i
Go back thru the history of the game. You can look and view the champs every single year, almost all of them, all the ones we are talkin about in here have gone back to back, or at the very worst, were able to reach back to back finals to defend their titles. Bird never won back to back, but he went to FOUR straight Finals at least!!!!! (which is yet another point about making "too many" runs in a row.
Teams RARELY make 4 straight Finals. It's GRUELING. The Celts made it in 84-85-86 and 87. In 87, they were breaking down, they never got back.
LA made it in 82, 83, 84, and 85 and then suddenly got bumped early as hell in 86, they were outta gas. They came back in 87, 88, and in 89 what happened? They went 11-0 to start the playoffs, and then half their starting lineup was done early in the Finals. Both Scott and Magic were knocked out with injury. Those runs take tolls.
MJ made the 3 peat, and took 2 years off to get back and get another 3 peat. Surely you've heard people say they "would have" won 8 straight if he didn't retire. No way. He may have gotten the 4th in 94, but at some point, they would have broken down. It's not like the 60's Celtics where you play one round, then Finals. You have to play 4 rounds every year. That's 16 Playoff series in 4 seasons to make a run at a 4 peat. So when Dunc won in 03, that was LA's 14th playoff series, they were 2-2 and Horry shot a 3 at the buzzer to win game 5 and it rimmed out. If that shot goes in, who knows what happens. But the bottom line was that season, they were on fumes, plain and simple.
Know what 2011 was? LA's 14th playoff series, Kobe, Pau, etc were all on fumes and got drilled by a team you know quite well. I know that you want to simply dismiss what I am saying, but the fact is it was indeed their 14th series, BOTH times. 03 and 2011. As I said, goin to 4 straight Finals is an incredibly difficult task, and if Miami makes the Finals this year, I am positive they won't make it next year, they'll simply need a break to re-charge. It's how the NBA is now.
As for Dunc not repeating, it's just true. He never even made back to back Finals. Bron has, Kobe has, Shaq did, MJ, Hakeem, Bird, Magic, Kareem, Russell* (much diff era back then) even Isiah Thomas made it to back to back Finals. Hell, Jason Kidd made it back to back. The Billups Pistons team made it to back to back Finals. All those players, all those teams, Duncan never did. Don't mean he isn't still great, and a top 10 All Time NBA player, but it's something he never accomplished that many others have. That's all I'm sayin. And like I said, Bird never won back to back either, but he did at least make back to back Finals to try and defend his titles. And making it 4 years straight (as difficult as that is) is a pretty big accomplishment.
