# For once, the NBA will have a fresh new champion
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-once-the-nba-will-have-a-fresh-new-champion/943816
**Category:** The Game Room
**Tags:** basketball-nba
**Created:** [June 8, 2021, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-once-the-nba-will-have-a-fresh-new-champion/943816 "2021-06-08T03:28:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2021, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-once-the-nba-will-have-a-fresh-new-champion/943816/1 "2021-06-08T03:28:44Z")
I don’t particularly follow any of the 8 remaining teams in the playoffs. But I’m happy to see that they’re all teams that have either never won a championship, or at least haven’t won it in many decades. A fresh new king will be crowned.
A playoff bracket that doesn’t have the Lakers, Celtics, Cavs, Spurs, Heat or Warriors in it anymore.
Here’s who’s still alive:
**Jazz** - never won
**Clippers** - never won
**Suns** - never won
**Nuggets** - never won
**Nets** - never won
**Bucks** - last won title in 1971
**Hawks** - last won title in 1958
**Sixers** - last won title in 1983
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### Author:  [@Julia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julia)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2021, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-once-the-nba-will-have-a-fresh-new-champion/943816/2 "2021-06-08T08:06:42Z")
My own prediction is Nets vs Nuggets on Finals.
However, after the first Denver game vs. Suns, I have no idea how they will stop Booker and Paul?
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### Author:  [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2021, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-once-the-nba-will-have-a-fresh-new-champion/943816/3 "2021-06-08T13:43:02Z")
> [@Velocity](#):
>
> I don’t particularly follow any of the 8 remaining teams in the playoffs. But I’m happy to see that they’re all teams that have either never won a championship, or at least haven’t won it in many decades. A fresh new king will be crowned.
I noted this in the other NBA thread. I find it delightful.
The NBA is, just off the top of my head, probably the most top heavy of the major leagues in recent years in terms of the same teams accumulating Finals appearances. No other league has anything remotely similar to the Warriors-Cavs four year run, certainly.
There are six NBA teams that have never even been IN a Finals (including the Nuggets and Clippers.) By way of comparison, the equivalent statement can be made of only one MLB team, the Mariners, and four NFL and NHL teams.
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2021, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-once-the-nba-will-have-a-fresh-new-champion/943816/4 "2021-06-08T14:02:52Z")
I like to see new teams at the top, and for their long-suffering fans too finally be rewarded, but I don’t mind the Warriors too much. Weren’t they something of a laughing stock for decades before their recent run of success?
The Cavaliers, too, for that matter.
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### Author:  [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2021, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-once-the-nba-will-have-a-fresh-new-champion/943816/5 "2021-06-08T14:49:46Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#):
>
> Weren’t they something of a laughing stock for decades before their recent run of success?
The Clippers used to hold that position in the 90s - that of the “guaranteed win”, the league’s joke team.
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2021, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-once-the-nba-will-have-a-fresh-new-champion/943816/6 "2021-06-08T15:04:49Z")
I looked up the Warriors’ history. They won the championship in 1947 and '56, when they were the Philadelphia Warriors. Moved to the Bay Area in '62 and won another title in '75. And it was 40 years until their next title in 2015. So not a whole lot of success for a couple generations. I wouldn’t say that their fans are exactly spoiled.
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### Author:  [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2021, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-once-the-nba-will-have-a-fresh-new-champion/943816/7 "2021-06-08T15:28:11Z")
> [@Velocity](#):
>
> **Nets** - never won
Another correction: the Nets won 2 ABA titles; yes, the NBA PTB decided that ABA stats (& presumably championships) count.
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### Author:  [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2021, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-once-the-nba-will-have-a-fresh-new-champion/943816/8 "2021-06-08T15:57:23Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#):
>
> I looked up the Warriors’ history. They won the championship in 1947 and '56, when they were the Philadelphia Warriors. Moved to the Bay Area in '62 and won another title in '75. And it was 40 years until their next title in 2015. So not a whole lot of success for a couple generations. I wouldn’t say that their fans are exactly spoiled.
Sure, but that’s kind of like saying that Bulls fans weren’t spoiled in the late 1990s because Chicago had gone for a long championship drought from their birth in 1966 to 1991. By the late Nineties, many people were already getting weary of the Bulls.
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### Author:  [@Julia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julia)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2021, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-once-the-nba-will-have-a-fresh-new-champion/943816/10 "2021-06-09T07:01:24Z")
What’s your opinion about Jokic who received MVP award today? One more unusual thing for this season.
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### Author:  [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2021, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-once-the-nba-will-have-a-fresh-new-champion/943816/11 "2021-06-09T13:23:57Z")
Seemed like a reasonable choice.
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### Author:  [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2021, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-once-the-nba-will-have-a-fresh-new-champion/943816/12 "2021-06-09T13:47:23Z")
> [@Velocity](#):
>
> **Hawks** - last won title in 1958
And they’ve never won a title in Atlanta – they were based in St. Louis until 1968.
In fact, the 1995 Braves are the only Atlanta major league franchise in any sport to win a championship.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2021, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-once-the-nba-will-have-a-fresh-new-champion/943816/13 "2021-06-09T16:24:00Z")
> [@RickJay](#):
>
> By way of comparison, the equivalent statement can be made of only one MLB team, the Mariners, and four NFL and NHL teams.
Since I am from Michigan, I know that the Lions are one of the teams to never go to the Super Bowl, though they did win the NFL championship before the Super Bowl. I believe the Vikings are one of the others.
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### Author:  [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2021, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-once-the-nba-will-have-a-fresh-new-champion/943816/14 "2021-06-09T16:33:53Z")
The Vikings have made the Super Bowl and lost four times in the 70s. The other three teams are the Browns, Texans, and Jaguars. Both the Browns and Lions won pre-Super Bowl championships.
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### Author:  [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2021, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-once-the-nba-will-have-a-fresh-new-champion/943816/15 "2021-06-09T16:35:27Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#):
>
> I believe the Vikings are one of the others.
Wrong! The Vikings actually went to four Super Bowls in the 70’s, losing every time.
The other NFL teams to never make the Super Bowl are Jacksonville, Cleveland and Houston.
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### Author:  [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2021, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-once-the-nba-will-have-a-fresh-new-champion/943816/16 "2021-06-09T18:51:06Z")
> [@Akaj](#):
>
> > [@Velocity](#):
> >
> > **Hawks** - last won title in 1958
>
> And they’ve never won a title in Atlanta – they were based in St. Louis until 1968.
>
> In fact, the 1995 Braves are the only Atlanta major league franchise in any sport to win a championship
Depends on whether or note you consider Major League Soccer a, er, major league: Atlanta United won the championship in 2018.
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### Author:  [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2021, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-once-the-nba-will-have-a-fresh-new-champion/943816/17 "2021-06-09T19:05:33Z")
Good point – I tend to ignore soccer but I realize it’s absolutely major league to a lot of people.
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### Author:  [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2021, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-once-the-nba-will-have-a-fresh-new-champion/943816/18 "2021-06-09T19:38:16Z")
Yep, the Vikings are the NFC’s Buffalo Bills.
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### Author:  [@Julia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julia)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2021, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-once-the-nba-will-have-a-fresh-new-champion/943816/19 "2021-06-10T06:48:09Z")
Yes, it is, but just look how Phoenix plays well against Jokic. Not every Mvp plays bad like he does. I remember when I played Nba 2k and first used to play Jokic for Nuggets. I even couldn’t imagine how he would progress through years. And now just look [here](https://technifiser.com/nba-ball-stars/), he is on cover among the best players of the league on every top gaming site. What a wonderful career. But still he misses Murray as his the greatest teammate yet.
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### Author:  [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2021, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-once-the-nba-will-have-a-fresh-new-champion/943816/20 "2021-06-10T14:37:31Z")
I’m so happy Phoenix is crushing! Far too many years of being the ass end of the league. Of all the time to have full crowds back - I haven’t heard the arena that loud\* since the days of Nash-Stoudemire.
Jokic is a machine, but even Jordan couldn’t win by himself. He had no support. And I hope it stays that way.
\*unless the lakers are in town.
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### Author:  [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2021, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-once-the-nba-will-have-a-fresh-new-champion/943816/21 "2021-06-10T16:43:27Z")
The Suns scored 123 points without anyone getting 20. The Nuggets’ approach appears to be hoping Jokic will score sixty-five. I know which team I’d bet on.
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