Playoff Curses and Droughts?

[FantasyBallersAssociation]

Any other ones that you guys might know?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWrwynBEkQQ

[CHBB]

Didn't watch it yet so not sure if you mentioned "The Curse of Billy Penn" but basically when the unofficial height limit that no building should be taller than Billy Penn's hat on Philadelphia's City Hall (so that he can look out towards the Delaware) was broken in 1987, people claimed a curse was put on the city's sports teams. I'm sure the fact that they would put a jersey of whichever team went far in the playoffs in a given year on him didn't help haha. The superstition is so strong that when Comcast built their headquarters that became the new city's tallest in 2007, they put a little William Penn on the top beam. Coincidence that the Phillies won the city's first championship in 25 years the next year? Who knows.....

People kind of forget the fact that our teams have had shitty owners who don't care about winning (other than Ed Snider, who probably rivaled Steinbrenner in some ways haha), among other things.

[CHBB]

Ah I see so it was moreso teams who haven't made it or haven't won, etc.

I'll come back to this later but there's reasons for each.

For example.... the Suns with Barkley didn't win entirely due to Jordan. Then the Seven Seconds or Less Suns never really had the defense to win in the postseason. Their best shot was in I believe 06-07, when a VERY controversial ruling by Stern saw them lose their best players for a game vs the Spurs they needed to win.

The Bucks were poorly managed for years, and Redd's injuries killed them. Fact is nobody was beating Kobe's Lakers or Duncan's Spurs back then though.

Timberwolves have also been poorly managed, from the beginning.

Clippers have not built teams well. Blake is overrated as hell. Don't get me started on Austin. They've pissed away tons of underrated talent. And when they were legit (not the out of control 00s teams, I'm talking 80s/90s) they had TERRIBLE injury luck. They drafted Lionel Simmons (one of the best to ever come out of Philly) but he and others would see their careers derailed by injury. And let's face it, none of those teams beat the Celtics, Lakers, or Bulls.

The Knicks to me are another great example of a team whose injury issues killed them in the 90s, as are the Hornets. No coincidence Larry Johnson was on both teams. Not to mention the Magic, the Pistons, the Heat. Those teams all had generational talents who couldn't stay healthy.

[usagre]

For example.... the Suns with Barkley didn't win entirely due to Jordan. Then the Seven Seconds or Less Suns never really had the defense to win in the postseason. Their best shot was in I believe 06-07, when a VERY controversial ruling by Stern saw them lose their best players for a game vs the Spurs they needed to win..

I think it was more Olajuwon than Jordan. Jordan was the roadblock only in '93 but Olajuwon was in their way both in '94 and '95 2nd round. It can be argued that both years that matchup was in essence the NBA finals. I agree about the '07 Suns in that I think that was their year if not for the suspensions. They were rolling against the Spurs and Horry's bump on Nash changed everything. Stern was boxed in and had to follow the letter of the law and make the suspensions because the precedent had been set 10 years earlier in the Knicks-Heat series when the key Knick players were suspended for the same infractions.

[CHBB]

Oh shoot that makes perfect sense. Never even made the connection between the two mass suspensions.

The first Finals I remember watching was that Bulls/Suns one. I'll never forget it. I turn on the TV randomly and it's Game 6!

[usagre]

Yeah that Knick suspension scenario in 1997 was wild. 5 of their key players including their top 2 scorers (Ewing and Houston), sixth man (Starks), backup point guard (Charlie Ward) and starter Larry Johnson were all to miss one game.
With the Knicks up 3-2 and having game 6 at home they chose to have Ewing and Houston serve the game thinking that at worst they would be back for a game 7 in Miami. I was in the Garden that night when the Knicks with just 8 players dressed took the Heat to the wire but lost. Then in game 7 Ewing and Houston returned but Johnson, Starks and Ward had to sit.
To this day I feel they should have played their best players in Game 6 at home and went for the kill. Tim Hardaway and Ewing dueled in game 7 but the Heat ended up winning the series.