Nba playoffs still have a memorable setting, however, some of the stories since 2000 are the result of repeated playoffs.
During this period, seven franchises represented 19 of the league’s 20 championships and 14 finalists. Given the small number of high-level teams, it is moderate to expect them to have faced each other several times in the playoffs.
And each and every rematch is a possibility of redemption.
The revenge thing only adds to the drama of the postseason, creating a rivalry to remember, if only temporary. Although the roster is subjective, the key considerations are the number of playoffs and the achievements of the groups (NBA titles and of the convention).
Your non-public definition of rivalry would possibly be this section. After all, if only one aspect, and in this specific case, a player, continues to win, is it really a rivalry?LeBron James has never lost a series of playoffs to Indiana. Pacers or Toronto Raptors.
However, many of these clashes are memorable.
From 2012 to 2014, LeBron and heat eliminated the Pacers, victories in the East Conference finals in 2013 and 2014. This series included his tray surpassing the bell in the first ECF 2013 game and field battles with Pacers escort Lance Stephenson.
After LeBron’s return to Cleveland, he also guided the Cavs through Indiana in the 2017 and 2018 playoffs.
During the last period, LeBron also faced Toronto in 3 consecutive series (2016-2018). Unfortunately for the Raptors, they did exactly like Indiana: 0-3. James played so against the franchise that he earned the nickname “LeBronto”. “
With only two series in a 20-year window, it’s almost an exaggeration to call those rivalries. At the same time, representing 10% of NBA Finals games is also no small thing.
9. Boston Celtics vs. Los Angeles Lakers
Although the game itself is mythical as a rivalry, it is because either franchises have won each of the NBA Finals in 4 consecutive years in the 1980s. Teams have faced each other 3 times in this decade and since 2000, the Celtics and Lakers have had two final matchups.
In 2008, Paul Pierce’s three greats Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen helped Boston end a 22-year championship drought. Two seasons later, Kobe Bryant and Co. se took the rematch and won the Larry O’Brien Trophy after an exciting seven-game game. Series.
8. Miami Heat vs. Dallas Mavericks
Dwyane Wade and a Hall of Fame veterans organization took Miami to the 2006 championship. Shaquille O’Neal, Alonzo Mourning and Gary Payton, all 34 years of age or older right now, also played key roles as Wade, the finals MVP, lifted Heat ahead of Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavs in a six-game series.
Five years later, Dallas controlled an astonishing one and beat them a six-game series in the first year of the Wade, LeBron and Chris Bosh era in Miami.
7. Miami Heat vs. San Antonio Spurs
Allen’s three-pointer in Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals is one of the memorable highs in league history and the show’s turning point. Miami overthrew the Spurs in Game 7, giving LeBron the name of his career at the time and D-Wade his. Third.
The following season, an incredibly motivated San Antonio team won 62 games, returned to the NBA Finals and sent heat in five games. LeBron went to Cleveland the off-season.
Although they outperformed tougher teammates, Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash had an intriguing rivalry in the last decade of 2000.
Nash joined the Phoenix Suns as an indefinite agent in 2004, and the long-term Hall of Fame member has won back-to-back MVP awards in the league. He also took the Suns to Kobe and the Lakers in the first playoff circular of 2006 and 2007.
These removals a fireplace in Kobe.
“Yes, they prevented me from getting a championship, twice,” he said in 2016, through ESPN’s Baxter Holmes. Damn it, I hated them. Absolutely, Raja [Bell] and Steve and all the smart guys. I hated them. There’s no doubt about it. But at the same time, I enjoyed them because they brought me mine and my teammates. “
Intensity peaked in the 2010 Western Conference finals, a series that turned franchises in opposite directions. Los Angeles won the NBA title, but Phoenix lost that series and never made it to the playoffs in the 2010s.
San Antonio eliminated the Seattle SuperSonics in the 2002 and 2005 playoffs, but we don’t come with those here. However, in the 2012, 2014 and 2016 playoffs, the Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder had three series of six blunt games.
In 2012, the Spurs entered the finals of the Western Conference with a streak of 18 consecutive victories and won the first two games. However, Thunder, in their final season with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden, has won four in a row to bounce San Antonio. Oklahoma City lost to Heat in the NBA Finals.
Two years later, the vengeful Spurs, the Thunder before the NBA ReDemptive Finals beat Miami.
Finally, at the time of the 2016 playoffs, the OKC triumph preceded a 3-1 WCF crash opposed to Golden State, which then swept Durant firmly this summer.
In two terms with Cleveland, LeBron played in playoff times and faced the Celtics in five of them.
At first, Boston took the lead. The Celtics survived a seven-game series with Cleveland in the 2008 East Conference semi-finals and a six-game game in the same circular two years later. Boston reached the NBA Finals in both years, winning in 2008.
But after LeBron returned to Cleveland from Miami, the Cavs 3 played the playoffs.
Cleveland won a sweep in 2015, a five-game win in 2017 and a seven-game win in 2018. However, the Cavs have dreamed of the final every year, they have won the championship only once, when the Warriors won in 2016.
These department rivals are no strangers to postseason clashes.
During an era of 15 seasons from 2000 to 2014, the Spurs and Mavericks faced off in six playoffs. San Antonio took a 4-2 lead, winning the first and final two matchups.
The notable top clash occurred in 2006, both groups scored more than 60 wins, but NBA regulations put San Antonio first and Dallas fourth, instead of the assembly in the convention finals, they faced off in the round of the moment. The NBA replaced its protocol the following summer, setting the playoffs through the conference winners’ momentum record.
In addition, the Spurs won the 2003 and 2014 NBA titles after getting rid of their rival, and the Mavs did the same in 2006.
Although the 1999 playoffs are not even considered here, the semi-final game between the Lakers and the Spurs is trending: San Antonio swept los Angeles and then won the Western Conference and NBA Finals.
In 2001, the Lakers swept San Antonio to win the West before toppling the Philadelphia 76ers and winning the NBA title. In 2002, Shaq and Kobe eliminated the Spurs in the round of the moment, then won the West and swept the New Jersey Nets to hang the banner. .
And we’re warming up.
Tim Duncan and the Spurs responded in 2003 with a six-game second-round win and then celebrated an NBA title. The Lakers responded in 2004 with a six-game series in the second round and held on to the most sensitive in the West: but lost to the Detroit Pistons in the final.
The 2008 Lakers beat the Spurs in the Western Conference finals before falling to the 2013 Spurs swept the Lakers in the first direction towards a defeat in the NBA Finals to Miami.
Before the emergence of the Golden State Warriors dynasty in 2015, the road to the NBA Finals passed through San Antonio or Los Angeles.
There’s no argument otherwise, is there?
While “revenge fatigue” was understandable in 2018, the Cavs and Warriors faced off in four consecutive NBA finals, something that has never happened in league history.
In 2015, Golden State derailed LeBron’s hopes of having a name in Cleveland in his first season after returning to the Cavs. The following year, James’ chased blockade and Kyrie Irving’s triple prevented the Warriors from reaching 73.
Durant signed that summer, elevating Golden State to an extra unfair level. The Warriors won the 2017 NBA Finals in games and swept Cleveland in 2018.
The rivalry collapsed when LeBron fought for the Lakers, however, that game explained the NBA for nearly a decade.