NBA / May 21, 2009 / 12:00 pm

NBA Fantasy Finals: 2006 Heat vs. 2001 Sixers

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The '01 MVP

The '01 MVP

In case you missed it the first two times, our NBA Fantasy Finals have nothing to do with the stat-driven “fantasy basketball” you play online. We’re taking NBA Finals teams throughout history and pitting them against each other to see what you think would happen. Assume both lineups are healthy, and the older team gets homecourt. Today it’s A.I. vs. Flash …

2006 MIAMI HEAT (52-30)
G – Jason Williams (12.3 ppg, 4.9 apg)
G – Dwyane Wade (27.2 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 6.7 apg, 1.9 spg)
F – Antoine Walker (12.2 ppg, 5.1 rpg)
F – Udonis Haslem (9.3 ppg, 7.8 rpg)
C – Shaquille O’Neal (20 ppg, 9.2 rpg)
Bench – James Posey, Alonzo Mourning, Gary Payton, Derek Anderson, Michael Doleac
Coach – Pat Riley

2001 PHILADELPHIA 76ERS (56-26)
G – Eric Snow (9.8 ppg, 7.4 apg)
G – Allen Iverson (31.1 ppg, 4.6 apg, 2.5 spg)
F – George Lynch (8.4 ppg, 7.2 rpg)
F – Tyrone Hill (9.6 ppg, 9.0 rpg)
C – Dikembe Mutombo (11.7 ppg, 12.4 rpg, 2.5 bpg)
Bench – Aaron McKie, Jumaine Jones, Todd MacCulloch, Raja Bell, Matt Geiger
Coach – Larry Brown

Who would win a best-of-seven series?

1998 Bulls vs. 2007 Spurs
1995 Magic vs. 2008 Lakers

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  • A$$Cube aka Phillyyyyyyyyyyyyy

    Snow and/or McKie would make things difficult for Flash who wouldn’t be able to go to the rack very easily with Deke defending the paint. Lynch would kill Toine. Ty Hill and Haslem would do their job and get a lot of rebounds in this defensive-minded series.

    Older Shaq wouldn’t be able to dominate Deke as he actually did in 2K1. It would be a fairer matchup.

    Add to that no one would be able to stay in front of MVP AI, and you have your winner.

    Phillyyyyyyyyyyyyyy in 6.

  • Phillyfanatic

    Sadly, I’m gonna have to say Miami wins this one…due to the matchup advantages….Shaq gets Deke in foul trouble, then we have to rely on MacCulloch (who got abused by Shaq in the Finals that year)…That 6er team had allt he heart in the world so this is definitely a 7 game series coming down to the final minutes in game 7

  • hahns

    heat in 5 ez

  • Steve A

    The fact that this 76ers team took the best Shaq/Kobe squad to 5 games shows something. Miami should win in 6.

  • Sacc

    The heat win in 5 if not sweep. I’m a sixers fan and that team was a fluke the heat bench on the 06 team could prolly push the sixers to 6 or 7

  • QQ

    I hate AI know but I aint gonna call his 2001 season and his team a fluke. People forget how he DOMINATED that season. It’s funny how yall cats call yourselves fans of the game and disregard that Sixers team as a fluke. Damn, what a good fluke being the best team in the East and giving the Lakers (12-0 record before the finals) their only loss in the playoffs.

    I’m picking the Sixers in 6.

    Bell and Snow take turns on Wade.

    Old Deke defending Old Shaq.

    Hill and his not-so-pretty mug take controls of the boards.

    Illadelph in 6.

  • djKianoosh

    That was THE best Shaq/Kobe team and one of the greatest teams of all time. And the Sixers were extremely competitive in all those games with Eric Snow and George Lynch on broken feet. Remember injuries were huge for that sixers team. so that team healthy, I think would have taken the lakers to 6 or 7 or maybe even win it all.

    Snow/Lynch would have slowed down Wade, and that Shaq wasn’t the same force as he was with the Lakers.

    Sixers win in 6.

  • hucklebuck

    As dominating as AI was that year, and as gritty as that team was in 01, I will take the Heat in 6 and here are my main reasons.

    -the BIGGEST-the bench. Alonzo packs a defensive punch, Payton at this age is good enough to factor still, and Posey knockin down the shots would be little better than the defensive minded bench the 76ers had. and that bench would have a hard time scoring.

    -AI and Wade-no one could stop AI, BUT just like against the Lakers AI would need someone else who has a major scoring punch. I think Miami’s defense as a whole would let AI do everything and hold everyone else down.

    -Shaq-yes, he is older and not as much of a force since like 01, BUT he was still a very effective player and would still have a MAJOR advantage over Mutombo and the OVERPAID MacCulloch. Shaq is deciding factor in series.

    Heat in 6.

  • Dennis Castro

    Dime, you forgot to add the following Heat roster additions to the 2006 team:

    Joey Crawford
    Steve Javie
    Tim Donaghy

    Normally, I’d say Sixers in 7, but with those 3 on the Heat payroll that year, I’d say Heat in 6.

  • Ian

    always thought iverson was overrated and got to the finals when the east sucked. Personally this one is the easiest to pick heat in 5 and if wade gets his calls its heat in 2. Not a fluke but not that great that sixers team.

  • Kudabeen

    7 games to the home team. Sixers defensively was a really good and while Deke can’t stop Shaq the Heat filtering offense through Shaq in the condition he was in in 2006 it plays into the Sixers’ hands. Miami wasn’t the kind of shooting team that the Sixers struggled against. At that stage Iverson was getting to the line at will and would have given Wade more than enough to deal with…

    Realistically though. If we are talking about the Finals team that Sixer’s team had so many injuries to overcome just to get that one game. Iverson’s back, thigh, thumb, etc. Snow’s ankle. McKie’s ankle, Lynch was out I think. Todd’s feet.

    It all comes down to Wade, because he turned that Series against the Mavs around HimSelf…He was a Beast. Sixers if healthy had enough bodies to wear him down though…

  • Pig

    It all depends on refs..if they give wade 40 FT’s a game then it’s miami

  • doc

    @sacc-U aint no fucking Sixer fan u a prick that wasnt no fucking fluke.How can u say u a fan and call best record in the East and then making it to the chip while being the ONLY team to beat LA that year in the playoffs.Fuck outta here,u a Net fan.

  • doc

    Sixers in 4.

  • karizmatic

    Miami in 5. Wade can’t be guarded…Shaq was more effective in drawing attention away from people than people give him credit for.

  • doc

    @karizmatic-hell yeah Shaq was important.It be the cats that just watch and play sometimes that think Wade carried that team alone.He scored,but the same dudes say Melo aint the man on his team and he score the same way.Shaq was getting doubled and tripled everytime down the court which is the big reason Wade had his way.See how that lane clogged up for him this playoff year.

  • Ian

    Lol doc true but u gotta admit that ” im a ….. Fan” line at the end of bashing a team is great. Example kobe sucks and is a ballhog oh and im a laker fan.

  • Chaos

    This is probably the hardest match up that we can possibly see….i say heat in 7, all based on home court advantage. i dont see either team defending well against iverson or d-wade so i gotta say it comes down to its secondary scorers. shaq can still muscle the big men but wasnt quite as active as he once was so it would be easier for Deke to stay with him. if antione can make shots then i say they take the series. the miami team just seems old and experience would have to win out. 76ers was just too scrappy of a team to get swept.

  • doc

    @ian-Ai a fucking jack artist that pull his teams down and Im a Sixer fan lol

  • Ian

    lol good use of the line

  • ariesprincess

    Heat in 4…MAYBE 5. Besides AI, who else was there? Eric Snow…HA! George Lynch…WHO? You saw how the Fakers raped them in the finals in 2001…embarassing!

  • King

    Can’t you do this on whatifsports

  • Phileus

    Yeah, and you can also do it on Dime. Wow, the internet is like magic!

    The only team to take a playoff game from one of the top five teams of all time (at home!) versus a team that needed refs and controversy to beat a powder puff West rep? Come on.

    Sixers in five, maybe six. Deke over the hill was better than Shaq over the hill, because Deke was never much of an offensive player anyway. I would take peak Iverson over just-entering-his-prime Wade, and the Sixers supporting cast was mostly not great players but they all played tougher than the Heat dudes did.

  • djKianoosh

    #21 according to the premise of this game, we assume both teams are healthy. The “Fakers raped them in the finals”? how so? the sixers were the ONLY team that playoffs to beat them. and they were agonizingly close in two other games. all this while Lynch was out, Snow and McKie were hobbled by injuries and AI was forever hurt that year. AI was MVP. McKie was 6th man of the year. Brown was coach of the year.

    ya’ll want to sleep on that Sixers team like it wasn’t anything just cause they lost. but they lost to one of the all-time greatest teams ever.

    When HEALTHY, that Sixers team was insanely good. AI was easily getting 40-50 and the team defense was sensational. Snow and Lynch were defensive stoppers. And Lynch and Mutombo cleaned the boards.

    lot of you are underestimating that team, that’s all I’m saying.

    Sixers in 5.

  • doc

    And Tum-Tum was Defensive player of the year.We swept that award shit.Recognize.

  • http://nbaroundtable.wordpress.com/ Dave

    Heat in 5

    Wade would outplay Iverson. Deke would have his hands full with Shaq and wouldn’t be able to provide a major deterrent in the paint, Wade is too good of a passer and would find Shaq for easy baskets if Deke was helping.

  • Rod

    I’d take an AI in his prime over a young Flash. There’s no way in hell J-Will or GP could check him and even if the sixers cant contain Wade, at least they have bodies to tire him. Deke was defensive player of the year, he would cancel out an old and out of shape Shaq. People forget the Heat bench was crap till the very end when Zo n GP stepped up a few times in the Finals, while the sixers bench had the 6th man of the year (Mckie), a young annoying raja bell, and geiger who was a good shooting center.
    So for the frontcourt both teams are about the same, the backcourt I’d give a super slight edge to the sixers and for the bench, I’d give the advantage to the sixers.

    Sixers in 6.

  • doc

    @Dave-So DPOY Deke would have trouble stopping Shaq who average like 10 on Damp that year.

  • jr

    Sixers in 5 games nobody an i mean nobody except T.lue could slow the MVP down that year sorry wade sixers in 5

  • Alex Akopyan

    Heat in 5. I can’t even believe for the life of me that this is a serious debate. Jason Williams is the white man version of Allen Iverson. Dwyane Wade is way more efficient as a scorer than Allen Iverson, even though AI may avg a few more ppg. D Wade’s field goal %age is 50% to AI’s 40%. No small difference! D Wade is also much more of a threat passing the ball than AI. Antonio Walker still had solid all-around skills at the time. Udonis Haslem & Tyrone Hill is pretty much a wash at the Power Forward spot. The 06′ Shaquille O’Neal was only a yr removed from his prime, so I don’t see Dikembe Mutombo shutting him down. Mutombo gives the 76ers more of a defensive presence on Shaq than that of what the either the Pacers or Nets had, and is a little bit better rebounder & shot blocker than Shaq, but Shaq still scores 20 against single coverage in this matchup. Keep in mind that Alonzo Mourning is almost as tough defensively as Mutombo (Hoya brothers), and when Pat Riley brings Gary Payton (the Glove) & James Posey in off the bench, neither Eric Snow nor Aaron McKey could guard stay with those 2 if they have to guard D Wade. Plus, Payton, Posey or Wade would make Iverson work to get off descent looks, as all of 3 them could make an All-NBA Defensive squad. Riles would probably have them take turns guarding Iverson, so they stay fresh. Philadelphia has only 2 players averaging double figures in scoring to Miami’s 4. Miami has just as many rebounders & defenders, but a lot more offensive firepower.

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