NBA Fantasy Finals: ‘95 Magic vs. ‘08 Lakers
Young Diesel
No sports lends itself to the “If” game more than basketball. Because so much of one man’s success depends on his teammates, because different eras are so hard to compare, and because none of us really knows as much as we think we do, basketball arguments almost always break down into a series of “If this” (If Kobe was on the Cavs…) and “If that” (If Stockton didn’t have Mailman…) and “What if?” (What if Mike hadn’t retired?)
Matching up different teams from different eras is the ultimate “If” exercise, but it’s also irresistible. As a kid I loved those NFL Films shows where they’d do stuff like pit the ’70s Steelers against the ’80s Niners, and try to make it look like a real game. What would happen if Mel Blount guarded Jerry Rice? What if Joe Montana had to face the Steel Curtain? Hypothetical arguments for days.
In that tradition, these Fantasy Finals have nothing to do with the stat-driven “fantasy basketball” played on the web. Instead, we’re taking various NBA Finals teams throughout history and pitting them against each other to see what you think would happen. (Assume both lineups are healthy, older team gets homecourt.) First up? It’s gotta be Shaq vs. Kobe…
1995 ORLANDO MAGIC (57-25)
G – Penny Hardaway (20.9 ppg, 7.2 apg)
G – Nick Anderson (15.8 ppg)
F – Dennis Scott (12.9 ppg)
F – Horace Grant (12.8 ppg, 9.7 rpg)
C – Shaquille O’Neal (29.3 ppg, 11.4 rpg, 2.4 bpg)
Bench – Brian Shaw, Jeff Turner, Donald Royal, Anthony Bowie, Tree Rollins
Coach – Brian Hill
2008 LOS ANGELES LAKERS (57-25)
G – Derek Fisher (11.7 ppg, 2.9 apg)
G – Kobe Bryant (28.3 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 5.8 apg)
F – Vladimir Radmanovic (8.4 ppg)
F – Pau Gasol (18.8 ppg, 7.8 rpg)
C – Andrew Bynum (13.1 ppg, 10.2 rpg, 2.1 bpg)
Bench – Lamar Odom, Jordan Farmar, Sasha Vujacic, Trevor Ariza, Ronny Turiaf
Coach – Phil Jackson
Who would win a best-of-seven series?
May 19th, 2009 at 10:19 am
Ballin 305 says:
Lmao at ‘08 derek fisher trying to gaurd ‘95 penny. That right there sums up the series for me.
May 19th, 2009 at 10:26 am
Giacomo says:
‘95 shaq would eat pau and bynum alive. conservatively your looking at 35ppg, 15rpg and 3+blocks
May 19th, 2009 at 10:27 am
Ashlov says:
Easy call. Final moments of Game 7, Nick Anderson bricks two free throws, and the Lakers win.
May 19th, 2009 at 10:27 am
chester says:
i’m betting for the magic to win by game 5.since penny is in his prime by that year and shaq is a monster nightmare for gasol and bynum…i bet shaq will break records in blocks since bynum is just a bust..ayt
May 19th, 2009 at 10:29 am
QQ says:
Damn, two teams that destroyed all positive expectations for them.
‘95 Magic – Cats were saying that it is common sense that the best team in the East would destroy Dream’s older, number 6 seeded Rockets. Hmmm… The Rockets apparently had an argument with common sense the day before.
‘08 Lakers – Last year’s favorite. Damn. Because the Lakers lose, the Celtics (and their scrubs) were tricked into thinking that they can scream about anything because they won, making them the most annoying champions ever.
I gonna go with the Magic. Lil Penny and Young Shaq were just too awesome for the Lakers LOL.
May 19th, 2009 at 10:31 am
SJ says:
Magic no doubt
May 19th, 2009 at 10:33 am
chee4three says:
Orl has no bench. Lakers deeper. Nick and Penny can take turn checking kobe. Shaq would eat up inside since lakers are not “physical”. Grant could do decent job on gasol..I’ll take Magic in 6.
May 19th, 2009 at 10:45 am
doc says:
I got Shaq and Penny busting that ass.That LA team to soft when its all said and done and that Orlando team came from the end of the non pussy era.
May 19th, 2009 at 10:53 am
got'em says:
ugh…Young Shaq is like Dwight Howard right now, but with a slightly better post up game, young shaq albeit is a quicker but there are similarities in pau’s game that scream the ‘dream’
Pau will pull Shaq out of the paint by staying up on the free throw extended thus opening the lanes penetration. Shaq will get his no doubt containing anfernee which was no easy task in 95′ but i’m sure ‘08 KB24 would be up to the task, or at the very least nullify his scoring by scoring the same amount, therefore the wild card is once again L.O. should he go off, which would be easy considering either D. Scott/Horace would guard him, they by all accounts should be eaten up. Lakers in 5 should L.O. show up.
I’m not even mentioning bynum b/c i’m going on the assumption that he’s out, In this series if he were healthy he would come off the bench to split time with Pau in containing Shaq…L.A. is just too deep.
Youth and lack of depth is what killed that team in 95, also the defensive liabilities and d scott, and the late game ‘heroics’ in mr. anderson.
May 19th, 2009 at 11:14 am
karizmatic says:
This is a very good matchup. I’d have to go with Orlando for the following reasons. It is important to note how good Penny was back then. This was the Orlando team that beat Jordan and Pippen. Of course we put the asterisk there because Jordan had just come back from retirement.
But That being said Penny at the time was being hailed as the next Magic or Jordan…the two best young perimeter players at the time were Grant Hill and Penny. That being said I believe if Orlando could have handled Jordan and Pippen, then could have Handled Kobe, whether Anderson or Penny guarded him. We’re talking about young Shaq then too. There is no one on the Lakers that could have handled Shaq whatsoever.
In addition the Magic played better defense as a unit than the Lakers ever will. In the post, Horace Grant was one of the leagues best defenders at the time and would have given Pau Gasol all he could handle. Dennis Scott and Vladimir Radmanovic is a wash and Nick Anderson or Penny would kill Derek Fisher.
The Lakers have the advantage off the bench though and Lamar Odom is a serious x factor, but Bowie was physical and might be able to give Odom problems. All that being said. Orlando would probably win it in 7 with home court advantage.
May 19th, 2009 at 11:23 am
SWAT says:
ok first got’em…tht is blasphemy…and im hoping i misread tht…but i kno you just did not compare Gasol to Hakeem the dream…nah got be a typo.
anyway magic in 6. to big to fast…penny and kobe would cancel each other out but shaq would be too much for bynum.
May 19th, 2009 at 11:38 am
Sanpitch says:
i agree with SWAT, please tell me that got ‘em (post #9) made a typo! “…but there are similarities in pau’s game that scream the ‘dream’ “. you are a complete fool if you think there are ANY similarities between pau and the dream! the only similarity would be that they both wear their teams jersey.
this matchup of the magic and lakers would be awesome. orlando has no bench, and shaq would destroy the lakers. you can bet your ass shaq would drop kobe on his ass if he drove the lane thereby, making kobe a jump shooter which would benefit the magic. lakers have more depth, but when nick anderson and dennis scott start launching 3’s it would spread the court more. the magic don’t really have anyone to guard kobe. they would probably stick penny on him.
i would go with the magic in 6.
May 19th, 2009 at 11:42 am
hahns says:
i think before everyone crowns orlando in this matchup, dont we have to remember that this same team got swept by the rockets?
shaq and penny were both still young and i dont know if they’re defense can stop kobe. my guess is that penny wouldnt be putting up the same numbers playing against ariza and kobe on defense. and as always, if odom can get involed in the offense, hes going to be a handful for the orlando defense.
that being said, i still take orlando in seven. but its not as clear cut as everyone says.
May 19th, 2009 at 11:44 am
Banga says:
the laker would win…
Kobe and Penny would go at each other all night and shaq would get his points.. but he would have to gaurd Pau, Lamar and Bynum meaning that he’ll be in foul trouble the whole game
May 19th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
hucklebuck says:
I’m going with the Magic
-given the Lakers bench would be more deeper, the starters, even with Kobe Bryant, favors the Magic. Shaq would hammer the Lakers, Penny would eat Fisher and be able to do anything he wanted to, and when they switch Kobe on him, Penny would rack up assists to Scott, Anderson, and lane drop offs to Grant and Shaq
-defensively, if they play with the ‘95 rules, Anderson, who played Michael Jordan as well as you can guard Michael Jordan (slightly under John Starks in my book), Anderson would frustrate Kobe more than Battier and Artest.
-Magic in 7
May 19th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Ian says:
Hahns yes same team that got sweept but houston also would beat the lakers, now what have the lakers proven?
To whoever said that they need to put an asterix because jordan just came back goh with that bs would you ask for one if jordan won that year? If people were going to start with bs excuses he shoulda stayed home. He played he lost period.
Magic win this thing easy penny and kobe go at it while shaq destroys gasol and bynum.
May 19th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Big V says:
Orlando. Penny/Kobe is a wash and the rest of the starters for Orlando are better than the Lakers.
You could argue about the bench, but the fact is that Orlando is probably an even younger team at this point than LA and would have the legs to sustain them through a long series.
May 19th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
bsteezy3 says:
I’m obviously biased, but I’m goin’ with the ‘95 Magic here. Gasol and Bynum would not be able to mess with a young, hungry Shaq. And our shooters were deadly–Dennis Scott (aka 3-D) was better than most people remember. A young Penny Hardaway (before his injury!), Nick Anderson (before the “Ultimate Choke Job” against the Rockets), and “The Missing Link” Horace Grant. No way the Lakers stop them…
May 19th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
bsteezy3 says:
Plus, Nick ANderson was a heck of a defender. He guarded MJ so many times, I’m sure he could handle Kobe (hey, I didn’t say STOP Kobe, but he would give him a hard time).
May 19th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Dagomar says:
hahahha wow. Lakers are deeper, granted, and Kobe would score at will. But Penny against Fisher would be a joke. And Shaq? People forget how insanely dominant he used to be. He would obliterate everything, maybe even tear down the basket. Magic in 5, maybe 6.
May 19th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
dk says:
@ DIME
This is obviously a trick question. There is not enough information to answer it. Do we have the refs from ‘95 or ‘08?
May 19th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
chaos says:
Orlando in 6. Remember they hadn’t changed the rules for people who check shaq, and that shaq was a lot quicker and more agile than he is now and more athletic than anyone on the lakers team that would be guarding him. Pau, L.O. And turiaf would literally bounce off him and because he wouldn’t be checking LA’s best offensive post player (pau and LO) he could concentrate on stopping bynum and playing help D if someone just so happen to have driven into the lane. Kobe would have trouble being guarded by anderson and grant would contain pau(grant was one of the best interior defenders at the time). Lakers bench would have to make the difference if they wanted to win and penny would have to make anyone on him pay dearly
May 19th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
SWAT says:
ummm chaos…Turiaf doesnt play for the lakers anymore
May 19th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
SWAT says:
sorry had to re-read the post. chaos my bad.
May 19th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
ianodelaleza says:
@ got em
dude, shaq at LSU had a far more advanced post up game than dwight has now
May 19th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
SWAT says:
someone had said tht this is the same orlando squad tht got swept by the rockets…true but we had 2 superstars in drexler and olajuwon…plus kenny smith breaking records with his threes…robert horry, sam cassell, mario elie…AND really we were just hungry for tht title. i think the magic playing against anyone else would be a W.
May 19th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
PWEEZY says:
PRIME PENNY AND SHAQ and the X FACTOR 3D Dennis Scott
Beat them in 5 games…Showtime Magics in mid 90’s
Shaq’s music album total Kobe’s album as well.
May 19th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Rafa23 says:
lol @ kobe and penny would be a wash. not 95 penny, maybe 96 or 97.
and the magic have no bench at all. but there is no way they could at least handle shaq. should be close. homecourt wins.
May 19th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Rafa23 says:
btw, wasn’t the 3 point line closer that year? would make the lakers shooter better than they were in 08.
May 19th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
SparkyJ23 says:
This is the magic that at the time they were calling them the best starting 5 in basketball history if i remember rightly.
If nick the quick don’t brick free throws i’ll take em over Kobe’s Lakers.
May 19th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
K Dizzle says:
We gonna play this game again. Young Shaq, Young Penny, past his prime Horace and we know how the youngins felt about each other right before they got swept in the finals. Shoot, didn’t shaq bounce for LA on the first thing smokin after the next season? Versus Young AB, in his prime Kobe, almost in his prime Pau, x-factor Lamar. Assumin the starters are a wash and the Laker bench is obviously deeper, it’s gonna come down to coachin and homecourt. Phil vs. Brian Hill? lol Nick Anderson could hold Kobe? that is some comedy. Dude couldn’t slow down a past his prime Clyde, but he gonna slow down Kobe? Magic couldn’t guard Horry, they can’t stop Ariza and Odom. Horace Grant in his prime never stopped the top power forwards. His Bulls squads were like the Celtics and played good team defense so that if you even thought about gettin past your man, there was 4 dudes waitin to let you know what was up. Ho G got torched by Kemp, Barkley, Malone on the regular and so since I consider Pau one of the top 5 4-men in the l and Horace was past his prime in 95, this won’t even be fair. Dudes love waxin sentimentality. And I loved Penny and Shaq back in the day, but this needs to be said: Penny was in his 2ND season and Shaq was in his 3rd. Last year’s Laker squad had paid dues. We’d been beat down by the Spurs and the Suns and finally broke thru to lose to the Celts in 6…which is better than gettin swept by an aging Rockets squad. Shaq and Penny gonna get their numbers…like they did against Houston, but Lakers a better team overall. Lakers in 6
peace
May 19th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
jackass says:
“the Celtics (and their scrubs) were tricked into thinking that they can scream about anything because they won, making them the most annoying champions ever.”
Laughing my ass off!!!!
May 19th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Ian says:
K
“Ho G got torched by Kemp, Barkley, Malone on the regular” who didnt get torched by them???
May 19th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
got'em says:
similarities that scream ‘dream’ … similarities meaning not exact, better, or worse, just similar, you could clearly see their post moves are well progressed vice a ground n’ pound a la shaq, each of the two had well developed go to post moves, extended jumpers that you had to respect, and high basketball IQ.
neither the dream nor pg would beat you to death backing you down with sheer force there’s a certain finesse about their repertoire of post moves that makes each lethal and tough guard for a power type player like a young shaq,
I’m going off of memory here but the ‘dream’ destroyed Young Shaq, I’m not saying that Pau would do the same it would erroneous of me to make that statement, I’m just saying for the sake of the this argument (95 ORL vs 08 LA) Pau’s impact on the game would generate at least 1/3 of the production the ‘dream’ would, enough to effect shaq on the defensive end to bait him into fouls and bring him out of the paint b/c of his range which would open up the triangle for cutters that pau can hit time and time again for high percentage field goals.
You could make a case for the ‘Dream’ as a top 5 C of all-time, PG would never in his wildest imagination crack top 5 all-time
May 19th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
David Brandon says:
@dk,
LOL, for real. does kobe get to elbow nick anderson in the face and get away with it?
May 19th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
JEH says:
It’s easy to look @ the 95 Magic and think that young Shaq + Penny = Easy Win…but I tend to believe that the overall talent level of the NBA increase with every passing year. A 1995 NBA scrub would be a D league regular in 2009. Not to say that there wasn’t exceptional talent then…but my money would be on the 08 Lakers.
May 19th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Luigi says:
DUDE. Penny in 95 was the equivalent of Gilbert Arenas and Ron Artest. dude was SICKNASTY good.. him n KB would go at it every game. so that cancels each other out. then Anderson n Fish…man Dereks too small to fuck with Nick. idk what Vlad rad is doing there but yeah he gets his ass smoked…Shaq beats Bynum AND Gasol. because Young Shaq was better than Dwight + Yao. so im taking the Magic in 7… why? because Kobe wont let his team be embarrased like that again. n that i mean vs Boston
May 19th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Ranjit C says:
THE LAKERS GET SWEPT IN FOUR (by the way I AM A LAKERS FAN AND A REALISTIC ONE). SHAQ WILL JUST DESTROY GASOL AND BYNUM TO THE TUNE OF ATLEAST 35 ppg, 18 rpg, 4+ blocks !!!! Not a chance for the lakers. What, with Radmonovic in the starting 5 ??????? The league might have to intervene and probably not let SHAQ play just to stop Gasol and Bynum from embarrassing themselves so much that they retire out of humiliation !!!!
May 19th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Ranjit C says:
and by the way who was that retard who compared dwight to shaq !!!!! A rookie shaq would eat dwight now, chew him up, spit on him and run over his escalade over the mess !!!!!
May 19th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Kermit the Washington says:
Why does everyone get so pissed every time someone compares Dwight to a Young Shaq?
I don’t know if you guys actually REMEMBER young Shaq, but the thing that sticks out the most to me was that the biggest criticism he faced was the fact that he was ALL DUNKS AND LAYUPS, NO POST MOVES for his first few years. In other words, like Dwight Howard is now. And then there were more than a few games where he would be not so “dominant”, and then he would later blame it on not getting enough touches…hmmmm….like…Dwight…Howard?
It’s not to say that Young Shaq would lose to Dwight in a game of one on one, or that Dwight is better than Shaq, it’s just to say that they are DUMB SIMILAR. How can you say they aren’t??!?
May 19th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
LayupDrill says:
95 Magic in 7
May 19th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Big Island says:
@everyone saying Dwight is a young Shaq. Stop it. Just stop it. Shaq put up those numbers against a much better league for centers at the time. Hakeem, David Robinson, Ewing, Smits. He has/had more moves than Dwight and they just ended up being dunks because he is HUGE. Dwight is a bigger Ben Wallace. Dwight had trouble against Perkins. PERKINS!!!!!
Bynum would be dunkbait. Horace could still play at that point and he would guard Gasol, don’t think Shaq would. Penny was NICE. Dennis Scott pee’d on people. Hakeem was a beast. Houston had Drexler still scoring 20+ a game. Mad Max, Cassell, A jumping Horry, Otis Thorpe… That was a good squad and Orlando just got beat. The Lakers would go down, maybe 6, but I say 5.
May 19th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
isotope says:
Wait you guys talking about Fisher couldnt hold Penny. Who held him in 95? Kenny Smith? Really. Kenny and Cassell are THAT much better than Fisher/Farmer? Y’all funny.
May 19th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
AY says:
why is bynum on that list? he didn’t play in the playoff last year. You take bynum out and stick odom in there, the lakers would be dead because gasol would have to guard shaq.
May 19th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
Lakers Nation says:
Dwight is Shaq without the post moves . . stop the comparisons until Dwight gets a real offensive game!
May 19th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
Ian says:
no iso you are funny penny would have do whatever he wanted with those 2
May 20th, 2009 at 12:48 am
jay says:
shaq would own the la front court! kobe vs penny would be sick..i would say kobe guards penny! if i am not mistaken…in 96 in the magic classic..kobe took the challenge of guaring kobe and went off from what i remember..sick match up!
May 20th, 2009 at 9:29 am
dragonyeuw says:
Interesting series. The difference is Shaq. Kobe and a young Penny would be interesting, obviously Kobe has the edge but Penny in 95/96 weren’t a slouch. I say Magic in 6 with homecourt, or 7 without homecourt.
May 21st, 2009 at 3:35 am
Dave says:
I’m not including Bynum on that team. It’s not right. He didn’t play a minute in the playoffs, heck he didn’t even play a game with Pau Gasol. He needs to be left out.
—————————————-
Sweep … Magic to sweep the Lakers.
There’s not a snowball’s chance in hell that Pau Gasol could keep Shaquille O’Neal from scoring 40+ppg in that series. None. Pau is easily the most inept defender Shaq would have faced in the finals — at least for defending a 300lb mammoth like Shaquille which Pau simply cannot do.
Shaq would feast on the Lakers — 40+ points per game and 15+ rebounds.
July 24th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
Alex Akopyan says:
JEH says:
It’s easy to look @ the 95 Magic and think that young Shaq + Penny = Easy Win…but I tend to believe that the overall talent level of the NBA increase with every passing year. A 1995 NBA scrub would be a D league regular in 2009. Not to say that there wasn’t exceptional talent then…but my money would be on the 08 Lakers
Hey JEH. We’re not discussing a team from the 50s here. In 95′, the avg NBA height & weight was the same as what it is now (6′7, 225ibs). Here, we’re talking about a team from just this very past decade. There are many players that played in 95′ that are still in the league as players today. Penny Hardaway was just as athletic as Tracy McGrady (4.2 40 & 42in vertical). The 95′ Shaq was more of a physical specimen than any player in the NBA today. I don’t know that I quiet put the 95′ Penny on the level of 08′ Kobe, as Penny was only beginning to hit his prime at age 23 at that time. He was truly a magician with the ball; too bad we’ll never know just how truly great he would’ve become. Kobe Bryant is this decade’s version of Michael Jordan, and could single-handedly will his team to victory. The 95′ Magic may have had more firepower with Nick Anderson, Dennis Scott, Horace Grant, Donald Royal & Brian Shaw, but I think the 08′ Lakers just have too much depth on that great bench, are too clutch, plus Phil Jackson. I’m a diehard Magic fan, but I have to say Lakers in 6.
July 28th, 2009 at 8:51 am
svigi says:
isotope says:
“Wait you guys talking about Fisher couldnt hold Penny. Who held him in 95? Kenny Smith? Really. Kenny and Cassell are THAT much better than Fisher/Farmer? Y’all funny.”
Actually they couldn’t guard Penny he was the only one who wasn’t hold by the rockets. Hakeem played with Shaq , Nick lost his confidence after the infamous freethrow accident,and Dennis was just tired overall.They were too young i guess and the Rockets wanted it better.Drexler and Olajuwon treated it like it was the last chance to win it all and they really fired up the team.In every game somebody else step up to Drexler and Hakeem.Cassel had a big game,Horry had big games,Elie and Kenny Smiths looked like they reborn and found some youth.Ok thats enough of the memories:P Magic in 5.Man it would be great to see this match happens.
November 7th, 2009 at 8:27 am
Andi says:
The ability of penny (in his prime) was a combination of michael jordan and magic johnson.
The young shaq was a monster that could break records.
Magic wins… no doubt!