Ty Lue: Kobe, Shaq's 2001 Lakers Are NBA's Best Ever: 'Nobody Could Beat That Team'

Los Angeles Clippers head coach Ty Lue called the 2000-01 Los Angeles Lakers the "greatest" team of all time during an interview with ex-NBA players Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson on Showtime Basketball's All The Smoke (58:50 mark).

"The 2001 team, one of the greatest, if not the greatest of all time?" Barnes asked Lue.

"All time, yeah, the greatest of all time for sure. Nobody could beat that team," Lue replied.

Of course, any discussion of that team starts with Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal, who can easily make cases for being top-10 players of all-time in league history. Eleven-time NBA champion head coach Phil Jackson led the way off the bench.

That squad also had a solid supporting cast of veterans who filled their roles admirably, including Derek Fisher, Horace Grant, Brian Shaw, Rick Fox, Ron Harper and Robert Horry. Lue, an 11-year veteran, was in his third season with the Lakers at that point.

That Lakers team can easily make the case to be the most dominant playoff franchise in NBA history. They swept the Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings and San Antonio Spurs before beating NBA MVP Allen Iverson and the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA Finals in five games for a 15-1 record.

The Lakers didn't break much of a sweat along the way either, outscoring their opponents by an average of 12.75 points per game. That notably included outscoring the Spurs by 22.25 PPG in the Western Conference Finals.

In addition, the Lakers never lost a game in overtime. Their lone defeat occurred in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, when Iverson dropped 48 points in a 107-101 overtime victory. L.A. then rolled off four straight wins by an average of 10.0 points per game.

The argument against the Lakers being the most dominant team of all time may start with their regular-season performance. L.A. fared very well at 56-26, but that also pales in comparison to other historically great teams' marks, such as the 1971-72 Lakers (69-13), the 1985-86 Boston Celtics (67-15), 1995-96 Chicago Bulls (72-10) and 2015-16 Golden State Warriors (73-9). L.A. also lacked star power outside its big two.

Still, this was undoubtedly a great team, and the Lakers were this close to becoming the only team in NBA history to go undefeated in the playoffs.