The Best of the rest tournament continues. Who would win the 09 Nuggets vs the 67 Warriors?

Question

Being that these tournaments are becoming my speciality I decided to start another tournament with 32 teams. I call it the best of the rest. It consists of teams that had strong seasons, but not champions or championship contenders. For instance you won't see the 90's Knicks teams in this because they were contenders throughout the 90's. None of these 32 teams won an NBA title. A couple got to the finals but were completely overmatched by better teams.

Today's matchup is 09 Nuggets VS 67 Warriors Below are the lineups. , . Nuggets have homecourt. Before people jump on Denver's backwagon, please note that the Warriors in 67 were extremely talented and lost in the finals to a Wilt Chamberlain team that some consider the greatest ever. I understand that most of us have never seen the 67 Warriors, but that doesn't mean they should be disrespected. I am only stating this because of the Wizards-Spurs mess I had the other day.

Lineups
09 NUGGETS
C - Nene F/C Chris Anderson
PF - Kenyon Martin
SF Carmelo Anthony G/F Linus Kleiza
SG Dahntay Jones G JR Smith
PG Chauncey Billups G Anthony Carter

67 Warriors
C - Nate Thurmond- F/C Clyde Lee
PF - Fred Hetzel
SF Rick Barry G/F Tom Meschery
SG Jeff Mullins G Al Attles
PG Paul Neuman G Jim King


Below is the full list of teams and first round matchups in the full tournament.
Second Round will begin monday.

1) 04 T’Wolves 58-24 DEFEATED 32) 94 Denver Nuggets 42-40

2) 89 Cavs 57-25 DEFEATED 31) 07 Golden St. Warriors 42-40

3) 97 Atlanta Hawks 56-26 DEFEATED 30) 94 Miami Heat 42-40

4) 01 76ers 56-26 DEFEATED 29) 76 Phoenix Suns 42-40

28) 93 Charlotte Hornets 44-38 DEFEATED 5) 08 Hornets 56-26

6) 90 Spurs 56-26 DEFEATED 27) 91 Golden St. Warriors 44-38

7) 09 Nuggets 54-28 vs 26) 67 San Francisco Warriors 44-37

8) 83 Spurs 53-29 DEFEATED 25) 05 Washington Wizards 45-37

9) 85 Nuggets 52-30 DEFEATED 24) 84 NJ Nets 45-37

10) 01 Bucks 52-30 DEFEATED 23) 06 L.A. Lakers 45-37

22) 75 Chicago Bulls 47-35 DEFEATED 11) 05 Sonics 52-30

12) 05 Rockets 51-31 DEFEATED 21) 84 NY Knicks 47-35

13) 07 Jazz 51-31 DEFEATED 20) 01 Toronto Raptors 47-35

19) 70 Atlanta Hawks 48-34 DEFEATED 14) 98 Hornets 51-31

15) 07 Cleveland Cavs 50-32 DEFEATED 18) 07 Chicago Bulls 49-33

16) 77 Houston Rockets 49-33 DEFEATED 17) 02 Celtics 49-33

Answer 1

As usually happens when I follow others to share my thoughts on the match-ups, I am beaten to the punch. This time it is how the Warriors can keep up and even surpass the Nuggets for the rebounds and inside play. While I like the work that Martin and Birdman do inside for the Nuggets, I can't discount how big a beast Nate Thurmond was for the Warriors along with Hetzle and Lee. Thurmond could also score at a great rate - getting 20-25 was no big deal for him, while that doesn't come as frequently for Martin or Nene. And at SF, please, who is going to either defend Rick Barry or try to match him shot for shot? And of course, don't foul him - career FT percentage over 90% and the last player to use the underhanded ("granny-style") free throws.



The backcourt has only one advantage for the Nuggets - as you guys who read my posts regularly, you know I am big Billups fan, and he certainly can lead his team to do what it needs to do. For a one-on-ne, I certainly favor him over Neuman. But, that is the last of the advantage for the Nuggets at guard - I do not like the games, especially from a team perspective, of JR Smith or Jones. Here the Warriors have it all over the Nuggets - Al Attles was a very capable player as well as coach, Jeff Mullins was also a very good shooting guard in the day.



Warriors 3-1.



Bonus fact: You mentioned that these Warriors lost to the Sixers team led by Wilt Chamberlain. Did you know that Neumann was one of the players traded to the Warriors for Chamberlain? Last I heard, that Paul Neumann was a good race car driver as well as making a mean salad dressing! oh, wait.....

Answer 2

Since I'm first, hopefully those that follow can take this fact into fruitation. The Warriors of '67 had EIGHT scorers in double-figures. Most NBA teams don't even give their eighth guy five minutes a game playing time nowadays. Rick Barry averaged 36ppg, Nate Thurmond put up 19ppg and 21rpg. Jeff Mullins, Fred Hetzel, Tom Meschery and Paul Neumann were all significant contributors on this team. Like TWAS said, this Warriors team took the '67 Sixers, arguably a top 5 team ever and originally named the NBA's Greatest Team Ever (35th Anniversary) to Six Games in the NBA Finals.



I'm just curious how a team with one of the league's premiere scorers in Rick Barry and monster rebounder in Nate Thurmond didn't win 50 games that year. Shows you the level of competition was high back then.



Whose really going to defend Rick Barry? Carmelo Anthony. Please. Barry would not only eclipse his 36ppg regular season average in this series, but he'd probably go for over 40. It also wouldn't be wise of the Nuggets to get into a scoring battle with the Warriors -- they averaged 122 points per game. Other then Chauncey Billups leadership here, I don't like the Nuggets chances. The 67 Warriors also aside from Thurmond had Tom Meschery and Fred Hetzel average close to 10 rebounds, so they could bang with Nene, Martin and Andersen along with the beast that was Nate Thurmond.



I can see this 67 Warriors team as a sleeper in the tourney also.



Warriors 3-1

Answer 3

Kenyon Martin would seriously rip Fred Hetzel apart. Martin is bigger, faster, stronger, more athletic - he's an absolute monster.



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The Warriors had several great rebounders, but remember they're playing against teams with 6'6" Forwards and 6'9" Centers. Could they realistically put up those kinds of stats if they were playing a 2009 NBA team? Not likely.



Rick Barry would pour on a ton of points.. how many depends on whether he's playing with a 3-point line. Rick Barry and Carmelo Anthony could rack up 40 points each night.



Will be a high-scoring series.



Nuggets would win 4-3 if you even out the athleticism of each team (which doesn't work in the real world)

Answer 4

nuggets