Comments on: Layups: Ranking the Greatest Playoff Series Ever

By: cort

cort — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 02:12:36 +0000

yea mike that was a key turning point when maxwell went into the crowd. boston had lost 11 in a row at the spectrum before that game and seemed to be unintimidated after that, or fired up.
other key plays in that series:
ML Carr hit 2 winning FTs in the final seconds of game 5;
bird's leaning 16 footer from the right wing that bounced high off the rim and in late in game 6;
mchale's great block AND rebound of andrew toney's drive at the end of game 6 with boston up 1 and on the verge of elimination;
multiple bad passes/turnovers by Dr J in the final minutes of game 7. boston's ferocious defense held philly without a fied goal in the last 5+-minutes of the game!
bird's winning banker in the final minute of game 7 to break the tie for, fittingly, the last basket of the series.

By: Mike Goodman

Mike Goodman — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 11:19:33 +0000

The turning point of the 1981 ECF:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTtxnBFZ88Y

By: AHL

AHL — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 17:34:56 +0000

He should have incorporated a "star power" rating as the 6th metric, even using his beloved PER to help filter out those subjectively bad series and boost the other ones.

By: huevonkiller

huevonkiller — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 17:23:38 +0000

Seem like fair choices, I'm more partial to the 90's and later eras.

By: Cort

Cort — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 01:37:40 +0000

I agree with the top pick. The 1981 ECF was the best series I ever saw for sure. The 1984 Finals the best championship series I've seen. Didnt see 1969 or 1970 Finals but I would guess they are near the top. The 1997-98 Finals were excellent too, but I wouldn't put them quite as high.

By: Greyberger

Greyberger — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 23:56:09 +0000

Tease! He's probably the best writer we have, but nobody gets to read Hollinger unless they can get through the pay wall - and even if it was a one-time fee of one cent some people would never pay.