Let the Playoffs madness continue
My favorite all time (non-Nuggets) Playoff series
3. San Antonio Spurs vs Los Angeles Clippers 2015 NBA Playoffs
This was, in my mind, by leaps and bounds the best playoff series of the 2015 NBA Playoffs. To win this series, the Clippers had to come back from 3-2 down and win a game on the road in San Antonio, which as we have seen this year is a very difficult proposition. Chris Paul’s game winning shot over Tim Duncan in the Final seconds of an epic game seven in Los Angeles may be some of the most heart stopping moments I’ve ever seen in a playoff series.
This was pretty damn incredible. The highlights don't do the game justice as this was one of the most intense games I've witnessed in the NBA Playoffs in the modern era. I hesitate to say it was peak Chris Paul, as his performance against the Spurs in the 2008 first round must be held in awe.
2. Portland Trail Blazers vs Los Angeles Lakers 2000 NBA Playoffs
A choice from the most reviled era of basketball by the Analytics inclined. The 2000-2002 Lakers didn’t face the stiffest of competition in their three titles. They beat Reggie Miller/Jalen Rose’s Indian Pacers in 2000, Allen Iverson’s Philadelphia 76ers in 2001 and the Jason Kidd and Kenyon Martin New Jersey Nets in 2002. All didn’t exactly set the world aflame.
The 2000 Western Conference Finals, however, were beautifully tense. Lead by a re-born Scottie Pippen and Damon Stoudamire the Blazers gave the Shaq and Kobe Bryant led Lakers all they could handle. Coming down to a knock down drag out game seven in Los Angeles that was epic. Lakers were down 71-55 in the fourth quarter and came all the way back to win … punctuated by a Kobe to Shaq alley-oop that sealed the deal at the end.
1. New York Knicks vs Chicago Bulls 1992 NBA Playoffs
I have to disagree with my colleague and friend Andy Feinstein. You can’t lump the early 1990’s playoff series in with the dreck that consumed the late 90’s. There were some great series during that time (including an epic Phoenix Suns vs Seattle Supersonics 1993 WCF that almost made this list)
Pat Riley’s Knicks took the Detroit Pistons “The Jordan Rules” to their logical extreme (and some would say they took it too far). While they weren’t as successful as the Pistons at containing Michael Jordan, they did produce immensely entertaining series from 1992-1994. With the Bulls winning two and the Knicks winning one. The first of these matchups was likely the best as, arguably, Jordan’s best-ever Bulls team (who would go on on to beat the Clyde Drexler lead Portland Trail Blazers in the Finals that season) faced off with the Patrick Ewing, Xavier McDaniel, John Starks lead New York Knicks.
There are those (fools, I call them) who blame the Knicks for the Bully ball that dominated the late-1990's basketball, but what the Knicks were (and what Riley understood) was these Knicks were a defensively dominating team that fed much of their offense into all-time great center Patrick Ewing. In any other era these Knicks would have gone to more finals than they did in the 90's.
However, this particular semifinals, with the clearly superior Bulls slugging it out with the Knicks (and Michael Jordan missed a dunk in game three … a true rarity) it made for a fun and VERY Physical seven games that began a truly intense rivalry that would last half a decade.
What are your favorite NBA Playoff series of all time? List them below and explain why you liked them so much. Also, if you have additional memories to my personal favorite (non-Nuggets) playoff series please feel free to contribute below. There's been some epic match ups through the years, and I hope to eventually see the Nuggets participate in some in the near future
(PS … my favorite Nuggets series of all time was the Nuggets near-amazing comeback from a 3 games to 0 deficit in 1994 against the Utah Jazz. Every game was within 10 points and the Nuggets almost pulled off the impossible)
