#1 Who would win this matchup! (7 Game series)

[The_Bionic_Pig]

MATCHUPS

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[The_Bionic_Pig]

MATCHUPS

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[The_Bionic_Pig]

MATCHUPS

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[husker71]

The old Lakers would win the 1st one. They would play Coop a whole bunch for defense on Kobe.  And Fisher could not cover Magic. Matchups would be kobe on magic, fisher on Coop (Scott) Artest on Worthy Bynum on Kareem Gasol on Rambis (guessing)  bench Odom vs Coop or Scott and Mc Adoo

[Table Rocker]

Lakers: No one could stop Kareem in the post, Bynum or Gasol- no chance. Michael Cooper wouldn't shut down Kobe but he could frustrate the hell out of him. Magic is magic, he'd carve up the current Laker D. Winner: old school

Celtics: Again I think the old school team has a huge advantage in the paint but Rondo would be tough to guard for DJ and could control some tempo. I give the advantage to the current Celts because I'm not sure who could guard Allen and Pierce. Bird and who else? Winner: new school

Bulls: It would be fun to watch Rodman frustrate the hell out of Joe-Kim. Jordan would dominate, literally would be unstoppable. Winner: old school

[husker71]

OOPS sorry, no McAdoo.  AC Green and Mychal Thompson.  Way to much bench for todays Lakers.   

[guthhog]

The Bulls matchup literally made me spit my beer!

[husker71]

If there was one defensive guard who could cover Rondo it was DJ 6'4" and nicknamed  Helicopter in college because of jumping ability (jumped center in college)  He could bump Rondo all night and Rondo (not a great shooter) would  get by him once or twice only to run into Parrish/McHale/Walton.  Who would Pierce or Allen cover. One of them is going to have to take Bird.  McHale would have Garnett in foul trouble with his offensive moves.  Truthfully none of the new entries would have a chance.

[The_Bionic_Pig]

The Bulls matchup literally made me spit my beer!

Even with the editions of Boozer & C.J. Watson?

[HawgAdvocate]

Lakers: This is a tough series to gauge. The hard part about weighing these out by comparison is that the more recent teams are so much more athletic than the ones from 25 years ago. Kareem was on the downslope of his career, and I'm not sure he was strong enough to consistantly get offensive position on the block against the combo of Gasol and Bynum. It's certain that Kareem and Mychael Thompson couldn't hang with Gasol's athleticism down low. AC Green was a hard working, yet undersized post player who certainly couldn't hold his own against the 2010 lakers frontline. If Bynum's knee injury is a factor in this series, it could turn the tide for the Showtime Lakers. I give a slight nod to Magic over Kobe, only because Magic would never shoot his team out of the game. Both are clutch, but Magic was a notch above. The matchup of Byron Scott and Derek Fisher also leans Scott's way slightly only because Fisher wasn't much of a defender in this year's playoffs. Even the Ron Artest/James Worthy matchup would be ridiculous to judge. Worthy was a smooth scorer while Artest continues to pride himself on being an elite defender. Artest isn't what he once was, but he's not that far off. I'd still give the nod to Worthy here. The X-factor for both teams is the Michael Cooper/Lamar Odom 6th man role; two guys who are versatile enough to play mutliple positions and could exploit mismatches on almost any posession. Like the other matchups though, Odom is far more talented than Cooper was. Neither bench was all that impressive for long stretches. I'd have to call it a push.

But based on the superior size and athleticism of the 2010 Lakers, I'd have have to give them the nod in 6 games. Magic makes it very interesting, as he won't go down easy, but there's too much skill to go with the superior size of the 2010 Lakers frontline for this to go any other way. 

Celtics: This is the toughest matchup of the three teams. The 2008 Celtics had big bodies in Powe and Big Baby to supplant Perkins and Garnett. But even with that, the skill of the Chief and McHale more than make up for the lack of athleticsm they'd give up to the Big Ticket and Perkins. Perkins and Walton would almost negate each other, and Garnett couldn't guard both McHale and Parrish at once. McHale made the All-NBA Defensive First Team that season. Walton was the NBA's 6th Man of the Year. Paul Pierce will one day have his jersey retired in Boston, but that doesn't mean he could outplay or out 'will' Basketball Jesus. I know, I know, Pierce had an amazing series against the Lakers in 2008 Finals..but he wasn't playing Larry Legend. Larry was the League MVP that year, with good reason. Rondo was good, but he wasn't yet the top 10 NBA player he showed himself to be in this year's playoffs. Dennis Johnson was on the All-NBA Defensive Second Team that year, and would been very good at keeping Ray Allen in check due to his size. Danny Ainge was one of the toughest players on the floor for Boston, and that's saying something considering who all he was playing with. Rondo wasn't a jump shooter then anymore than he is now.

The 2008 Celts had a little deeper bench than the 86 Celts, but Walton put up what would be his last huge season in the League while coming off the pine. With all the skill this team had, I'd have the 86 Celts winning in five games over the 2008 Celtics.

Bulls: Not even close. Jordan's Bulls sweep in four. Watching Rodman provoke Noah would be high comedy though. The trash talk he'd unleash on how ugly Joakim Noah is would make Sportscenter a must watch every single night.

[PoormansRobbyHampton]

Even with the editions of Boozer & C.J. Watson?

haha. Don't forget Kyle Korver and Ronnie Brewer!

Now the old school is a little more interesting. I think that the Showtime Lakers beat the new Lakers in an entertaining six game series. Magic's versatility would be the key for me. He would be the best player in the series (down to him and Kobe, obviously) and while he was a point guard, he was also 6'9 and would create match-up problems everywhere.

Nobody would match Kobe's athleticism, but someone mentioned Michael Cooper earlier and he would do a good job on Kobe, as good as anyone could do I guess.

Pau Gasol is a great player and has world class offensive skills, but I don't think he'd last two games playing under the 80's rules. If it's the more current, updated rules, he's better off, but the first time A.C. Green fouls him going to the basket would be enough to rattle him.

The tapes of Pau or Andrew Bynum trying to guard Kareem could fill a dvd boxed set one day.

All that being said, the new Lakers would have Phil Jackson as their coach and as great as Pat Riley is, Phil always gets the check mark. Also, Ron Artest would be huge to throw at Big Game James.

As for the Celtics series, I'm just really torn. Again, Larry Bird would be the best player in the series, but you could argue that the new Celtics would have the next three. KG against Kevin Mchale is a discussion, Ray Allen is an all-time great 2 guard and even though he was one of the best defensive guards of all-time, Dennis Johnson would probably have to guard Rajon Rondo.

This one would depend on the rules, playing 80's rules with hard fouls that encourages physical play, Bird's Celtics win. With today's NBA rules? The new Celtics stand a chance. At gunpoint I'd take Bird's Celtics.

For the record though, if it's KG in his MVP season, I take Pierce's Celtics because he would have been devastating to Kevin Mchale on defense and would have made Mchale work on offensive.

[The_Bionic_Pig]

EVERY SINGLE PLAYER LISTED IS IN THEIR PRIME!!!   (Sorry should have mentioned that before)

[HogInThaGrove]

Ditka vs. a hurricane......but, the hurricane's name is "hurricane Ditka"?

[HawgAdvocate]

Ditka vs. a hurricane......but, the hurricane's name is "hurricane Ditka"?

+1

[Fatty McGee]

EVERY SINGLE PLAYER LISTED IS IN THEIR PRIME!!!   (Sorry should have mentioned that before)

Bill Walton in his prime means that Parish might not even start and McHale becomes the second option in the post.

If everyone is in their prime, old school every time - UNLESS Bynum develops into a dominant post presence in his mid-late 20s but even then Kareem in his prime owns him.

[Hogtropolis™]

I don't follow NBA much at all.  I mean I follow scores of NBA games and that's about it, but I've never really followed the NBA closely.  So from someone that doesn't know much about the NBA, here would be my guesses on who I think would win without an explanation because I don't really have one to give.

Old Lakers

Old Celtics

Old Bulls

[PoormansRobbyHampton]

EVERY SINGLE PLAYER LISTED IS IN THEIR PRIME!!!   (Sorry should have mentioned that before)

Ooooh, the plot thickens!

This definitely makes the all Celtics series more interesting. Jesus Shuttlesworth, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett in their all-time primes against Larry Bird, Kevin Mchale and Bill Walton in their primes? Good lord, I just got chills.

Let's go position for position:

PG- Rajon Rondo Vs. Dennis Johnson. Rajon's last two playoffs have been phenomenal, and dominant to an extent. But Dennis Johnson was arguably the greatest defensive guard of his generation (although our guy Sidney Moncrief may have something to say about that ). Rondo's great and probably hasn't hit his peak yet, because if he ever straightens that jumper out, he will be terrifying. But for now, I give the edge to the Hall of famer.

SG- Ray Allen vs. Danny Ainge. Danny was a fine player and did a lot of things well, but Ray Ray is probably one of the most underrated players at his position in NBA history. This is an easy call.

SF- Larry Bird vs. Paul Pierce. Wow! This is what we could have if series like this were possible. Larry wasn't the most athletic guy in basketball at any point during his career, but what he lacked in natural ability he made up for in basketball IQ. Pierce isn't as athletic as many guys in the league either, but has willed himself into a great player and will one day be elected to the basketball hall of fame. That being said, Larry Bird is the greatest small forward of all-time.

PF- KG Vs. Kevin Mchale. Again, that's a monster match-up! Kevin Mchale is the most underrated power forward of all-time, in my opinion. When people talk about great power forwards, he's never mentioned, but the guy was a winner, a great defender and could score on anyone. My top three power forward list goes as follows: 1) Tim Duncan 2) Charles Barkley 3) Kevin Mchale. Just missing would be KG, and it's that close. This is so tough because the 2004 KG was an athletic beast and would have been an even better player in 1986 than he is today. I don't want to cop out, but this is as close as it gets.

C- Kendrick Perkins vs. Bill Walton/ Robert Parish. I mean. Two of these three guys are hall of famers. I'm not even going to dignify this match up with a paragraph.

Bench-

2008 Celtics: Eddie House, Glen Davis, Leon Powe, Tony Allen, P.J. Brown, James Posey

1986 Celtics: Chief/ Walton, Scott Wedman, Sam Vincent, Rick Carlisle.

With the exception of whatever center they brought off the bench, this is where the 2008 Celtics could do well against the 1986 Celtics. Vincent was a rookie and was a very good player, but the 2008 edition boasted Eddie House who shot a high percentage on his three pointers, James Posey, an all-time great wingman and perimeter defender, P.J. Brown, a savvy veteran and two quality bigs to throw at the Chief/Bill Walton combo.

The '86 Celtics win, though the series likely goes the distance.

[mbgrulz]

I think comparing this team vs that team is virtually impossible. What is hard to guage is the difference between nutrition and conditioning from then till now.

For instance, how much better would mchale be if he it the weights like they do. Now? 

[husker71]

OK, for those who really know old NBA basketball. If Walton was at his prime, and he was only in his prime the year they won it and the Blazers were 52-10 until he was hurt the next, the Celtics would have Walton (the greatest big man passer of all time) and Bird (the greatest passing forward of all time) So, put Walton up high and passing to 3 great 3 point shooters Bird, Wedman and Ainge and their opponent would have to single cover McHale it would be nearly impossible to beat them, Wedman was no great defender but who got past him would run into Walton/Mchale.