During the playoffs and especially in the bubble last season, it seemed like anything anyone talked about was asterisks, and if this season "deserved" one due to the plethora of injuries. So, I decided to see if I could technically give an asterisk to literally every NBA Champion from 2021 all the way to 1947, just to show how fucking stupid the argument is.
Note - Even though the NBA didn't exist until 1950, they consider the 3 previous years of the BAA as official history, and list it as such.
Once I hit the early 1960s and 50s, due to there being practically no real information regarding those seasons besides a very brief overview and recap (some cases not even that), most of those seasons I had to stare at box scores and read team histories and see game by game if there were injuries and fall back to shooting% or FT%, which is why a lot of the asterisks pre-1960s-ish are pretty fickle.
2021 Milwaukee Bucks: Nets injuries let the Bucks cakewalk to the finals, and the Suns weren't real contenders and only made the finals cause of injuries to everyone they played.
2020 LA Lakers: Bubble ring. No crowds, no travel. Heat had injuries that made the finals a cakewalk.
2019 Toronto Raptors: Klay and KD both going down with injuries.
2018 Golden State Warriors: CP3 getting injured and the Rockets going 0-27 in game 7.
2017 Golden State Warriors: Warriors were down 20+ points before Kawhi went down with his injury.
2016 Cleveland Cavs: Draymond got suspended cause LeBron whined to the league, and Bogut went down with injury.
2015 Golden State Warriors: Kevin Love and Kyrie both were injured.
2014 San Antonio Spurs: Conveniently malfunctioning A/C forced LeBron to leave game 1 and deal with cramps.
2013 Miami Heat: Horribly weak East, Spurs missed insanely easy clutch free throws, and Ray Allen hit the shot of his life.
2012 Miami Heat: Lockout shortened season.
2011 Dallas Mavericks: MVP Derrick Rose tore his ACL and took the best team out of contention. Manu injured round 1 for Spurs.
2010 LA Lakers: Kendrick Perkins got injured.
2009 LA Lakers: Kevin Garnett got injured.
2008 Boston Celtics: Bailed out by refs against the Cavs and LeBron.
2007 San Antonio Spurs: Boris Diaw and Amare Stoudemire both got suspended for BS reasons.
2006 Miami Heat: Dwyane Wade FTs the entire series. Shot 25 FTs in game 5 alone.
2005 San Antonio Spurs: Lucked out that the Lakers totally imploded over the offseason and blew up and left the West wide open.
2004 Detroit Pistons: Karl Malone got injured.
2003 San Antonio Spurs: Played a 49 win Nets team in the finals. 2nd and 3rd best teams in the league had to play each other the series before, with the winner having to play Spurs after a grueling series.
2002 LA Lakers: Kings/Lakers. Refs. Need I say more?
2001 LA Lakers: Bailed out by the refs not calling Lakers fouls on AI in game 2, to even the series after Philly won game 1.
2000 LA Lakers: Refs bailed them out in game 7 vs Blazers, which resulted in the Blazers having to play differently and choke.
1999 San Antonio Spurs: Lockout shortened season.
1998 Chicago Bulls: Jordan pushed off.
1997 Chicago Bulls: Scottie Pippen got away with the most blatant goaltending ever, arguably worse than Jordan pushing off.
1996 Chicago Bulls: Gary Payton tore his calf muscle earlier in the playoffs and wasn't 100%. Locked down Jordan in the 3 games he guarded him.
1995 Houston Rockets: Jordan was rusty when he came back after being gone for 17 months. Full strength Bulls with Jordan all year wipe the floor.
1994 Houston Rockets: Jordan was playing baseball.
1993 Chicago Bulls: League clearly wanted the Bulls to threepeat and not lose. Charles Barkley injured his elbow in game 2 and was hobbled.
1992 Chicago Bulls: Magic Johnson forced to retire cause of HIV, and Larry Bird only played 45 games due to injuries that would force him to retire.
1991 Chicago Bulls: James Worthy got injured.
1990 Detroit Pistons: Scottie Pippen's migraines kept him from playing 100%.
1989 Detroit Pistons: Magic Johnson got injured 5 minutes into game 3 and was out for the series.
1988 LA Lakers: Isiah Thomas played the 4th quarter of game 6 with a swollen ankle, a poked eye, a cut on his face, and a broken finger. Was injured and not a factor in game 7.
1987 LA Lakers: Len Bias death, Celtics had multiple injuries that left them hobbled.
1986 Boston Celtics: Jordan broke his foot and was out 64 games. John Lucas was suspended for the Rockets or would have played in the finals. First season the backboard was lowered to what it is today (was lowered 6 inches).
1985 LA Lakers: Nearly half the teams in the league had major stars/players suffer major injuries. Pretty interesting read tbh. Lots of parallels with all the injuries this season.
1984 Boston Celtics: First year with expanded playoffs. Lucked out on one of the worst turnovers in NBA history to tie and then win game 2 after losing game 1. Larry Bird himself said the Celtics should have been swept. First year using new Spalding game balls.
1983 Philadelphia 76ers: 2nd best team in the league added the reigning MVP. Cowens injury for Bucks.
1982 LA Lakers: Celtics injury to Tiny Archibald led to 76ers winning in 7 games. First year with new rims across the league.
1981 Boston Celtics: 40-42 record Houston Rockets made the finals. Rudy Tomjanovich dealing with injuries played less than 20 minutes the entire series.
1980 LA Lakers: First season of the 3 point shot.
1979 Seattle SuperSonics: Washington lost both their starting guards to injuries.
1978 Washington Bullets: MVP Bill Walton was injured at the end of the regular season, taking the best team in the league out of legit contention even though they still made it to the WCF.
1977 Portland Trailblazers: ABA merger season. New teams to beat up on and a talent influx across the league.
1976 Boston Celtics: Just read all these controversies that happened, especially in game 5. Lots of incompetent refs.
1975 Golden State Warriors: Celtics were screwed by the refs in the ECF with a -40 free throw difference vs the Bullets. Bulls coach Dick Motta refused to start Nate Thurmond against the Warriors even though he was clearly the better player than starting center Tom Boerwinkle, and would lose the series 4-3 cause of it.
1974 Boston Celtics: Bucks starting guard Lucius Allen was injured right before the series began, and SG Jon McGlocklin was hobbled dealing with an ankle injury during the series.
1973 New York Knicks: Beat Celtics in ECF in 7 games with Celtics star John Havlicek missing game 7, and apparently might have somehow played in a sling and shoot left handed in games 5 and 6 according to Wikipedia, due to an elbow or shoulder injury.
1972 LA Lakers: Willis Reed was out with a knee injury before the series began, Knicks big man Dave DeBusschere was forced into limited minutes due to an injury while guarding Wilt which led to no one left on the Knicks being able to content rebounds, and guard Earl Monroe was playing injured for the Knicks. Fun fact, Wilt broke his wrist in game 4 and still played game 5 posting a stat line of fucking 24/29/8/8.
1971 Milwaukee Bucks: All-Star Bullets forward Gus Johnson was injured and only played in 2 games. Bullets were forced to start the series only 48 hours after they won game 7 on the ECF over the Knicks.
1970 New York Knicks: 3 seconds left and down 2, Jerry West hit a hail marry beyond half court shot, but it only counted as 2 points since the three pointer didn't exist in the NBA yet (it did in the ABA). The Lakers would lose the game in overtime, before losing the series 4-3.
1969 Boston Celtics: The Lakers were team turmoil with Jerry West, Wilt, and Elgin Baylor clashing at the beginning of the season, and Wilt and coach Butch van Breda Kolff clashing all throughout the season. Jerry West struggled with exhaustion from game 3 onwards and wasn't the same player, after scoring 53 and 41 points in games 1 and 2. In game 4, Elgin Baylor was apparently controversially ruled out of bounds with 7 seconds left and the Celtics down 1. In game 5, Jerry West pulled his hamstring in the closing minutes of the game and was out for the series.
Just read this quote about game 7.
In anticipation of a Lakers win, Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke had ordered thousands of balloons with "World Champion Lakers" printed on them suspended from the rafters of the Forum. Flyers were placed in every seat stating, "When, not if, the Lakers win the title, balloons will be released from the rafters, the USC marching band will play "Happy Days Are Here Again" and broadcaster Chick Hearn will interview Elgin Baylor, Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain in that order."[1] Before the game, the Celtics circulated in their locker room a memo about the Lakers' celebration plans.[2] When Jerry West went to the court for a pre game shoot around and saw the balloons, he became furious with Cooke. Russell noted the giant net hanging from the ceiling during pregame warmups and said to West, "Those fucking balloons are staying up there."[1] With only two true guards on the Laker roster and West still feeling the effects of the hamstring pull, Celtics coach Russell ordered his players to fast break at every opportunity.
1968 Boston Celtics: St. Louis Hawks lost Lou Hudson for 35 games due to military service, which hampered the Hawks who would have almost definitely been the #1 team in the league record-wise. He missed the last 35 games of the season, and his first game back was the 1st round of the playoffs where the Hawks would eventually lose.
1967 Philadelphia 76ers: Horribly weak Western Conference meant whoever came out of the east would almost certainly auto-win. First year the Celtics had Bill Russell as a player-coach. Benefitted from playing a brand new 1st year Chicago Bulls team in the 1st round while other teams had to play legit teams.
1966 Boston Celtics: Celtics almost blew a 3-1 lead vs the Lakers in the finals. Wilt shot 28-68 from the line in the ECF vs the Celtics.
1965 Boston Celtics: Lakers star Elgin Baylor injured his knee 5 minutes into the 1st game of the playoffs. The Lakers would still make the finals before losing 4-1.
1964 Boston Celtics: Hawks starting center Zelmo Beaty dealt with nagging injuries all series, which led to Wilt having free reign to score and eventually led the San Francisco Warriors to winning in 7 games. No injury to Beaty means they probably beat the Warriors and Wilt, and then have the depth the Warriors didn't to contest with the Celtics.
1963 Boston Celtics: Jerry West struggled with injuries all season and wasn't 100% healthy for the playoffs.
1962 Boston Celtics: Celtics guard Frank Ramsey, after having 13 free throw attempts all series, had 16 attempts in game 7 in an eventual 3 point win for the Celtics.
1961 Boston Celtics: Bob Pettis underplayed the first 2 games of the series and let the Celtics get an early 2-0 lead before finally getting back to normal and leading the Hawks to win game 3.
1960 Boston Celtics: The Celtics out rebounded the Hawks by 39 in game 7. Hawks had absolutely horrendous shooting from Cliff Hagan and Bob Pettis most games.
1959 Boston Celtics: 52 win Celtics faced a 33 win Minneapolis Lakers team.
1958 St. Louis Hawks: Bill Russell severely sprained his ankle in game 3 of the ECF vs the Hawks. According to Wikipedia, the 1958 Hawks were the last team to win a NBA championship without a black player.
1957 Boston Celtics: Cliff Hagan fouled out in the 4th quarter of game 7 and was forced to miss double overtime, where the Celtics would eventually win by 2.
1956 Philadelphia Warriors: Fort Wayne Pistons had multiple injury problems throughout the year and into the playoffs.
1955 Syracuse Nationals: Multiple accusations, including teammates on the Fort Wayne Pistons, that some players on the Pistons threw the finals in a conspiracy with gamblers. In game 7 with 12 seconds left in the game, Fort Wayne player Frankie Brian fouled Syracuse, giving them free throws to take a 1 point lead. Then, starting guard Andy Phillip for Fort Wayne turned the ball over with 3 seconds left to allow Syracuse to steal game 7 and win the finals. Fort Wayne teammate George Yardley then went on record after the game saying he believes that Phillip threw the game, and that multiple Fort Wayne teammates were in on it, hinting at Frankie Brian.
1954 Minneapolis Lakers: Finals were played 7 games over the course of 13 days. After losing the free throw battle all series, the Lakers magically got 44 free throws in game 7.
1953 Minneapolis Lakers: Pre-analytics was discovered by coaches, who wanted to play the free throw game instead of trying to score. There were an average of 58 fouls a game. An average of 73 free throws were taken per game in the finals. In game 2, after the Knicks took a 1 point lead early in the 3rd quarter, neither team would even take a shot from the field the rest of the game, instead fouling every single possession and turning it into a game of free throws.
1952 Minneapolis Lakers: Neither team played at their home arena until game 7, when the Lakers were able to play at their normal home arena. The Lakers had to play in an auditorium, and the Knicks had to play in an armory cause the circus kicked them out of Madison Square Garden.
1951 Rochester Royals: 7 teams left the NBA before and during the season, taking the teams from 17 down to 10. The Anderson Packers, Sheboygan Red Skins, and Waterloo Hawks jumped to another league, while the Chicago Stags, Denver Nuggets, St. Louis Bombers, and Washington Capitols folded. Easy cakewalk if almost half the league leaves.
1950 Minneapolis Lakers: The NBA officially becomes the NBA with a merger between the BAA and the NBL. There was a very fucked up schedule to help merge the leagues into one, which led to some teams playing a very weak schedule while others had to play extremely hard ones. Merger year, worse than a lockout year.
1949 Minneapolis Lakers: Owner rage quit the NBL and joined the BAA so they could win another championship instead of staying in the league they just won.
1948 Baltimore Bullets: Forfeited the championship game in 1947 in the ABL and had to jump to the BAA to be allowed to play.
1947 Philadelphia Warriors: The Chicago Stags shot 26/129 in game 1 of a best of 3 finals series, practically gift wrapping the win to the Warriors.
Random fact from the 1947 season, the official first game in NBA history was the New York Knicks vs the Toronto Huskies, where the Knicks would win 68-66 in Toronto. Oscar Benjamin "Ossie" Schectman is credited with the first ever NBA basket.
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