Was having a discussion with friends early about good teams that could never make it out of their conference. Not just a one year thing but over say a 3-4 year period where the team was always good but couldn't make it. Most recently you have the Suns and before them the Kings. What others can you think of?
So are you talking about a particular era or a particular season? As far as single season goes, its hard to forget that mavs team that won 67 games. I'll probably get flamed for this, but really, that was a good team -- there's no other way to look at it. If they had played any other team in the league things would have been different, though I don't exactly feel sorry for them.
Probably should have read your full post. I guess I'm a relatively new NBA fan, but the best ones I can think of were already mentioned. Every year people thought those Suns were going to finally win it all, but it just never happened for them.
The Shaq/(really really young)Kobe/Jones/Exel squad never made the finals but should have. I thought they matched up best with those Bulls.
Miami Heat - Late 90s - Alonzo Mourning, Tim Hardaway, Dan Majerle, etc. Cleveland Cavs - Late 80's-early 90's - Mark Price, Brad Daugherty, Larry Nance, Hot Rod Williams Jail Blazers - Late 90s - Rasheed Wallace, Pippen, Sabonis, et al.
The Suns of the mid to late 2000s are one of the most disappointing teams in NBA history. I don't know how you can have a two time MVP, 3 starters who were All-Stars, and couldn't sniff the Finals...thanks Horry.
There has never been a great team that hasn't at least made it to the finals... I'm trying, but I can't think of one...
That Mavs team wasn't as good as it's record indicated and I said so during the season. I wanted them to win as many games as possible so their playoff failure would be magnified. That said, I didn't expect them to lose in the 1st round to the Warriors. The 50-5 run they went on after the slow start was historic, but it was due to their consistency, night in, night out, more than supreme talent. Avery Johnson got a solid effort out of them every night with few clunkers. But consistency doesn't equal greatness and the 67 wins was definitely an over-achievement for that team.
That Mavs team was pretty damn good and just got a bad matchup for them in the Warriors, who were collectively on fire, video game style. It was great to watch that upset. The Kings team that lost to the Lakers in Sactown in overtime game 7 in 2002 I think...they were arguably the better team. I'm not a Laker hater by any means, and I'm not a conspiracy theorist either, but I will say the refs were just horrible in that game and made too many bad errors in favor of the Lakers, which even prompted Ralph Nader to write an open letter of complaint to the NBA. The Lakers went on to sweep the Nets I think...the East was just terrible in those years...it was like a young KMart, Kerry Kittles and Jason Kidd finals team that came out of the East. I'm looking it up...yup, along with a young Richard Jefferson, KVH, and Todd MacCulloch the pinball pro. Anyhow, that Kings team was great. They had post play, tremendous passing, good rebounding, great defenders, a deep bench, good slashers, and great knock down shooters. They were a great all-around team that ran Adelman's system so well...way better than the current Rockets. Starters CWebb 25ppg, 10reb, 5ast, 1.7stl, 1.4blk, 49.5% FG Peja 21ppg, 5reb, 2.5ast, 1stl, 48.4% FG, 41.6% 3pt Bibby 14ppg, 5ast, 1stl, 45.3% FG, 37% 3pt Doug "whipped" Christie 12ppg, 4.6reb, 4.2ast, 2.0stl, 46% FG, 35.2% 3pt Vlade 11ppg, 8.4reb, 3.7ast, 1stl, 1.2 blk, 47.2% FG Bench BJax 11ppg, 3reb, 2ast, 1stl, 44.3% FG, 36.1% 3pt Turkeyglue 10ppg, 4.5reb, 2ast, .7stl, 42.2% FG, 36.8% 3pt Pollard 6ppg, 7reb, 1stl, 1blk Thunderbird 5ppg, 3.5reb Gerald Wallace 3ppg Look at that team...it was so freakin well rounded and even though I like the Lakers a lot, I kind of felt bad for the Kings and Adelman for getting robbed by the refs in that game 7. But yeah, that was a great team. Kings 104.6ppg, 46.7% FG, 36.7% 3pt, 19.7 FTM, 23.9 ast, 9stl, 13.8TO Oppts 97.0ppg, 44.0% FG, 33.7% 3pt, 16.0 FTM, 22.4 ast, 7.7stl, 15.2TO I will also submit the top heavy Rockets team of 1997 with: Dream 23ppg, 9reb, 3ast, 1.5stl, 2.2blk Barkley 19ppg, 13.5reb, 4.7ast, 1.3stl Clyde 18ppg, 6reb, 5.7ast, 1.9stl Mario 11ppg, 3reb, 4ast, 1.2stl, 42.% 3pt PG group of the slow footed shooters Baloney Sedale Threat (signed late in the year) Brent Price (broke leg in a win vs the Lakers I believe) Bench Eddie "for 3 YESSSSSS!!!! OH MOTHER!!!!!!!!" Johnson 11ppg Kevin T-Rex Willis 11ppg 7.5reb Honorable Mention: The run and gun Suns during the Nash MVP years. They were athletic and super-talented, but also injured and a little too young/old. The Pacers team that lost to the Pistons team that beat the Lakers in 04. Thank you Pistons by the way, b/c that prevented Malone from getting a ring, although Payton did latch on to Wade 2 years later to get one. That Pacers team was the #1 seed in the East with 61 wins...had Jermaine O'Neal, Ron Artest, Al Harrington, old but deadly Reggie Miller, Jamal Tinsley, Jeff Foster, and Jonathan Bender (pre-injury).
How about the Spurs, pre-Duncan? They had a 3-year stretch where they won 55, 62, and 59 games. Is there any other team that won that many games over a 3-year stretch and didn't make the Finals?
Suns off the top of my head, but I'll look now. 2005 -2007 62 wins, 54 wins, 61 wins, then 55 wins in 2008. Edit: Kings too. 2001-2004. 55 wins, 61 wins, 59 wins, 55 wins Pistons. 2006-2008. 64 wins, 53 wins, 59 wins Sonics. 1993-1995 55 wins, 63 wins, 57 wins. Thank you Mutumbo.
The Nash MVP year Suns. It must of left a bad taste in Nash's mouth not getting to the finals with Amare, Joe Johnson, Marion, Barbosa, McDyess. Though, like someone said before, they were too old and too young. I didn't like it that the 2004 Pacers didn't get to the finals. I think Reggie Miller deserves a ring.
Definitely those exciting SSOL Suns teams that could never manage to beat the Spurs for a sustained period. If we're talking just *ONE YEAR* it definitely has to be our '97 squad. We are all still haunted not only by the outcome of the WC Finals but it also deprived Dream the chance to stick it to MJ and the "asterisk" crowd.
Nash won 2 MVPs in those years. And yes, it was the combo of too old, too young, and too hurt, yet still all meshed together for some great regular season and post season success; just no finals. In 2005, they lost to the NBA champ Spurs. A 22-yr-old Amare averaged 30 and 11 in the playoffs. JBarbosa 22, Joe Johnson 23, and QRich 24, were all young. JJ got injured in the playoffs and Jim Jackson 34 played big minutes in his place and even carried them one of those games vs the Mavs in the WC semis. The only vets on the team were Nash 30 and Matrix 26. In 2006, they made it back to the WC finals and lost to the Mavs in a good series. I hate the Mavs and forever will owe Wade a debt of gratitude, but we all knew that Wade totally got away with a major hook that really helped the Mavs choke that series. 3-0 and the evil Mavs probably would have wrapped it up. I think that Suns team fire power would have gotten past the veteran Heat. But once again, they were too old, too young, and too injured. Amare went down early in the season. Thay had a lot of vets and a lot of 3pt shooting: Tim Thomas, Raja Bell, House, James Jones and Kurt Thomas (from the Q trade). Timmy was a pick up and played huge in the playoffs. Diaw and Barbosa came into their own (Diaw from the JJ trade). Bell was a big FA signing. But Nash was noticeable tiring in the WCF. He was still great, but his legs were wearing out and his jumper wasn't falling like in the season. They head depth in the wings, but couldn't rebound up front. While Diaw, TT, and Matrix all played great, I remember Dallas just out-muscling the Suns for big rebounds and just wearing down the undersized and undermanned front line. And Nash had no legit backup PG. In 2007 they let Tim Thomas go to the Clips, but still had a solid 8 man rotation for the playoffs (Nash, Barbosa, Bell, Matrix, Amare, Kurt Thomas, Boris Diaw, and James Jones). Their fall was in the WC semis when Horry hip checked Nash into the scorers table, leading to the fracas that got Amare and Diaw suspended for getting off the bench. I think they were good enough to win it all that year. And by that I mean win the West because the East sucked. Spurs went on to take the Jazz team that beat the JVG Rockets 4-3 and then Spurs swept the Cavs. Houston, Utah, or Phoenix could have all beaten that Cavs team.
97 Rockets -- Whatever year Sac lost on that last minute shot by Horry when he was on the Lakers is a very close second. Those Seattle teams that lost in the first round would have been tough.
The '85-'86 Lakers. Defending champions who everyone (including Fran Blindbury), except for Rockets fans, thought would come out of the WC. We smoked them in 5 games.
