Twenty Years of NBA Basketball: Can you recall all of the NBA Finals match-ups during that period?
I can still hear Marv Albert commentary, "A spectacular move by Michael Jordan!"
With the 2009-2010 National Basketball Association (NBA) Playoffs & Finals right around the corner, I looked back and realized that this is my 20th year of watching professional basketball.
Has it really been that long?
The Memories
I can still see the Los Angeles Lakers Sam Perkins drilling a three-point shot to stun the Chicago Bulls at the end of Game 1 as well as Michael Jordan’s classic right-to-left under goal lay-up over the same Sam Perkins in Game 2 of the 1990-1991 NBA Finals.
Bulls versus Lakers.
Those were the years. The veteran laded Los Angeles Lakers versus the hip, up-and-coming Chicago Bulls.
Memories.
The Questions
With that said, I decided to test that memory (use of references are forbidden!) and challenged myself with these questions: Over the last 20 years, which teams have participated in the NBA Finals? Who were the winners?
Tall order?
At least not initially as the key to these questions would be to determine who were the winners and the bridesmaids would surely follow suit.
Clutch City won it's first NBA title with the five of Hakeen Olajuwon, Kenny Smith, Vernon Maxwell, Robert Horry, and Otis "OT" Thorpe.
The Answers
Starting with the 1990-1991 season, this was a no-brainer as it signified the first Chicago Bulls dynasty (1991, 1992, and 1993). This was followed by the Jordan-less years of 1994 and 1995 wherein the Hakeem Olajuwon led Houston Rockets dispatched the New York Knicks in seven games en-route to the first NBA Championship (1994). The Rockets then repeated in 1995 when they swept the youthful Orlando Magic in four games. The championship also etched the Houston Rockets in NBA annals as the lowest seeded playoff team (6th) to capture the title.
From 1996-1998, the Chicago Bulls again regained their dominance over the NBA with their second three-peat. In the 1998-1999, the league played a 50-game lockout shortened—no All-Star Weekend—season. The finals featured the overachieving New York Knicks (8th seed) and the Twin Tower (“The Admiral” David Robinson and “Big Fundamental” Timmy Duncan) led San Antonio Spurs. If I am not mistaken, it was Spurs in six…or was it in five. One thing is for sure, the Spurs were simply too much for the Ewing-less Knicks.
The partnership between Tim Duncan (left) and David Robinson has produced two NBA Championships for the city of San Antonio.
The turn of the century brought yet another string of championships for Coach Phil Jackson (2000, 2001, and 2002), but this time with a Los Angeles Lakers team that was bannered by Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. In 2003, the San Antonio Spurs gave their “Admiral” David Robinson a great retirement gift when they captured their second NBA crown. This also marked the only finals match-up wherein I was unable to recall whom the runner-up was.
Hitting the curb
NBA seasons from 2003-2006 took a little more time to flesh out. Questions such as the three seasons wherein the San Antonio Spurs captured championships as well as the Detroit Pistons and Miami Heat championship years were among the last to be identified. But once the aforementioned sequencing and cast of teams were identified, everything fell into place.
Back to business
Shaquille O'Neal and a young Kobe Bryant set aside their differences in order to win the coveted Larry O'Brien NBA Championship Trophy in 2000.
The 2003-2004 NBA season featured future hall-of-fame members Karl “The Mailman” Malone and Gary “The Glove” Payton joining the potent Los Angeles Lakers for another run at an NBA Championship. However, this was not meant to be as they had the rug pulled out from under them by the blue-collar Detroit Pistons led by the likes of Ben Wallace, Richard “Rip” Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace, Tayshaun Prince, and Chauncey “Mr. Big Shot” Billups.
The following season (2004-2005), Detroit again made it back to the NBA Finals but lost out to the San Antonio Spurs in seven games. This season, in my mind, was best remembered for those Rasheed Wallace WWE inspired NBA Championship belts that he got for the whole Pistons team.
I wonder what ever happened to those belts?
The 2005-2006 NBA season featured two first-timers to the NBA Finals stage: The Dallas Mavericks and the Miami Heat. This season was a classic example of momentum gone awry as it really looked like the Dallas Mavericks had this series all but locked up with a 2-0 advantage and a huge lead in Game 3 of that series.
Then Dwyane Tyrone Wade, Jr. happened and the rest is history.
Miami upset the Mavs in Game 3 and proceeded to take the next three contests and captured their first NBA championship.
Whatever happened to WWE inspired Championship Belt named "Roscoe"? Only Rasheed knows the answer to that one...
The NBA Finals in 2006-2007 was forgettable to say the least. I remember that the San Antonio Spurs and Cleveland Cavaliers finals match-up to be one of—if not the lowest—rated finals in history. I didn’t even bother to try and watch any of the games that year. Spurs swept the Cavs in four.
On the other hand, the 2007-2008 season was more promising with Boston Celtics General Manager Danny Ainge engineering several trades that brought Kevin “KG” Garnett and Walter Ray Allen, Jr. to the Celtics for practically everyone on their team with the exception of Paul “The Truth” Pierce, Rajon Rondo, and Kendrick Perkins. This development, coupled with the Los Angeles Lakers acquiring Pau Gasol the year before, set the stage for a Lakers verses Celtics finals match-up. One that fans haven’t seen since 1986-1987.
It was a great match-up with the Celtics capturing their league-leading 17th NBA banner in six games. For more information on this season, I’ve written an extensive post on the Celtics championship season here.
Lastly, the 2008-2009 finals match-up featured the Los Angeles Lakers returning to the big dance along with the young Orlando Magic team lead by the dominating Dwight Howard. In this particular series, there was a lot of heartbreak for the Orlando Magic as they squandered numerous opportunities to truly establish themselves in the finals. However, this does not take anything away from the Los Angeles Lakers who truly deserved the The Larry O’Brien NBA Championship Trophy.
After Game 2, everything that Dwyane Tyrone Wade, Jr. threw up against the hapless Dallas Mavericks just seemed to go into the bucket.
This championship also broke a tie between legendary icon Arnold Jacob “Red” Auerbach of the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers Phil Jackson for most NBA championships by a head coach. Jackson now takes the top spot with 10 championships.
In summary
Well, that was 19-years of NBA Finals basketball and I look forward to the end of the 2009-2010 NBA regular season, an interesting NBA play-offs, and hopefully, an epic finals match-up.
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