This may have already been discussed (my apologies for not being a regular here)... but I couldn't help but wonder which team would have won. As a Spurs fan I'm definitely biased, but what they did last year in the finals seamed so much more impressive than the Warriors playing a lame (as in injury) Cavs team. Not exactly sure when the Warriors peaked, but it wasn't during the Finals... where-as the Spurs seemed to be a completely unstoppable force in the last few games last season. The Warriors were ridiculous at times this year, but you could tell they let the nerves get to them in the finals and it they had to warm up again. I think the Spurs and their vast Finals experience would have rolled them before the Warriors could get their legs back underneath them. Some Curry magic keeps it from being Spurs in 5... Spurs in 6 instead.

It's all subjective of course, just curious what everybody else thinks.

2012 Heat would've beaten them both

Gee I wonder who you are a fan of

yeah, because i have to be a spurs dick sucker to have an opinion on this board

My comment was directed at the OP.

(I feel dumb though, he stated he was a Spurs fan in his post. Yay for my reading skills)

I agree with the statement of the timing of both teams peaks. If the '14 Spurs played the '15 Warriors in June, in my opinion the Spurs win in 5. They were absolutely unstoppable in 4/5 of the Finals games last year. Not sure exactly either when the Dubs peaked, but their peak vs the '14 Spurs peak would have made a helluva series. The '15 Warriors and '15 Spurs would have been the best series of the playoffs this year I think.

My post-season rankings at the end of the playoffs:
1. Warriors
2. Clippers
3. Spurs
4. Rockets
5. Cavs (pre Irving injury)
6. Grizz

I'll probably get hate from Rockets fans, but still think the Clippers were the better team out of those two. Yes, the Rox won, but in my opinion it was more the Clips choking due to nerves, than Houston forcing them to choke. In other words, I think the Clippers would have challenged the Warriors more so than the Rockets did. I'm tempted to put the Spurs over the Clips as well, as I think they'd have taken GS to 7 if not won in less games. Either way, you could argue that 2-4 were all interchangeable...crazy to think they all had to play each other in rounds 1 and 2.

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My comment was directed at the OP.

(I feel dumb though, he stated he was a Spurs fan in his post. Yay for my reading skills)

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LOL, yeah, I didn't make a smart comment back but glad you caught it. I'm usually pretty good about making my bias's known up front. It sometimes keeps the thread on topic and eliminates the fan bickering. Unless of course you don't read it, in which case here comes the internet cock fight!

It doesn't always work that way. Because team A beats team B who beat team C doesn't always mean team A is better than C. It's about matchups, and the Spurs match up well against the Rockets (3-1 in regular season...with two huge games toward the end that mattered). But sure, I'll agree with you, you can have the Rockets 2 and the Clips/Spurs 3 and 4. As I said, I think all three are interchangeable as the league's second, third and fourth best teams.

I do think both the Spurs and Clips would have put up a much better fight against the Warriors though. Rockets were 1-8 against GS this year.

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It doesn't always work that way. Because team A beats team B who beat team C doesn't always mean team A is better than C. It's about matchups, and the Spurs match up well against the Rockets (3-1 in regular season...with two huge games toward the end that mattered). But sure, I'll agree with you, you can have the Rockets 2 and the Clips/Spurs 3 and 4. As I said, I think all three are interchangeable as the league's second, third and fourth best teams.

I do think both the Spurs and Clips would have put up a much better fight against the Warriors though. Rockets were 1-8 against GS this year.

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regular season matchups are not an accurate indicator of success against a team in the post season

So those last two regular season games with the Rockets and Spurs didn't really show much? Both teams were fighting like crazy to get the 2 seed. They were defacto playoff games.

Take away regular season, I still think the Clips and Spurs challenge GS more in a 7-game series.

One of the most fail-full threads I've ever seen around here

Drewbie... Why don't you rank according to who would give GS the best matchup? I think your rankings would have credence.

It's pretty much what I posted in my first reply. Teams that can play both big/small, slow/fast, and have good individual and team defense, as well as an effective offense. Not all those teams have every component, but the Clips and Spurs in my mind have the best ability to matchup against GS.

I'm tempted to put Cleveland with Irving higher, but I think the Warriors played timid in games 1 and 2, and never really looked themselves until the last few games in the series. If they were to play again right now with a healthy Irving, I think GS would be more confident and play more like they did in the regular season, probably winning in 6 again. I don't see how LBJ can play much better (perhaps better shooting %), and the splash brothers were no where close where they can be (credit the Cavs for some of that).

Hero ball doesn't work most of the time in a 7-game series, as was evident with the Rockets and Cavs. You need your supporting players to step up, which didn't happen in those series...even with LeBron trying as hard as he could to get his teammates involved. Spurs and Clippers have multiple guys to throw at you, and play better team basketball. I think the Clippers were athletic enough (especially down low) to hang with GS, and the spurs have great defenders in Green and Leonard.

After the Spurs dismantled the Warriors on Easter, I was hoping for a rematch in the Western Conference Finals. No question Spurs 14 > GSW 15

As a rockets fan, definitely Spurs

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I agree with the statement of the timing of both teams peaks. If the '14 Spurs played the '15 Warriors in June, in my opinion the Spurs win in 5. They were absolutely unstoppable in 4/5 of the Finals games last year. Not sure exactly either when the Dubs peaked, but their peak vs the '14 Spurs peak would have made a helluva series. The '15 Warriors and '15 Spurs would have been the best series of the playoffs this year I think.

My post-season rankings at the end of the playoffs:
1. Warriors
2. Clippers
3. Spurs
4. Rockets
5. Cavs (pre Irving injury)
6. Grizz

I'll probably get hate from Rockets fans, but still think the Clippers were the better team out of those two. Yes, the Rox won, but in my opinion it was more the Clips choking due to nerves, than Houston forcing them to choke. In other words, I think the Clippers would have challenged the Warriors more so than the Rockets did. I'm tempted to put the Spurs over the Clips as well, as I think they'd have taken GS to 7 if not won in less games. Either way, you could argue that 2-4 were all interchangeable...crazy to think they all had to play each other in rounds 1 and 2.

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Did you even consider the fact that the Rockets beat the Clippers without 2 (PBev and Dmo) of their starters? I think the Clippers were the better team at the time we met because of injuries, but I would definitely put the Rockets in front of them when considering the full rosters.

I would put Spurs and Rockets a and b wherever they are listed.

I did not take into account their injuries. At the end of the day, both series were 7 games and the team that won had home court advantage. All three teams were separated by one game in the regular season. It was about as close as you can get between the three teams. It's just a shame that two of them had to play each other in the first round of the playoffs.

If you're talking full season body of work, there is no question it's the Warriors, but if we are talking purely finals performance you would have to be a complete basketball retard to pick the '15 Warriors over the '14 Spurs

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Drewbie... Why don't you rank according to who would give GS the best matchup? I think your rankings would have credence.

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I'd take all you fools out.

I would take every champion from 2007-2014 over the '15 Warriors in a series.

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I would take every champion from 2007-2014 over the '15 Warriors in a series.

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I'd go father than that. Shaq06 would have killed Bogut. So would the Spurs, Pistons and Lakers. They wouldn't be getting open looks against any of those teams except 06 Miami.

Wut?

All I know is I'd freaking love to see LeBron in the Spurs' offense. An otherworldly talented superstar who's happy to share the ball for good of the team. He and Pop would make some beautiful basketball music.

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All I know is I'd freaking love to see LeBron in the Spurs' offense. An otherworldly talented superstar who's happy to share the ball for good of the team. He and Pop would make some beautiful basketball music.

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I actually think he would not do that well in the Spurs' offense. Maybe later in his career, but, so far, his entire career has essentially been isos and having the rest of his team stand there and watch him. His style of play and what makes him great, in terms of scoring, is an absolute killer to the motion offense. It'd be like throwing Shaq in the prime of his career on the Spurs. The offense would look absolutely nothing like it currently does in either case. Also, I'm not sure that his ego would allow him to halve his usage rate and number of points and assists/gm.

IMO, the only way Lebron wouldn't get 25-27 ppg on the Spurs (similar to what he has done the last few years) is if he were getting 12 assists per game. I think he would be perfectly willing to play less iso and work more in the flow of the offense, and with the Spurs vastly better pick and roll game with credible threats inside and out, he would get the ball in much better position most of the time.

....and the '14 Spurs murder the '15 Warriors. Danny Green/Kawhi Leonard is a rough matchup for Curry/Thompson and Diaw helps them match the small ball lineups. '15 Spurs vs '15 Warriors is a good matchup, but I think the Spurs were too beat up this year (especially with Diaw's regression) to run with the Warriors for a full seven games.

I don't think that's true. He does do a lot of iso work because let's face it: if he only draws single coverage, a LeBron shot is probably the best shot that the possession is going to generate. But he's a great passer who's happy to pass if he sees something better, and you can tell he sees the court as guys like Nash, Paul, Ginobili, etc. see it (or he's at least close to them).

Which brings me to how he'd fit in. You're going to laugh because of the fitness and athleticism differences (hell, I'm laughing a bit), but there are a fair number of similarities between LeBron's and Diaw's games. They both have the bulk to bang around in the paint, the range to play outside, and the passing skills to facilitate offense from the perimeter or on the move (I'm not going to mention explosiveness because that's at least 5 years in the rearview for Boris). But basically, they're both highly versatile players, hence the point forward moniker. So if you were to, say, replace Diaw with LeBron, I think he'd do a great job filling that same role and adding that same versatility. Yea he'd take a bigger bite of the pie, but that'd be fine because he's LeBron.

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I agree with the statement of the timing of both teams peaks. If the '14 Spurs played the '15 Warriors in June, in my opinion the Spurs win in 5. They were absolutely unstoppable in 4/5 of the Finals games last year. Not sure exactly either when the Dubs peaked, but their peak vs the '14 Spurs peak would have made a helluva series. The '15 Warriors and '15 Spurs would have been the best series of the playoffs this year I think.

My post-season rankings at the end of the playoffs:
1. Warriors
2. Clippers
3. Spurs
4. Rockets
5. Cavs (pre Irving injury)
6. Grizz

I'll probably get hate from Rockets fans, but still think the Clippers were the better team out of those two. Yes, the Rox won, but in my opinion it was more the Clips choking due to nerves, than Houston forcing them to choke. In other words, I think the Clippers would have challenged the Warriors more so than the Rockets did. I'm tempted to put the Spurs over the Clips as well, as I think they'd have taken GS to 7 if not won in less games. Either way, you could argue that 2-4 were all interchangeable...crazy to think they all had to play each other in rounds 1 and 2.

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So let me get this right. The rockets beat the team that beat the spurs and you tell me that they are worse than the spurs and the team they beat in a series? Ok

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Not to take away from the Rockets, but they did beat a worn down Clippers team with an at best 50% Chris Paul. I know the Rockets had injuries too, but nothing comparable to CP3.

Paul didn't play in every game.