There was no podcast this week due to, well, life.  Here is a blog edition of Sports and Stuff That Matters as we get set to kick off college football’s week 2 and the NFL’s week 1.

College Football Week One Recap

Some Stuff That Mattered

• Bad home losses by Tennessee and Florida State.
  • While Florida State didn’t lose to a bad team, these are bad losses for both of these programs.  The aftermath of Florida State’s loss (players and coaches talking conditioning and not necessarily presenting a unified front) is not a good look.  I stand by my prediction that they will be improved this year, but certainly not a great start or a great week number one of year two for Willie Taggart.  On Rocky Top, hard to be optimistic about year two of the Jeremy Pruitt era with a season opening loss to Georgia State.  This week they welcome in BYU and then get set for SEC play.  I’m not calling for any coach’s head one week into year two, but we all know that’s the world we live in and these two ‘blue-bloods’ are still in struggle-city.
• Freshman QB Performances
  • Hank Bachmeier for Boise State and Sam Howell for UNC posted big numbers in big wins for their respective teams this week.  Why does this matter?  Not just because Boise and UNC are both 1-0, and the Mack Brown era got off to a great start, but because the more true freshman QBs that perform better immediately, I believe the wider net those top prospects will cast as they search for the “play now” mentality.  There’s obviously been a slew of true freshman QBs get their opportunities and capitalize in recent years.  Bachmeier and Howell are just the most recent to garner national attention less than four months removed from high school  This trend could be good for those struggling teams in the power conferences, or the non-power conference teams as well. 
• Oregon’s Loss Matters – But Not as Much as I Originally Thought
  • It was a major heartbreaker for Oregon.  If you listened to our college football preview podcasts, I stopped just short of putting Oregon in the college football playoff.  I still like their team, but am glad I didn’t now obviously.  That said, I painted a picture of Oregon needing that game for them and the conference that I don’t agree with as much now.  Utah and Washington are primed for great seasons and could make a playoff push.  Oregon should have a great year themselves, and the Pac-12 did not have a bad opening weekend, despite UCLA getting handled by Cincinnati, Arizona choking late vs. a good Hawaii team and Oregon State still being Oregon State.
• Georgia’s O Line and Notre Dame’s D Line
  • Georgia’s offensive line looked dominant and Notre Dame’s defensive line did not.  This could be bad news for the Irish on September 21.
• Bob Davie’s Medical Condition
  • This matters.  Best wishes to Coach Davie on a full and speedy recovery.
• Jalen Hurts Performance
  • I’m not handing him the Heisman, but wow, Jalen Hurts and that Oklahoma offense were awesome.
• Cincinnati’s Performance vs. UCLA
  • Last year, Cincinnati went to the Rose Bowl and ruined Chip Kelly’s first game as a 17 point underdog.  This year, the Bearcats were a three point favorite and played like it, with a workman like effort again the Bruins en route to a ten point win.  The Bearcats are good on both sides of the ball and could be a major threat to Central Florida’s dominance on that side of the American Conference.
• Florida and Miami’s Performance
  • I will go on the record with these two teams having good seasons.  I heard and read about how bad of a game they played (I watched it too).  There were penalties and fumbles and miscommunications, but there was also athleticism.  The things that made that game “ugly” are a lot more fixable than making players more athletic or stronger.  I picked Miami to win their side of the ACC and I’ll stick with it.  I never brought myself to pick Florida to eclipse Georgia, and I won’t, but put the Gators down for 10 wins in my eyes.
• North Carolina’s Big Win
  • While I was never sold on South Carolina going in to the season, that doesn’t undermine game and win number one of the Mack Brown era in Chapel Hill.  That was exciting.  As we all know, the ACC is very top-heavy.  There is room for a team or two to climb quickly to the top tier of that league.  UNC is a beautiful campus (as are most ACC campuses I am sure), Mack Brown has brought credibility and excitement.  I’m getting ahead of myself here, but I certainly could see UNC as a top four ACC program within five years.
• JT Daniels Out for the Season for USC
  • This is a shame for this young man and USC.  Their ceiling was never overly high in my eyes, and not as high now.  I could see them getting to nine wins, but my heart goes out to JT Daniels.  Side note, the win over Fresno State is a nice win.  Fresno State will win their share this season.

Some Stuff That Didn’t Matter

• The Entire Week #1 for the Big Ten
  • I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a conference have such a non-impactful week one as the Big Ten did this past weekend.  The “Big Four” on the east all beat overmatched teams handily, Indiana, Maryland and even Rutgers helped the east side go 7-0, but none of those wins were worth getting excited about, even if Maryland did score 79 points.  In the west, Nebraska struggling got some attention.  Who cares.  Nebraska will be better, but not great.  They won the game.  Move on.  Minnesota found themselves in the same boat as Nebraska.  It wasn’t pretty but they are 1-0.  Wisconsin did look good, but they often look good.  Northwestern lost a tough one to Stanford and seems to be competitive and not great, as expected.  Iowa beat a bad team.  Illinois did impress for a team with a low ceiling.  Purdue gave the conference the only black eye, blowing a lead to a decent Nevada team.  Here’s my question – what did we learn about any big ten team in week one?  I content nothing.
• The SEC’s Struggles
  • News Flash:  The bottom of the SEC hasn’t been good for several years, not just this weekend, especially in the east.  The top of the SEC is good enough that this will not be a story by the end of the season.  Alabama, LSU, and Georgia are three of the nation’s best teams.  Florida will hang in there and get ten wins.  There will be a continued excitement around what Jimbo Fisher is doing at Texas A&M, and obviously Auburn was the big winner in week one.  Kentucky will take a step back, Missouri and Tennessee started out with stinkers.  I don’t think South Carolina is that good.  Arkansas and Ole Miss are both messes and it’s hard to be overly excited about things in Starksville.  There’s enough at the top that the SEC’s struggles at the bottom are and will be a non-story.
• Trevor Lawrence’s Struggles and Travis Etienne’s Dominance
  • Did Clemson already have eight games and I missed seven of them?
• Alabama’s Young Defense
  • If a freshman is starting at Alabama, even if it because of injuries, he’s better than some really good players.  I don’t buy the youth excuse on Alabama’s defense.
• Iowa State’s Struggles
  • I was high on Iowa State in our preview shows and still am.  They definitely made some mistakes and were not sharp and were lucky to escape, but I’m not buying them as overrated.  This is still a nine win team to me that shakes up the college football playoff race before it’s all said and done.
• Heisman Race as a Whole
  • Do we have to have a Heisman poll and ranking after week one everywhere you look?  Does this go on in any other sport?

College Football Week Two Peek Ahead

• There’s a monster game in Austin, TX this weekend.  Give me LSU by 10.  I think LSU has their best team, top to bottom, in a long time and if Joe Burrow can be above average, the sky is the limit for the Longhorns.
• Texas A&M visits Clemson in a rematch of one of last year’s best games.  Not so close this time, Clemson by a couple of scores.  I’d stay away from the point spread on this one.  I don’t think Clemson embarrasses them late, but I could see them covering late.
• Big Weekend for the Pac 12.  They don’t have a marquee non-conference game, but they do have Cal playing Washington and USC playing Stanford.  USC vs. Stanford is an elimination game, essentially, and Washington needs an impressive performance to be viewed as a possible playoff team.
• Ohio State hosts Cincinnati.  I’m not calling upset here, but I’m calling good game.  UC is for real.  Ohio State is too!
• Miami visits UNC.  I’m real interested in this one because I am still buying Miami as a 8-9 win team and a threat to win their side of the ACC and I was real impressed with UNC in their opener.  I think this could be one of the best games of the weekend.  I think Miami will be just a little too much for them.

NFL Preview

I will not take the time or space for a thorough NFL preview, but I will go on the record with playoff predictions.

• AFC Division Champs:  New England (will miss Gronk, but too good for this division everywhere else), KC (just too much on both side of the ball for this league, despite the buzz around the Chargers), Houston (moving them past Indy due to Luck’s retirement.  If they can keep Watson on his feet, their offense can be really good), Pittsburgh (they are replacing playmakers for sure, but have the right guys back in the trenches, and this division doesn’t scare me).
• AFC Wildcards:  Cleveland (I’m buying what they are selling in Cleveland), Chargers (steady Rivers with an improved defense)
• NFC Division Champs:  Rams (don’t sleep on Seattle), Green Bay (three real good teams here but I see Rogers and LaFleur gelling and a bounce back year in Green Bay), Saints (still the cream here), Eagles (holding off Dallas)
• NFC Wildcards:  Chicago (great defense and just enough offense), Dallas (enough talent to squeak in, but not advance)

Three Weekly Segments

• You Know What I Miss? 
  • Nutritional Ignorance.  When I go eat fast food or eat out for that matter, I don’t want the calorie count on the menu in front of me.  I don’t want or need to know about fifteen different diet plans.  It seems that you can take seemingly any food out there and spin it into bad for you.  I am hitting an age where my metabolism is noticeably slowing down so perhaps I should have the opposite feelings and embrace this information overload, but I just can’t embrace it.  I miss the days of eat what you want, if you are gaining weight – eat less and exercise more.  It can still be that simple, but it’s hard for it to be that simple in the information age we live in. 
• Appreciate This –
  • Phillip Fulmer’s coaching career at Tennessee.  He had a career record of 152-52 at Tennessee, including a national championship.  Tennessee’s record since he retired?  62-64.  Also, appreciate this about Phillip Fulmer.  He’s the AD at Tennessee.  He isn’t retired and counting his money and showing everyone his trophies.  He is grinding it out trying to make it right.
• Gotta Get There –
  • Arches, Zion, and Bryce Canyon National Parks.  No analysis from me as I’ve never been there (sometimes this segment is places I’ve been and am recommending, sometimes it’s places I want to get).  Google it.  Read about it.  Look at the pictures.  Nicole and I made a once-in-a-lifetime western swing in the summer of 2010 and squeezed as much as we could in with the time we had, but we did not do the National Parks in Utah justice.  It’s on my list.

For the sake of this post, the Warriors’ dynasty is over.  This means they will not win one of the next four NBA championships.  I’m not betting on them to win one of the next four, but I’m not totally ruling it out, either.  They still have a championship nucleus with Step Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green and the way the free agent dominoes fell, there are a lot of really good teams and no super teams and while I’m not picking them to win the west or the Larry O’Brien trophy next year, I am not writing their obituary just yet either.  That said, let’s stick in the here and now for this post and put the Warriors’ accomplishments, three rings and five straight finals appearances, in perspective.  I have defined dynasty as winning two or more titles in a four year stretch.  By that definition, there have been fourteen dynasties in NBA history.  Where do the Warriors fit in?  As you will see, I will put them at #4, just nudging out #5 and #6 on my list.  Here are the top ten dynasties in NBA history in my eyes (actually all fourteen of them, just the top ten broken down).  Enjoy and feel free to constructively debate.

#1  Boston Celtics, 1957-1969, 11 titles

I know it was a different NBA and I know I wasn’t around to watch it, but 11 titles out of 13 seasons signifies both dominance and staying power, anchored by the greatest winner in the history of the sport, Bill Russell.  There’s a case to be made against them as number one that there weren’t enough teams (although you could spin that as a case for them as well), but 11 titles out of 13 years is simply too much to have anywhere but number one.

#2  Chicago Bulls, 1991-1998, six titles

Michael Jordan never started a season in the 1990s that didn’t end in a parade.  As most know, he missed all of the 93-94 season and most of the 94-95 season due to his baseball pilgrimage, before carrying out their second three-peat of the decade with Scottie Pippen and a totally different supporting cast.  Had MJ not retired and the Bulls won the 94 and 95 rings (which I strongly think they would have), I’d probably have them at #1.

#3  Los Angeles Lakers, 1980-1988, five titles

Showtime was consistently great and they got the best of the Celtics two out of three times in their head-to-head NBA finals matchups, while getting the best of Phily twice and Detroit one other time.  Engineered by Pat Riley and with Magic Johnson running the show, this was probably the most entertaining brand of basketball on the dynasty list, but it didn’t come at the expense of toughness.  Cue up some 1980s playoff games if you need visuals of that.

#4  Golden State Warriors, 2015-2019, three titles

Ranking #’s 1-2-3 were easy, 4-5-6 not so much.  I give the nod to the Warriors considering their three titles came in a five year stretch, they reached the finals including the other two years, including a 73 win season, and were derailed by injuries this year.  That might make me a hypocrite as I said don’t use the injuries as an asterisk for the Raptors accomplishments in a previous post, but so be it.  The Warriors five year run was dominant.  Nobody else had a chance to establish even a mini-dynasty, everyone else’s best case was to steal a championship, like Cleveland and Toronto did.

#5  Boston Celtics, 1981-1986, three titles

A couple games in a couple series vs. the Lakers are the difference in the Celtics being here or at #3.  The Celtics got their three rings, but only got by their nemesis once.  You could make a case that the Celtics run is more impressive than the Warriors because of the greatness of the Lakers (and the 76ers for that matter), but I still gave the nudge to the Warriors dominance.

#6  San Antonio Spurs, 2003-2007, three titles

The Spurs rank below the Warriors and the Celtics due to the combination of them underperforming in the years between titles combined with the fact that the NBA was in a transition at this time between their most powerful teams.  That said, if you throw 1999 and/or 2014 into the same “dynasty classification” and there’s a case to move the Spurs up to #3 in my eyes.  There’s no denying the Pop/Duncan/Parker/Ginobili foursome will go down as one of the greatest combos of all-time.

#7  Minneapolis Lakers, 1949-1954, five titles

The George Mikan led Lakers posted five titles in six years.  This was in the pre-merger era, which is why it rates lower than it would have otherwise.

#8  Detroit Pistons, 1988-1990, two titles

The “Bad Boys” rate as the highest two ring dynasty in my eyes due to the fact that they upended the Lakers and held off the Bulls as long as possible, otherwise the #2 and #3 dynasties on this list could be even more impressive than they are.  Heck, they wrote a book, The Jordan Rules, about this team’s defense, and did a 30 for 30 on them.  That’s worth something!

#9 – Los Angeles Lakers, 2000-2002, three titles

I did rate the Pistons two titles over the Lakers three and several teams winning three titles without three-peating over the Lakers?  Why?  The combination of the NBA didn’t have an obvious other team that was ready to win a title to hold off the Lakers at the time (pains me to say that, as the Pacers were a Finals victim, but the ’98 Bulls beat the best Pacers team in my eyes), and it still took a furious comeback vs. Portland in 2000 and a game that is surrounded by conspiracy in 2002 for them to continually break through.  That said, this is when Shaq was as dominant as he ever was.

#10 – Miami Heat, 2011-2014, two titles

LeBron’s super team got their two rings, but many though they could have and should have gotten more, but 2011 Dallas and 2014 San Antonio said otherwise (this Heat group is actually closer to being a single champion thanks to their theft job against San Antonio in 2013).  It’s hard to say a group that won two rings under-achieved, but they certainly didn’t match what they promised in the 2010 welcome party on south beach.

The rest of the rankings:  #11 1970-1973 Knicks (two rings), #12 1994-1995 Rockets (two rings), #13 1974-1976 Boston Celtics (two rings), #14 2009-2010 Los Angeles Lakers (two rings)

While all of the attention in the NBA is now on the crazy free-agency and trade season that we are in the middle of, let’s take a moment and put the Raptors’ championship in perspective and historical context.  I will do the same with the Warriors dynasty in my next post. This article will rank all-time “single champions,” teams that won only won title in a given era. Next year’s race is seemingly as wide-open as a race has been in nearly a decade, and I’m certainly not counting the Warriors and the Curry/Green/Thompson nucleus out from extending their dynasty, but I’m not betting on it either.  If either the Raptors or Warriors claim the Larry O’Brien trophy, I’ll modify these lists appropriately. 

For the sake of these two articles, I have classified every NBA Champion as part of a dynasty or as a single champion.  I defined dynasty as winning two or more championships in a four-year window.  The only title-winners that were hard to classify were the Spurs.  The Spurs won five championships in a sixteen year window.  After consulting with some of the Spurs’ best fans and sticking with my parameters of two titles in four years, I classified their 1999 title as a single champion and their 2014 title as a single champion, while classifying the 03-05-07 titles together as a dynasty.

So, where does the Raptors title rank them amongst champions?  I rank them pretty high, given the fact that they broke up one of the NBA’s best dynasties of all time.  The case against ranking them this high is the fact that they weren’t the one-seed in their own conference and were nearly eliminated in round two by Philadelphia, but that will be a mere footnote as time passes.  The case for their high ranking is they were one of this generations best defensive champions and they navigated their way through a very strong and balanced eastern conference and then you must historical context of the Warriors dominance, even with or without the Durant injury.

Best “Single Champions” in NBA History

1. 1983 Philadelphia 76ers.  A 65-17 regular season and a 12-1 playoff record, Phily dominated from start to finish this season behind the great Moses Malone and Julius Erving and ended up being the only champion in the 1980’s not named the Celtics or Lakers, until the Pistons became champions in 1989.

2. 1972 Los Angeles Lakers – This Lakers’ champ, loaded with Wilt Chamberlin, Jerry West, Gail Goodrich and Elgin Baylor, came between LA dynasties and eliminated the Bucks and Knicks along the way.  This team kept the Knicks best run of success to two titles and kept the Bucks from establishing one of their own, as this was during the window when Milwaukee had a veteran Oscar Robertson paired with a young Lew Alcindor before he headed to LA himself.  It was these Bucks and Knicks that eliminated LA in 71 and 73 that kept this loaded group as a single champ, but a very dominant one at that.

3. 1971 Milwaukee Bucks – Coming from the same era as #2, these Bucks and the 72 Lakers were in each other’s way of becoming dynasties and limiting the Knicks dynasty of the 70s to two titles.  After a 66-16 regular season, the Big O and Lew Alcindor-led Bucks lost only two playoff games en route to the ring.

4. 2008 Celtics – One of the first ring-chasing super teams to accomplish their goal, the trio of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, with a major assist from a budding Rajon Rondo, were a dominant 66-16 during the year.  They were tested majorly in the playoffs (forced to game 7 in the first two rounds vs. Atlanta and Cleveland in series where the home team went 7-0), but were ultimately too much for a still strong Pistons team and the new-look, Shaq-less Lakers, who would ultimately win the next two titles. 

5. 2014 Spurs – After heart-break city the year before, this Spurs group dismantled the Lebron James-led Heat in five games in the Finals after a 62-20 regular season and an impressive run through the western-conference.  This was the last title for the Duncan/Ginobili/Parker trio and they got a major boost from a young Kawhi Leonard, who would go on to win Finals MVP. 

6. 2019 Raptors – For the reasons outlined above, I rank the Raptors at #5 amongst single champions.  Thanks to his introverted, public persona and some drama surrounding his San Antonio exit, Kawhi Leonard is this generation’s most underappreciated great player (that could certainly change if he brings the Clippers a title).  Kyle Lowry is championship-worthy point guard material and the emergence of Pascal Siakim.  Many might want to put an asterisk next to this title with the Warriors being without Kevin Durant.  That was certainly a factor, but the core of the Warriors team that they beat was the same that won the ’15 title and was a play or two away from repeating in ’16 without KD.  To those that counter than with the Klay Thompson injury as an asterisk, remember the Raptors were winning/controlling the series when Thompson was on the floor (had won two of the three full games that Klay had played in) and were locked in a really good game that they still could have won when Klay exited game 6.

7. 2016 Cavaliers – If looking for the dramatic effect, the 2016 Cavaliers would rank much higher (watch and enjoy ESPN’s 30 for 30, “Believeland” for more on that), but the actual Cleveland team lost 25 games in the regular season.  Overcoming a 3-1 deficit against the defending champion Warriors made for great theatre, and they might have been given a championship assist with Draymond Green being suspended for game five of that series.  That said, Lebron was the greatest player in the game at this time and he certainly was in those Finals and the team that had been placed around him played their roles at a championship level.

Rounding out the top ten: 

1967 76ers (Wilt’s only title as a 76er came as the Celtics dominance wrapped up and before the Bucks and Knicks found greatness),

2004 Pistons (defense and balance won out this year as the Larry Brown-coached Pistons prevented the Pacers from breaking through in the east and then dismantled the Shaq and Kobe Lakers (who were joined by ring-chasing Gary Payton and Karl Malone),

2011 Mavericks (Dirk, Jason Kidd, Shawn Marion and company got the one that was most gettable for them while the Spurs and Lakers were in a state of transition and many young and ascending teams weren’t quite ready to break through).

Best of the rest:   1999 Spurs, 2006 Heat, 1977 Trailblazers, 1979 Sonics, 1975 Warriors, 1978 Bullets, 1947 Phila Warriors, 1948 Bullets, 1951 Royals, 1955 Nationals, 1956 Warriors, 1958 Hawks

If you are a NBA fan, by now you are aware that the Golden State Warriors are heading to the NBA Finals for the fifth straight season. This has not happened since the Boston Celtics accomplished this feat an unprecedented ten times from 1957-1966 (the Celtics lost to the 76ers in the Eastern Conference Finals in 1967 before winning the east again in 68 and 69, so they were one series away from 13 straight appearances in the Finals). Whether you love or despise the Warriors and regardless of how you feel about the “rich get richer” signing that occured in 2016, the Warriors will go down as one of the best dynasties in NBA history, especially if they find a way to win four games vs. either the Bucks or Raptors in the coming weeks.

I looked back on those teams that knocked on the door of five straight Finals appearances. For me, it put in perspective how difficult of a feat what the Warriors have done is. For starters, you have to put yourself in a position to be able to do it five straight years, and you still have to do it as there are worthy challengers every single year. One thing that stuck out to me is the Warriors have not had the consistent challenger, in their own Conference, to consistently hold off. Many people would say that contender has been the Houston Rockets. If you’ve read or listened to me much this spring, you know where I stand on the Rockets. I have never really took them seriously as a championship threat, even last year when they were hosting a game seven of the Western Conference Finals. The Thunder made their run and then lost their best player, the Spurs were trending downward by the time the Warriors dynasty started, they just knocked out an upstart Portland team, the Grizzlies have flirted with breakthroughs in the west, but never come close and the list goes on. I don’t know that this diminishes what they have done, but as you will see below, essentially every other team that had a chance to get to five Finals in a row had either a budding dynasty in their way or a consistently excellent threat, and the Warriors have not had to deal with that in the west. Their biggest rival has obviously been the Cleveland Cavaliers, out of the east.

Without further adieu, here are the teams, since 1966, that have had a shot at five straight NBA Finals appearances, and why they weren’t able to accomplish it. Regardless of your feelings toward the Warriors, it is a remarkable feat. I’ll start in the west, where only one franchise has truly threatened the feat. There were several angles I could have played with the Spurs, whose greatness was sustained for as long as most of the franchises listed below, but they were never quite as close to making five straight Finals as the franchises listed below. In the east, multiple franchises have flirted with the feat.

1968-1973 Lakers: The Wilt Chamberlain led Lakers of this era also included Jerry West at the end of his career with Gail Goodrich and Elgin Baylor, were able to make the Finals five years out of six (winning the title in all five of those years as well). So what kept these Lakers from going to not just five, but six, Finals in a row and a possibility of a true six-peat? The 1970-1971 Milwaukee Bucks (who were obviously in the western conference at the time). The conditions were right for this Bucks team, featuring a young Lew Alcindor and a veteran Oscar Robertson, to bring Milwaukee their first title (they would win their second in 1974, after Wilt had retired and this Lakers dynasty ended). The Bucks won that 1971 series 4-1. The Lakers would respond the next year and eliminate the Bucks 4-2 in the Western Conference Finals . If not for the 1971 Bucks, the Lakers would have been in six Finals in a row, with a strong chance of having six-peated. Instead, they settled for five Finals appearances and championships in six years.

1980-1989 Lakers: The Lakers made the Finals a remarkable eight times out of ten seasons in this era (and added another in 1991). After going to the Finals in Magic’s rookie year (1980), the Lakers were unable to make it back to the conference finals the next season, before rattling off four straight conference championships in 82, 83, 84, and 85. Their best shot at five Finals appearances in a row was derailed in 1986 by the Houston Rockets. Led by the twin towers of Hakeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson, the Rockets were the only franchise other than Boston and the Lakers to win a title in the 80s (81 and 86). If not for that 86 series, the Lakers would have likely claimed eight straight appearances in the NBA Finals, as they were able to get to the next three after the 86 season.

2000-2004 Lakers: The Shaq/Kobe Lakers were fairly dominant in a three-peat during the 2000, 2001, and 2002 seasons. The Spurs were ultimately the team that kept them from making five Finals appearances in a row by eliminating the Lakers in a conference semi-finals series. The Lakers (with Karl Malone and Gary Payton) were able to make the Finals the next year in 2004 by holding off top-seeded Minnesota’s bid at their first ever NBA Finals trip, before getting eliminated by Detroit in the Finals. Even though the Shaq/Kobe dynasty was not meant to be sustained like previous Lakers’ dynasties, they were the 2003 season away from making five straight trips to the Finals.

1970-1974 Knicks: The Knicks had their best run of success between Celtics dynasties with Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, Bill Bradley and Dave DeBuscheere among others. The Knicks made the Finals three out of five years in this stretch, and were in the Eastern Conference Finals during the other two years, falling to Baltimore in 71 and Boston in 74.

Boston and Philadelphia, 1980-1987: Boston and Philadelphia had some great series and got in each other’s way of accomplishing this feat between 1980 and 1987. Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Dr. J, Moses Malone and a young Charles Barkley were some of the key characeters. Had the Celtics been able to get past the 76ers in 1983, they would have been primed to accomplish five Finals in a row as they did represent the east four straight years from 1984-1987. Conversely, had the 76ers been able to hold off Boston in 1981, that would have given them four straight Eastern Conference crowns, and would have had a shot at accomplishing it themselves in 1984.

Detroit Pistons, 1987-1991: The Bad Boy Pistons, led by Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars and a hard-playing and deep front court, had a very specific window to accomplish five Finals in a row. They got to three in a row (88, 89, 90). They made the Eastern Conference Finals five times in a row, winning it three times. Had they gotten over their own hurdle of the Celtics one year earlier and held off Jordan’s Bulls for one more year in 91, they would have made five in a row.

Chicago Bulls, 1991-1998: Had Michael Jordan not tried baseball, the Bulls would have played in eight Finals in a row. Nobody will ever convince me otherwise. That said, they would have had to have made both the 94 and 95 Finals to get to five Finals in a row, as missing either year would have only put their longest streak at four.

***Miami Heat, 2011-2014 and Cleveland Cavaliers, 2015-2018***: On paper, if a team makes four straight trips to the Finals, then they were close. These two franchises were as far away from making five Finals in a row as any franchise could possibly be after making four. The reason is simply Lebron James. Love him or hate him, take a step back and think about that for a second. If either the Miami Heat or Cleveland Cavaliers were able to keep Lebron for one more year, they are most likely with the Warriors in the elite company of five Finals in a row.