It’s not terribly surprising that previous generations of NBA players are not as high on the current version of the Golden State Warriors. It’s a vastly different era around the Association — one the Warriors ushered in during their initial championship season back in 2014-15.
In talking about a Warriors team that’s currently aiming for its third consecutive NBA title, former Los Angeles Lakers great and Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal believes that the 2000-to-2002 Lakers would easily defeat the Warriors.
“I think we’d easily win. Other people might feel different, they (the Warriors) might feel different. But we had one of the best teams of all-time in 2001 when we went 15-1 in the playoffs,” Shaq said, via USA Today Sports. “We would’ve gone 16-0 but A.I. (Allen Iverson) went off on us and stepped over Ty Lue.”
We’re not entirely too sure about this. But it is a pretty solid debate. Los Angeles posted a combined 45-13 postseason record during its run of three consecutive titles. Golden State is 48-11 during the postseason in its three championship seasons.
For his part, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr has now posted a 284-72 record in that role. That’s hard to beat.
These debates have been raging for years now. It was just a few seasons back that people were comparing Golden State to the Michael Jordan-led Bulls of the 1990s. That ended when the Warriors dropped their sole Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers following a league-record 73-9 season.