According to Magic Johnson, the Warriors haven’t been dominant long enough to be considered the greatest team in NBA history.
Johnson will allow that Golden State is “in the discussion,” however.
Magic Johnson has thoughts on his "Showtime" Lakers vs. these Warriors vs. Jordan's Bulls: https://t.co/d1TJxJy37W pic.twitter.com/KpargJuooW
— Post Sports (@PostSports) January 30, 2019
Magic says his Showtime Lakers and Michael Jordan‘s Bulls of the 1990s ruled the League for an entire decade during their respective runs, something the back-to-back defending champion Dubs have yet to do.
Per The WaPo:
“It’s an achievement to win 73 games, no question,” Johnson said, referring to the record-setting 2015-16 Golden State Warriors. “But that doesn’t mean that [Michael] Jordan’s Bulls teams weren’t as good as that team or my [1980s Lakers teams] weren’t as good. The Warriors are in the discussion, but think about the runs we had — Jordan winning six [titles], us winning five. We dominated a whole decade. The Warriors haven’t done that yet. You have to do those type of things to be the greatest team of all time to me.”
In Johnson’s estimation, the “Showtime” Lakers peaked in 1986-87, when they won 65 games and their fourth title of the decade.
“That 1987 team stacked up with all of them,” he said. “The starters were so dominant, and our bench was the best bench in basketball. Because of the run-and-gun pace that we played at, Golden State’s teams now mirror our teams more than the Bulls because Michael and them didn’t play fast. We were sitting on the bench in the third quarter and didn’t have to play a lot of fourth quarters because we were so good.”
