Poll
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I'd say the 80's were better. The 90's were awesome and Jordan was god in that era, but the 80's had some incredible rivalries. The Lakers (Magic) vs The Celtics (Bird), The Celtics (Bird) vs The Pistons (Zeke) to name but a few. Also the Pistons used to dominate the Bulls in the playoffs and we saw the punishment Jordan had to endure before he won his first title in 91.
The Lakers Celtics finals were as great a matches as i've ever seen, Magic and Bird always brought their A game and would raise their games even higher when they played each other. The matchups were awesome DJ would guard Magic, Ainge would check B.Scott, Worthy would play Bird, McHale went against AC Green and Parish and Kareem would go at it. Thats the decade i first watching hoops when i lived in the UK and after watching Magic play in my first ever game i was a Laker fan for life. Its not a stretch to say Bird and Magic put the NBA back on the map and set things up for Jordan to take the game into unparalleled heights.
I also remember a great shoot out between Bird and Nique in the Conf Finals (i forget the year) which was just unbelievable.
Dont forget the great dunk contests of the 80's to, Jordan vs Nique, Spud Webb at 5'7 and Dr J passing the torch to Jordan.
I may be a touch biased in my answer considering thats the decade i discovered hoops but as great as the 90's were i still gotta go with the 80's. Someone older than me might go for a decade when Wilt was dominating or when Russel was collecting rings yearly. Good thread though.
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Thats why the 80's were better imo. When the Bulls were in the finals in the 90's it was a forgone conclusion who would win. With the Lakers Celtics finals in the 80's either one could win.
Plus Jordan was so far ahead of everyone else there was never anyone he could match up with, in 92 he had Drexler which was a joke. Barkley in 93 which was an entertaining series but you knew the Bulls would take it. As for the finals when Jordan retired in the mid 90's - the less said about those the better. The Sonics and Jazz finals when Jordan came back were walkovers to.
Maybe im focusing too much on the finals here but in the end thats what you mainly remember from the season i think.
i suppose... but recently there has been no definate choice of a winner. look when teh pistons took the championship from teh 100%positive lakers? i think that made a lot of people realize just what the nba has to offer. i never got to experience the 80s, so i cant really say. i did experience the 90s, and they must have been good because it got me into the sport when no other sport had.