as the best player in the NBA. It was easy to think Houston would do it again, they had the 2nd best preseason odds. But fast forward to the playoffs and it was easy to write them off. The Western conference was stacked with contenders. Hakeem was still incredible, but the team around him had declined and a trade for Hakeem’s former college teammate Clyde Drexler could only get Houston the 6th seed in the 1995 playoffs. At the time, no team below the 4th seed in their conference had ever won a championship. Only 1 team below the 3rd seed had won a championship and that happened all the way back in 1969. There’s no way Houston could pull this off. Well, everyone forgot one thing, the Rockets had Hakeem Olajuwon. Did you think 29, 11 and 4 blocks were impressive averages? How about 33, 10 and 3? WHAT. THE. FUCK. Hakeem put up those numbers against 4 57+ win teams. His run through the West included 2 60-win teams and a 59-win Suns team. In the conference finals against the Spurs and their MVP David Robinson, Olajuwon averaged 35, 13 and 4 in a performance so dominant, that it has been immortalized forever in a YouTube video simply called Olajuwon Dominates Robinson In the finals, Hakeem met Shaq and casually averaged 33, 12 and 2 in a 4-game sweep to clinch Houston’s 2nd consecutive championship. In the toughest playoff road in NBA history, Hakeem still OBLITERATED the competition on the way to his 2nd championship and Finals MVP. Hakeem’s 1995 playoff run is 4th all-time for most points in a single playoff run. Only MJ in 1992, LeBron in 2018 and Kawhi in 2019 have surpassed Hakeem’s 1995. 2019 Kawhi also needed 2 extra games. Throughout that 2-year stretch, Olajuwon was the only all-star and all-NBA player in Houston, with the only exception being Drexler who made all-NBA 3rd team in his half season with the Rockets. I will die on the hill that Hakeem is a top 10 player of all-time and this 2-year run is my evidence for that claim. It made him one of the greatest players ever and a true Larry O’Brien Legend.

Rockets

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Larry O’Brien Legends, Part 11: The Big Ticket and Big Balls

Despite a disappointing season, the Minnesota Timberwolves are undeniably in their best era. It’s the first time ever they have won a playoff series in 3 straight seasons and they have made more conference finals in the last 3 years than they did in the 34 seasons before. I believe it is worth revisiting the 1 season it happened. In 1995, the Timberwolves made their best draft pick in franchise history when they selected Kevin Garnett 5th overall. After a promising rookie season, Garnett quickly established himself as a young star before ascending to superstar in the 2000s. His insane intensity, prodigious defensive IQ and deep toolbox turned him into a nightmare on both ends of the floor. Sadly, because the Timberwolves were poorly ran, they struggled to build a team around KG, until 2004. They finished with 58 wins in the regular season, a franchise record to this day and the 2nd best record in the 03-04 season. Of course the biggest part of that was KG himself. The future Hall-of-Famer averaged career highs in points and rebounds while remaining a top tier defender. However, it was the supporting cast that helped the team finally ascend and it all happened thanks to 2 trades to acquire veteran Sam Cassell and the erratic Latrel Sprewell. Garnett, Cassell and Sprewell formed a formidable trio. Them along with shooting from Wally Szczerbiak and Fred Hoiburg and defense from Micheal Olowokandi made the Timberwolves a real threat. Now it was time to prove it. In the first round, the 1st seed Timberwolves faced rookie Carmelo Anthony and the Denver Nuggets. The Wolves chewed them up, spit them out and beat them in 5. Carmelo had averaged 21 points per game in the regular season and the Timberwolves held him to 15 on horrific 32% shooting. Nevertheless, this series included a 40-piece from Sam Cassell to win game 1 and a 31-point game from Sprewell to win game 2 while KG averaged 26 points and 16 rebounds throughout the series. The trio was locked in. In round 2, the Wolves met the Sacramento Kings. Forget their reputation today, back then they were one of the very best teams, often thought of as the cream of the crop in the West alongside the Lakers and Spurs. They boasted a loaded starting lineup that included Mike Bibby, Peja Stojakovic and the man that made it all work, Chris Webber. Garnett would be tasked with shutting down Webber. Sam Cassell put up another 40-point game in game 1 of this series, but the Kings managed to overcome it and steal a 1-0 lead. The Wolves would come back and get game 2 behind Garnett’s 28 points. After a hard-fought series, it all came down to game 7. Heading into the 4th quarter of that game, the Wolves clung to a 2-point lead thanks to a Sam Cassell 3. After a few minutes, the Big Ticket took over. He proceeded to score Minnesota’s next 13 points. It culminated with a 3-pointer to put Minnesota up 7 and then a block on Webber to keep that lead. It came down to the last possession. Kings had the ball, down 3. Garnett blocked Brad Miller’s layup attempt and Webber missed a 3 to clinch Minnesota’s first conference finals appearance. KG finished game 7 with 32 points, 21 rebounds, 5 blocks and 4 steals in a legendary performance. He is 1 of just 7 players to ever have a 30-20 game in a game 7 and the only one to do it in the 21st century. In the conference finals, the Wolves ran into the Kobe-Shaq Lakers. This was the infamous Kobe-Shaq-Mailman-Gary Payton super team. The Wolves were obviously the underdogs, but they presented a real challenge. After losing game 1, Minnesota won game 2, but at the cost of Sam Cassell. He hurt his hip literally 43 seconds in. Miraculously he played game 3, but was MIA for the rest of the series. It was a crushing blow for a team that relied on him to be the 2nd best player beside KG. KG did his part and averaged 24, 14 and 4 in the series, which included a brilliant 30-point outing in game 5 to keep his team’s chances alive. But the Wolves ultimately lost in 6 games. At the time, KG’s 2004 playoff run had the most points, rebounds, assists and blocks of any Timberwolf ever. Only the points and assists have been surpassed since, by Anthony Edwards in 2024. It wasn’t just KG setting records. Sam Cassell became the 26th player in NBA history to put up multiple 40-point games in the same playoff run… yes really. Even better, Sam Cassell’s 2004 playoff run alone gave him more 40-point games in the playoffs than the following current and future Hall-of-Famers: James Worthy, Dr. J, David Robinson, Klay Thompson, Paul George and Demar DeRozan Although this era didn’t last long, Minnesota can finally say they have a better era of Timberwolves basketball and they can look back on this season with rose coloured glasses as the year Kevin Garnett became a Larry O’Brien Legend and Sam Cassell solidified his Larry O’Brien legend in stone.

@FlameRaptorRaven

Larry O’Brien Legends, Part 10: Worthy of Centre Stage

Oh boy, I had a bunch of options here. The problem was finding a moment/run that isn’t talked about ad nauseum. I don’t need to regale you with the story of the 2020 Lakers or Kobe Bryant or Magic. Instead, let me tell you about the time James Worthy became Big Game James. If you know anything about NBA history, or watched Winning Time, you know about the Showtime Lakers. Magic and Kareem combined to make one of the greatest duos in NBA history as arguably the greatest point guard and centre respectively. However, don’t forget about James Worthy. Thanks to an asinine trade made by the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Lakers got the 1st overall draft pick after winning the 1982 championship and picked James Worthy. He was coming off a stellar career at North Carolina that culminated in a National Championship alongside a freshman named Michael Jordan. Unfortunately, Worthy missed the 1983 run with an injury, but quickly established himself as a playoff riser after that season. However, it would be 1988 when Worthy earned his iconic nickname. Kareem was 40-years-old so James Worthy was expected to be Magic’s #1 option during their playoff run beside leading scorer Byron Scott. The first series wouldn’t see that from Worthy, but it also didn’t need it, as the Lakers swept the Spurs with ease. Klay Thompson’s dad (Mychal Thompson) was 2nd in scoring behind Magic with Worthy being in 3rd. The Lakers met a young Karl Malone and John Stockton in round 2 and proceeded to have a hard-fought 7 game series. Worthy finished the series 2nd in scoring behind Byron Scott and helped close out the series beside Scott’s 29 points with 23 of his own, granted, on rough shooting splits (41%). It would be the last 2 series where Worthy would make the biggest impact. In the conference finals, Worthy and the Lakers met the Dallas Mavericks and their star forward Mark Aguirre. This is notable because the Lakers actually nearly traded James Worthy to the Mavericks for Aguirre, a fact that Worthy was very aware of. This information gave Worthy a chimp on his shoulder and he played like it. In another hard-fought 7-game series, James Worthy was the clear-cut #1, averaging 23, 5 and 5 on stupendous 57% shooting. This includes a legendary game 7 performance when Worthy put up 28, 7 and 7, out-duelling the man he was nearly traded for. Even with all he had done, the Finals would present his greatest challenge. The Lakers met the Bad Boys Pistons, a team that shifted from a high-scoring team of the mid-80s to become an unselfish, brutish defensive team. They ranked top 3 in both defensive rating and opponent points per game in the regular season. They had all the names you think of: Zeke, Dumars, Laimbeer and a young Dennis Rodman. The Lakers needed Worthy to perform in order to overcome this challenge. Worthy delivered, through 6 games, Worthy averaged: 20, 6 and 4, but in game 7, he played the best game of his life. Worthy put up 36, 16 and 10, the first and only triple double of his Hall of Fame career. At the time, he was just the 3rd player ever to put up a 30+ point triple double in a game 7 and only the 2nd to do it in the Finals (Jerry West did it in 1969). To this day, Worthy is the last man to pull it off. That performance gave him series averages of 22, 7 and 4, thus he was rewarded with Finals MVP. The Lakers made it back to the Finals 2 more times, 89 against the Bad Boys and 91 against Jordan’s Bulls, only to get crushed in both series. If not for Worthy’s legendary performance in 88, the Showtime Lakers have 1 less ring. That makes him worthy of being a Larry O’Brien Legend.

@FlameRaptorRaven

Larry O’Brien Legends, Part 9: FO FO FO

I’m gonna be honest, the 76ers didn’t have many good options (sorry Zach). I didn’t want to talk about 2001 because we had a Throwback Thursday on that run so I shifted to the 76ers upsetting the 2012 Bulls, but that mainly happened because Derrick Rose got hurt. I didn’t want to go too far back (sorry Wilt) so I went with the obvious one. The 1980 and 1982 76ers witnessed their seasons end in heartbreaking fashion: a loss in the Finals to the LA Lakers in 6 games. Of course in 1980 they got their doors blown off by Kareem before witnessing Magic’s ascension in game 6. Nevertheless, 1982 may have been even worse as the 76ers once again lost to the Kareem-Magic Lakers. Dr. J was still great, but not getting any younger and the 1982 Lakers had just won the first overall pick and selected James Worthy. The 76ers knew they had to make a move if they were gonna beat the Lakers and so they did. On September 15th, 1982, the 76ers swung a trade for 2-time MVP and reigning rebound-leader, Moses Malone. The hope was that, along with giving the 76ers another superstar, it would give Philly someone to throw at Kareem. The move worked like a charm as Moses went on to win the 3rd MVP of his career while leading the league in rebounds, finishing top 5 in scoring and helping the 76ers finish with 65 wins. Not only the best record by a wide margin, but also the 2nd best record in their franchise’s history (only trailing the 68 wins in 1967). With the best record in the NBA and their division, Philadelphia earned a bye from the first round, leading to reporters asking Moses Malone what he expected Philadelphia to do in the playoffs. His answer: “FO FO FO” Translation: four wins, four wins and four wins. It was up to Moses to prove it. In Philadelphia’s first series, they faced the New York Knicks. New York didn’t make it too easy as the 76ers didn’t win a game by more than 10, but Philadelphia still swept them as Moses averaged 31 and 16 in the 4-game series. In the conference finals, Philadelphia met the Milwaukee Bucks who had just swept the Boston Celtics. They were led by the eternally underrated duo of Sidney Moncrief and Marques Johnson. The 76ers didn’t take them lightly. They won the first 3 games only for the Bucks to steal game 4. Although, it didn’t matter. Philly won game 5 and the series. Moses had his weakest part of the run, but still grabbed a ton of boards and Andrew Toney made up the scoring. In the Finals, the 76ers once again met the Lakers. This was the exact scenario Moses was brought in for, matching up with Kareem. Yes, Kareem was 35, but he’s still Kareem with MVP votes and 2nd team all-NBA (behind Moses of course). This series would ultimately dictate Moses’s legacy in Philadelphia. The 76ers proceeded to not just win, but dominate the defending champs. Kareem held his own, putting up 23 points and 8 rebounds per game, basically the same as his regular season averages. Meanwhile, Moses Malone averaged 26 and 18(!). Moses had nearly as many offensive rebounds as Kareem had total rebounds. It was clear who owned the paint in this series and the 76ers swept the Lakers. Moses Malone was named Finals MVP. While it wasn’t exactly as Moses predicted, it was still “FO FI FO” which was later inscribed on their championship rings. Moses, of course, led the playoffs in rebounds and was 2nd in points behind Kareem. Because the 76ers were so dominant and their run was so short, Moses’s totals don’t rank super high on all-time lists, but his average of 15.8 rebounds per game is the 2nd most of any run (since the merger) that lasted as long as his (13 games). It only trails Ben Wallace in 2003. His 5.4 offensive rebounds per game rank 3rd all-time, only behind Shaq in 2001 and Moses himself in 1981. Dr. J and the 76ers were so close to glory for 6 straight years, but it took a large man named Moses to part the Red Sea and finally take Philly over the hump. Although this team never made it back to the Finals thanks to Larry Bird, Sidney Moncrief and age, they had 1983, the year Dr. J and Moses Malone finally became Larry O’Brien Legends.