Who would win if the 1986 Celtics could play the 2022 Celtics in the NBA Finals?

Who would win if the 1986 Celtics could play the 2022 Celtics in the NBA Finals?

  • 1986 Celtics in 4 games

    Votes: 9 42.9%

  • 1986 Celtics in 5 games

    Votes: 6 28.6%

  • 1986 Celtics in 6 games

    Votes: 3 14.3%

  • 1986 Celtics in 7 games

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 2022 Celtics in 4 games

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 2022 Celtics in 5 games

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 2022 Celtics in 6 games

    Votes: 2 9.5%

  • 2022 Celtics in 7 games

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Zombies

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • thomas144 wouldn't let them use his time machine

    Votes: 1 4.8%
  • Total voters
    21

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86 Celtics in 4 by 1986 refereeing. 86 Celtics in jail if 2022 refereeing. The jail would come from frustration as the ref's awarded countless fouls on flops and marginal contact. In 1986 rules, McHale owns down low, Robert Williams is a very good shot blocker but he would fall for the 3rd McHale move and be out of position. DJ shuts down Tatum. Smart on Bird is an embarrassment for 2022. Bird calls his first 10 shots on Smart (and hits them) He also calls the last shot and hits that too. Chief is the defensive rebounding presence and Danny and Brown beat each other to death. Oh yeah, and Walton is the 6th man. Bird in his prime, 1 home loss, McHale and Walton injury free. 1986 wins 4 games but only take 3 games to do it.
 
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HAMMERMILL said:
This guy was pretty good too.
I loved watching the Hawks bench near the end of the game.
Fratello hawk's head coach was pissed at his bench for their reaction.
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I remember this game like it was yesterday. Man am I old.

If you watch nothing else, watch the Hawks bench reaction to Bird's shot at the 5:05 mark. Unreal.
 
fulltilt said:
86 Celtics in 4 by 1986 refereeing. 86 Celtics in jail if 2022 refereeing.
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This is actually both funny and a great point. Which team gets to bring the rules? The real rules form 1986 or the farce we see out there today?
 
fulltilt said:
86 Celtics in 4 by 1986 refereeing. 86 Celtics in jail if 2022 refereeing.
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Funny but so true.

The concept of this crew guarding McHale, Parrish and/or Walton down low on the post escapes me. I can't imagine.
The concept of that crew keeping up with this crew's running style for 60 minutes escapes me, too.
Bird would get his points & Tatum would be fine.
Rebounding would go to the '86 crew.
Toughness and will would go to the '86 crew.
Speed and mobility would go to this '22 crew.
No easy answer but I'd bet on '86 if I had to choose.
 
If you let the '86 team play zone, they'd need a couple games to adjust, but they'd win it.

And the 86 team could (and loved to) get out and run. Their conditioning is suspect by today's standards. Bird and DJ in a zone, with Tatum & Brown driving the lane...Bird would be threatening double digit steals every night.

22 doesn't have the defense in the post to stop 86 from scoring pretty much at will, but the 86 bigs couldn't consistently defend on the perimeter. I think you pick your poison and live with certain players taking open 3s. Like Smart - just dare him to slip into the role of a main scorer, because that only helps your defense. Pound the rock inside, get Horford and RW in foul trouble, and dominate. 22 wins 2 games when they get hot and shoot 45% from 3.
 
For what its worth...This isn't a diss of the currents celtics ,But that team was special.

I actually was there when they played the rockets in the championship(nose bleed seats), when the "we want la" chant started.
Had to be demoralizing for the rockets, that the team you just beat, was getting respect. .you. .None
 
Coming to the present,
Just as long as this current team has the same heart as that team back then...it will go well.

I picked the Thomas 144 option. And hope he's doing well.
 
TommyD420 said:
I don't see a ton of missed shots, because I don't see who can defend Tatum and Brown. I'm assuming they double Tatum, but DJ can only guard one guy, and he's 6'1".

I don't see the 86 team getting out and running like they'd want to, because of the 22 Celtics transition defense, and while I think the 86 team would own the boards for sure, Parish/McHale/Walton never guarded anyone more than 10 feet from the basket. They've got to go get out on Horford and G Williams, or they'll be shooting wide-open corner 3s the whole game. And when they get out, that leaves driving lanes for Brown especially, and Tatum.

I do think it's a close series, but I think it boils down to having 5 decent shooters from long range vs. 2, and the 86 team's bigs having to defend waaaay differently than they ever had to. I can see McHale wearing guys out on the block too, and that might carry them for stretches, but eventually they'd have to abandon it. I think it would be a contested series, for sure, just because of how good Bird was, he's by far the best player on the floor, at least offensively. Like, there's a large gap between he and Tatum.
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DJ would cover brown. And brown would turn it over ten times. Dj covered jordan. He covered all the other teams best players. jaylen brown would be no problem for DJ.
 
HAMMERMILL said:
This guy was pretty good too.
I loved watching the Hawks bench near the end of the game.
Fratello hawk's head coach was pissed at his bench for their reaction.
Click to expand...
Saw that game. I sat there in amazement. ❤️❤️
 
aloyouis said:
I remember this game like it was yesterday. Man am I old.

If you watch nothing else, watch the Hawks bench reaction to Bird's shot at the 5:05 mark. Unreal.
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That was awesome. Seeing the Hawks players jumping around with astonishment when he makes that off balance three point shot after being fouled was amazing.
 
patriotspride said:
DJ would cover brown. And brown would turn it over ten times. Dj covered jordan. He covered all the other teams best players. jaylen brown would be no problem for DJ.
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To be fair, Jordan put up 63 points in a playoff game with DJ covering him (and still lost).
 
patriotspride said:
DJ would cover brown. And brown would turn it over ten times. Dj covered jordan. He covered all the other teams best players. jaylen brown would be no problem for DJ.
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DJ cant cover everyone.

You're either going to have Tatum or Brown on a minus defender, and Average Al would have nights like he had on Thursday.
 
TommyD420 said:
DJ cant cover everyone.

You're either going to have Tatum or Brown on a minus defender, and Average Al would have nights like he had on Thursday.
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the 86 celtics mop the floor with the current team. with or without DJ.
 
I think the longer you're removed from the 86 team(or any great player/team), the more myth-like they become, it's just how our brains work. My remembrance of Bird is that is was rare he ever missed a shot even though in reality he missed over half of them, or that he never had a bad shooting game in the playoffs like Tatum did on Thurs night but he had several of them. But like Tatum he still helped in other big ways on those days. I guess it's fun to debate who could beat who but really the only measurement is against their peers of that era. They are the best team ever because how much better they were than teams of the 80s, but I don't believe for a second that team could keep up with today's athletes, and with how the game is played today. Bird excluded of course, guys that special could play in any era.
 
TommyD420 said:
DJ cant cover everyone.

You're either going to have Tatum or Brown on a minus defender, and Average Al would have nights like he had on Thursday.
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86 front court would dominate on both ends of the court. Nobody to stop Bird/McHale. Simply nobody. I think people forget how dominant they were. Add in Parrish and Walton.
 
aloyouis said:
86 front court would dominate on both ends of the court. Nobody to stop Bird/McHale. Simply nobody. I think people forget how dominant they were. Add in Parrish and Walton.
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So Marcus Smart can handle Curry to Giannis, but can't handle Ainge or Johnson? Come on now lol
 
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