Although five franchises won NBA titles in the 2000s, all 30 groups reached the playoffs at least once. Many of them have complexes beyond the first round, writing new chapters in their franchise history books and creating lasting memories for their respective fans.
With this last point in mind, we are now reminiscent of the most productive playoffs of each and every team of the 2000s.
We observed the 2010s through this purpose before this week, and although the 2000s were not as strong in the NBA as its immediate successor, there is still plenty of time to discuss.
The rules here are the same as last time. If your favorite memory has been chosen, it means it’s worth it. The subjectivity of this training is inevitable.
Laugh once in the past.
As the 2008–09 season approached, the Atlanta Hawks had not won a series of playoffs in nine years. After attracting the Miami Heat to the first round of the 2009 playoffs, it seemed that the drought would succeed in a full decade.
But from the first moment, Atlanta wanted to get different this time.
After heat’s 90-6 defeat in the first game, the Hawks lost the next two games with equally giant margins; however, they responded with 10- and 15-point wins in Games four and 5, respectively, to take a 3-2 lead. in the series.
Dwyane Wade amassed 41 issues in Game 6 to keep Miami alive temporarily, however, his cast was too inconsistent to deal with a elimination game. In Game 7, the Hawks took the non-Wade Heat to 47 issues in 16 of 38 shots, and produced stellar shooting functionality through Joe Johnson (27 issues, 6 out of 8 out of three) to victory.
The 2000s were a smart decade for the Hawks, but defeating Wade at his athletic climax is a valuable celebration, no matter how suspicious the rest of the Miami list was.
As the 2007 off-season approached, the Boston Celtics had remained untitled for more than two decades, but that drought would soon end as they acquired Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett to flank outgoing Celtic Paul Pierce.
All the craziest dreams of Boston enthusiasts came true temporarily. Allen and Garnett have perfect compatibility and the team entered the playoffs with a 66-16 record, which is the biggest change in a season in NBA history.
Crossing the Conference is difficult. The Celtics played two games 7 in the first two rounds and almost played a third in the convention finals, but the end result values it.
As fate intended, Boston faced its old enemy, the Los Angeles Lakers, in the final. While the Purples and Gold were easy, the Celtics established unwavering chemistry and controlled much of the series, winning the name with a 131-92 eruption. in Game 6 in front of a boisterous crowd.
Although other players and groups would shape Big Threes in the following seasons, none won a name in their first year, not even the Heatles led through LeBron James. The fact that the Boston trio is able to do so is a testament to how special it is.
After being swept away in the 2002 NBA Finals, the then New Jersey Nets sought to return and become more competitive the following season.
Almost everything went according to plan.
Backed by a year of jason Kidd’s career and stellar seasons of Richard Jefferson, Kenyon Martin and Lucious Harris, New Jersey won the seed in the East and broke into the playoff convention. After wasting two first-round games against the Milwaukee Bucks, the Nets won a 10-game winning streak, sweeping the Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons in a row to secure their place in consecutive finals.
The Nets gave their all their opposition to the San Antonio Spurs, winning Games 2 and four to three points combined and forcing almost a Game 7, but Tim Duncan too much in Game 6, recording nearly a double and leading the Spurs in a 19-0 win to win the title.
Thinking about this game can be painful for Nets fans, however, the fact that they are so competitive in front of a dynastic team provides enough comfort.
Although the Hornets were about to move to New Orleans at the time, that didn’t stop them from betting on quality basketball. During the 2000–01 season, they made their fourth playoff appearance in five years.
But while Charlotte faces a malfunction off the field, her first-round opponent, the Miami Heat, in ground disarray, Tim Hardaway in decline for the third consecutive season, however, the team had not yet adequately replaced her creation and shooting game.
The result is not pretty.
Despite splitting all four games of the regular season and being the back seed, the Hornets were the most productive team in this series. They won all three games with at least 15 problems and were constantly disruptive in defense, recording 37 interceptions in total. Rotation players were at least 30 years old, and Charlotte had everyone play in this series, especially former Hornet Alon Mourning.
The Hornets almost controlled to carry the momentum generated through this series in the East Conference finals, leading the Milwaukee Bucks to a Game 7 in the next round. To date, this remains the franchise’s innerest postseason race and enthusiasts don’t forget it. lovingly.
As opposed to the Celtic Grand Three at its peak, the Chicago Bulls are expected to emerge victorious here, but the lack of expectations, combined with the fact that 20-year-old Derrick Rose leads a quietly menacing formation, has made this adjustment one of the first -round series of the 21st century.
Just when you think this series couldn’t get wilder, five of the seven games went through a property and four of them went into overtime, adding an epic 3 OT 6 game in which Ray Allen scored 51 and the Bulls escaped with a 128-127 victory.
Chicago’s Rose and Ben Gordon’s dynamic back zone led the way, with a 44. 0 combined trouble average consistent with the game, yet the team gained great contributions from members of its seven-man rotation. , with a 2. 9 block average consistent with the game opposite Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Boston’s devastating collection of slashers.
The Celtics won the game from 7 to 10 points, a gigantic margin in this still thrilling match, but Rose and the Bulls left a primary mark in the league with their functionality in this series and have not been the brave losers for much longer.
Everyone already knew leBron James was special right now, but in the fifth game of the 2007 East Conference finals, he began his journey into the rarening air.
By the age of 22, James was smart enough to take the Cleveland Cavaliers to the convention final, where they shared the first four games of the series with the Detroit Pistons. After exchanging customers for a Game 5 maximum, the Pistons revel in the playoffs. began when seven rose with 3:15 remaining in regulation time.
Then a legend was born.
Unable to settle for defeat, the king temporarily went into a scoring frenzy throughout the ages, pouring out Cleveland’s last 25 numbers and 29 of his last 30 until the end of the final quarter and two sessions. The Cavaliers would win Game 6 and reach the final for the first time in franchise history.
LeBron has had other wonderful performances of all time: I am reminded of the sixth game of the 2012 East Conference Finals and the first nba finals game of 2018, but it is his first game at pantheon point and was the announcement of nearly 15 years of MVP. calibre excellence.
Although the Dallas Mavericks appeared in the NBA Finals in the 2000s, it’s hard to call it the franchise’s most productive reminiscence given the controversy surrounding the series.
Instead, let’s talk about something less complicated.
With Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash and Michael Finley all making their debut in the early 2000s, Dallas was ready to become a major player in the Western Conference, and the trio flourished in 2002-03. Thanks to head coach Don Nelson’s style, the Mavericks led the NBA in the offensive standings and won 60 games.
After a strangely complicated first-round series against Portland, Dallas returned to form in a bustling convention semifinal against the Sacramento Kings. Although there were also seven games, this series is better suited to Mavericks staff. They scored more than 130 numbers, twice, received three 35-point pershapeances from Nick Van Exel, the sixth man, and played enough defense to scare the Kings.
The Mavericks’ functionality here has encouraged NBA groups to develop their long-term potential. If Nash and Finley hadn’t left in the consecutive off-season, they may have faced Tim Duncan and the Spurs for Texas supremacy and the Western Conference for the rest of the decade. .
After blowing five straight games in the first round, the Denver Nuggets went all-in, the industry Allen Iverson for Chauncey Billups in early November 2008. Verson’s standing as a Hall of Famer in the first round meant that the move appeared to be a slight risk, but promptly paid dividends for Denver.
Placing veteran Billups alongside Carmelo Anthony has stabilized and increased the Nuggets, who beat Chris Paul and the Hornets in 58 problems in a first-round game, won the series in five and were equally effective in defeating the Dallas Mavericks to succeed in the convention final against the Los Angeles Lakers.
With Billups at the helm, Denver stayed strong. The Nuggets lost Game 1 through 2, but temporarily tied the series with 61 combined issues from Anthony and Billups in Game 2. The most exciting time for Nuggets enthusiasts is Game 4, with seven players scoring double digits and the team winning through 19 numbers.
A look at the final scores in this series shows how close you were. If Denver had made a few more shots in Games 1, 3, or 5, it may have qualified for the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history.
The 2003-04 Detroit Pistons are still widely respected for winning a starless title, but this line of idea almost discredits their achievements.
While none of the 2003-04 Pistons were among the 50 most sensitive of all time, four of their starters were All-Star teams, the fifth an elite player, and complemented each other perfectly.
The recipe paid off in the 2004 playoffs. Although Detroit had to make its way through the East, defeating the Nets in seven games and the Pacers in six, the final passed smoothly against an aging Lakers club.
Larry Brown’s squad crowned a squad of 4 long-running Hall of Fame members, restricting each Rotary player Shaquille O’Neal to less than 40% shots. The series was so devastating for Los Angeles that the franchise almost burned. O’Neal and Gary Payton were temporarily changed, Karl Malone retired and Phil Jackson soon moved away from training.
These Pistons are an NBA ERA that many negatively, while the league was looking for their post-Michael Jordan identity, but don’t worry them in this story. They made the defense fun, they had personality for days and they might get buckets if necessary.
What can I ask of an NBA champion?
After taking a year off as coach, Don Nelson took a task with the Golden State Warriors in 2006 and had an immediate impact.
The team stepped forward with their record of 8 wins and won the last position in the Western Playoffs, in what was intended to make Nellie, the Warriors’ first-round opponent, smile no less than the Dallas Mavericks, the team he had coached for much of last decade’s game.
After completing 67-15 in the regular season, Dallas became the favorite in 2007. But in Nelson, the Warriors had the Kryptonite of the Mavericks. Having trained many of Dallas’ most sensitive players just two years ago, he knew how to exploit them and shocking results.
After being a below-average defensive team in the normal season, the Warriors neutralized Nowitzki. The MVP and revolutionary jumper made only 21. 1% of their 3 in the series, and the Mavericks’ offense was comfortable without their catalyst. scored easily and won the series in six games.
Everyone concerned about the Warriors knew this series had more to do with luck than permanent quality improvement, but it doesn’t taint the experience, even in hindsight.
This series would probably not be the most productive memory for Tracy McGrady, as she was recovering from microfracture surgery at the time, but her absence probably makes this race more fun for Rockets fans.
Rockets’ best player of the time without McGrady was Luis Scola or Metta World Peace, so when he underwent end-of-season surgery last February, the playoffs were expected to be lost. General Manager Daryl Morey had drawn up a list much larger than the sum of his parts.
After T-Mac surgery, Houston won 22 of its last 30 games to secure the fifth seed in the West.
From there, all in the sauce, relieving the Rockets of any postseason pressure. That attitude eventually extended their season as they disappointed a Blazers team led by Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge in the first round, winning two of them at one property and winning the series with a 16-point victory in Game 6.
The Houston team will be remembered more in 2007-08 since winning 22 consecutive games (almost part without Yao Ming). But the 2008–09 Rockets won a series of playoffs and deserve the same credit.
Although they were the most sensible seed in the East in 2000, the Indiana Pacers did not validate the NBA Finals. They lost two games in each of their first three series, adding a better-of-five in the first round in which they simply nearly lost to the eighth-time Milwaukee Bucks.
However, Indiana nevertheless came here opposite the Lakers.
Los Angeles controlled the maximum number of games in this series, thanks in large part to the physical supremacy of Shaquille O’Neal (averaged 38. 0 points, 16. 7 rebounds and 2. 7 Wilt Chamberlain-style blocks, consistent with the game in the series). He couldn’t start in Game 5, so the Pacers took over early and never let the gas through.
Indiana led 19 problems in the partial and will barely fail, throwing 57. 4% off the court overnight, but the team’s functionality wasn’t just due to hot hits, the Pacers outperformed the Lakers, a major achievement opposite any team with Shaq – and attracted contact, putting Kobe Bryant and Robert Horry in trouble.
The Lakers obviously had a night off, but Indiana took him away and was the king for a day on the sport’s biggest stage.
Prior to the 2005–06 season, the Los Angeles Clippers had not surpassed the Array500 in just 15 years, so it was naturally unexpected for Mike Dunleavy’s team to win 47 games and win sixth place in the West.
But the Clippers didn’t settle for reaching the playoffs, but also sought to play spoiler.
That’s exactly what they did, provoking the Denver Nuggets in five games. The remarkable defense of Cuttino Mobley, Shaun Livingston and Corey Maggette limited Carmelo Anthony to 33. 3% shots in total, and the Denver offense can paint slightly without its star in the All-Star Game. Form.
However, Los Angeles isn’t over yet.
Despite a below-average attack in the regular season, the team controlled to race with the Phoenix Suns for seven games, scoring at least 110 problems at times and outperfiding them in shooting efficiency. Phoenix would qualify for the convention finals after a 20-point victory. in Game 7, but it wasn’t easy.
We don’t talk much about one-hit sports teams, but if there’s a dictionary definition for one, it’s the Clippers 2005-06. They broke an eight-year drought in the playoffs, almost qualified for the Western Conference finals. , then missed the playoffs for five consecutive seasons.
One fact defines sports dynasies: the first name is the hardest to win.
Once you know what it takes to succeed in the most sensible part of the mountain, starting back doesn’t seem so difficult.
No basketball team has embodied this axiom more absolutely than the turn-of-the-century Lakers in Los Angeles. Their normal 2000-01 season alarming for pedestrians, however, when the playoffs began, they changed a transfer and all other NBA groups trembled with fear. .
A long-awaited first circular game with the Portland Trail Blazers, which memorized seven Los Angeles games in last year’s Western Conference finals, a 3-0 sweep over the Lakers. Series in which Shaquille O’Neal recorded two games of 40 numbers and 20 rebounds – and the Western Conference final against the Spurs.
By the time the dust fell, the Lakers had won 11 consecutive games against 3 with 50 wins, seven double-digit victories.
Allen Iverson soon slowed purple and gold in the final, ending his winning 11-game streak, but Shaq, Kobe and his company still won the five-point series, completing their mythical playoff race with a 15-1 record and firmly as one of the biggest groups in basketball history.
The Grizzlies reached the playoffs in both one and one and both years from 2004 to 2006, but were swept into the first circular both once through high-ranking equipment. I’m going to take a look at his first playoff appearance for sentimentality reasons.
In Hubie Brown’s time-to-time season as Memphis head coach, he drove one of the nba’s all-year victories, from 28-54 in 2002-03 to 50-32 the following year. The mere fact of being competitive would suffice, and the Grizzlies knew their wish in the third game of the series.
Memphis led no less than 10, San Antonio made the moment a smoke burner. At 2:30 a. m. , Bonzi Wells made a lazy shot to put the Grizzlies on top, but the Spurs temporarily took the lead on a Tim Duncan tray and three foul shots.
This game is the closest to the franchise to triumph in the playoffs with Pau Gasol, his first primary player, who eventually lifted the Larry O’Brien Trophy twice with the Los Angeles Lakers, but would have been very special for him to lead Memphis. in a playoff race.
After betting on an NBA Finals game in Shaquille O’Neal’s first season with the team, the Miami Heat was eager to keep improving. They brought in Gary Payton, Antoine Walker and James Posey before the season, and Pat Riley fired Stan Van Gundy later. an 11-10 starts and starts coaching the team himself.
You can individual moves, but you can’t deny the end result.
Although he was only 24, the Heat was Dwyane Wade’s team, and he appreciated the responsibility. Miami marched through the East Conference, beat the Detroit Pistons in a 2005 East Conference Finals rematch and faced the Dallas Mavericks most established by Larry O’Brien. Trophy.
As discussed above, the final results of this series are still hotly debated (and possibly for some reason). But Wade’s iconic performances in the last four games remain unchanged. Even without the whistles, this set of highlights is lovely to see.
There is an explanation for why the county was named Wade: he is the most productive and significant player in The Heat’s history, and his legend grew even bigger once LeBron James and Chris Bosh arrived, it began with the 2006 final.
After losing in the first two consecutive rounds, everything was covered up for the Bucks to make their way in 2001.
They won 52 games, promoted a Big Three through Ray Allen, Glenn Robinson and Sam Cassell, and played in a weak East conference. Decade.
Defeating the Charlotte Hornets, sixth seeded, might not seem very exciting, but this series was quite competitive, as Charlotte lost in one in Game 2 and won the games 3-5 with at least seven numbers each.
At this point, the Hornets have won the series, had all the momentum and were betting the sixth game on Charlotte, but with their backs opposite the wall, the Bucks were up to it.
Milwaukee was after 10 in the part, but tied in Series 41 issues at the time of Robinson and Cassell. He then won the decisive at home thanks to a shot just beyond the arc (7 out of 17, 41. 2%) and the solidarity band (33 out of 35, 94. 3%).
The Bucks couldn’t win the postseason series in the 2000s, but they left everything here.
The 2003–04 season should have felt like a mirage for Timberwolves fans, as his team was the most sensible in the West and organized an MVP crusade through Kevin Garnett. This is a long way from the days of Tom Gugliotta and Christian Laettner.
But he’s made even more progress.
Minnesota nearly qualified for the NBA Finals, the focus of that race was Game 7 of the circular moment opposed to the Sacramento Kings.
The rubber fit of the convention semi-finals became tense. The Timberwolves kept the Kings at bay for much of the game, and when Sacramento tried to pitch late, Minnesota was ready.
Garnett stole a Pass from Brad Miller with 32. 9 seconds to play, then blocked his desperate tray attempt with 4 seconds remaining. After the frantic final sequence, the MVP jumped on the scoreboard and yelled at a beloved crowd at Target Center.
After seven direct losses in the first round, the Timberwolves made it to the Western Conference final.
Inexplicably, Minnesota never made it to the playoffs with Garnett, but still loves the franchise, enough to buy it. Let’s hope a new governor with his competitive streak can bring back the glory days of Timberwolves basketball.
In his third year, Chris Paul became a superstar, breaking the four-year playoff drought of the New Orleans Hornets. Driven through a strong support cast, they were in a position to emerge under the bright lights of the playoffs and did so. Effectively.
After defeating the Dallas Mavericks in five games, New Orleans faced the San Antonio Spurs. With either group winning 56 games and San Antonio having a lot more experience in playoffs, that didn’t seem fair. But the 6’1 “Paul prospered when he underestimated, so the doubts were almost comforting for New Orleans, which took a 2-0 lead in the series with house wins of 19 and 18 points.
The Spurs held on until they won their games at home, but were temporarily taken to the break-up point of elimination in an excellent Game Five for the Hornets. David West struggled with back pain to record 38 problems and 14 rebounds, Paul added a double-double of his, and the team won 101-79.
That was enough for San Antonio, who locked Up New Orleans in the last two games and won another place in the Western Conference finals, but Paul and the Hornets have earned the league’s respect for seriously challenging the nba’s pre-eminent fashion dynasty.
Miami Heat and Knicks were the rivalry of the last 1990s, and not just for facing each other in four consecutive series, these groups were emblematic of the time when they were above the entire defense, were not afraid to combine and showed genuine hatred for others.
However, none of this drama has infiltrated this iteration of the rivalry and, probably, in the related news, is the most productive of the 4 clashes.
Five of the first six games went through two possessions or less, so it’s not unexpected that Game 7 is similar, with thirteen head adjustments and seven draws. However, at 1:20 by the end, New York took the lead by being smart in a overturned through Patrick Ewing. Jamal Mashburn, Tim Hardaway and Clarence Weatherspoon all had a chance of winning the series after Ewing’s bucket, but each and every attempt went wrong.
For the third year in a row, the Knicks emerged victorious over the Heat.
New York was unable to make another appearance in the final, as the Indiana Pacers returned to torture them once in the next round. But it’s Ewing’s last season with the Knicks, so the fact that he scored the winner’s goal is a glorious culminating achievement of the biggest race in franchise history.
Despite having Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis, the Seattle SuperSonics controlled a place in the playoffs in their post-Gary Payton period, Kevin Durant’s striker. Fortunately, they made him count.
After two consecutive seasons of waste, Seattle jumped, expanding its overall victory from 37 to 52. However, while the team’s offense ranked the moment through net scoring, its three-point dependency generated questions.
But the anti-shooting shots are crazy, and so have they here.
Although the sonics experienced a drop in shooting power against the Sacramento Kings (with the exception of Allen, who fired 45. 2% from long distance), they still outperformed the Sacramento Kings, restricting them to 82 and 93 problems in games 1 and 2 and winning their first-round series in five contests.
Seattle’s shot was even worse against the venerable San Antonio Spurs in the convention semifinals, yet it nearly forced a Game 7 before conceding a series-winning shot to Tim Duncan.
The Phoenix Suns earn the most credits for modernizing NBA offenses because they made it to the playoffs. But Nate MacMillan’s seattle groups were experimenting with them, and although they were less successful, they still deserve to be remembered.
After wasting on the first round in 2007 and wasting on the round in 2008, logic dictated that the Orlando Magic would race to the playoffs in 2009, and that’s precisely what they did.
The team’s normal season is nothing special, as it won only 59 games and won the third seed in the East Conference, but this list was built for the playoffs.
Considered cutting edge for his time, chief coach Stan Van Gundy’s rosters are almost quaint in those days. He surrounded Dwight Howard with flipped handles, knowing that they would accentuate this wonderful man’s abundant gifts in painting. perimeter defense, however, since Howard was also the most productive hoop protector in basketball, it wasn’t really a problem.
In an era when the groups were still playing with two wonderful men who didn’t shoot simultaneously, the Magics were unbeatable on smart shooting days. And in the 2009 playoffs, they scored only enough shots, dethroned the Boston Celtics in a second-round home and away game, and beat LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers to advance to the final.
Howard was only 23 at the time and it looked like Orlando would dominate the league for years after that playoff series.
It’s a magical season for the 76ers, and this game is the timer.
By season five, Allen Iverson had become a superstar in his own right, and nothing prevented him from succeeding as a team, not even a more common nameless cast (and Dikembe Mutombo, 34, still restless like no one else).
Despite being the smallest player on the top courts and an extraordinarily useless scorer, Iverson dragged this slim team to 56 wins while leading the league in scoring and winning his MVP award.
The 2001 playoffs saw Iverson take the hero’s ball to its absolute limits In the first 3 rounds, he averaged a Russell Westbrook of 29. 4 shots consistent with the game and necessarily allowed the 76ers to qualify for the final by sheer will. He culminated in the first game when The Answer produced a 48-point masterpiece against the Los Angeles Lakers and won it with a consistent jump and jump that is lived in the Louvre.
Iverson and the 76ers may well have been practice presidents for Los Angeles for the remaining four games, but it must be said that he did not make the most of his moment in the sun.
After Steve Nash hosted a consecutive MVP winning the regular season, playoff expectations were best for the 2005-06 Suns, so he was naturally agonizing when Kobe Bryant and a small Los Angeles Lakers list jumped to a 3-1 lead in the series in the first. Round.
Being at the breakout point of elimination, however, woke anything up within the Suns, as they won the fifth game with 17 points, survived a 50th place against Kobe in Game 6 and won 121-90 in the rubber match. the team was unable to maintain this consistency for more than one game at a time in the convention semifinals.
He played old basketball for the Suns in Game 1, with 130 issues against the Los Angeles Clippers, but scored less than a hundred in Games 2 and 3. The two clubs alternated victories for the rest of the round, and it was Phoenix’s turn in Game 7, the team shot 60% of the area and scored 127 points in a single series.
The way we described the Suns playoffs in 2006 would possibly seem too stressful to be a clever memory, but with the wisdom of the effects and distance of emotions, it is desirable to revisit this team’s roller coaster.
In retrospect, the final results of this series are obvious.
The Los Angeles Lakers had both players, and Kobe Bryant in specific wasn’t going to let them lose, but their triple mob almost ended before they started thanks to the Blazers’ exploits in this series.
Los Angeles took a 3-1 lead, and given the above-mentioned disparity, it would have been understandable if Portland had turned.
But Mike Dunleavy wasn’t willing to do that.
They outperformed the Lakers in the fifth game, an elite feature in any of Scottie Pippen’s instructions (22 issues, six rebounds, six steals, 4 blocks, 3 assists) and temporarily tied Steve Smith’s 26-series issues and a double-double of 3 five. Arvydas Sabonis, one year old.
After being swept in the 1999 Western Conference finals, it seemed the Blazers were about to correct their mistakes and achieve the maximum for the first time in eight years.
The seventh game was a big fire, punctuated by a mythical balloon symbolizing the beginning of the Laker dynasty, but in another reality, we’re talking about how the Blazers achieved the latest with Pippen in the post-prime, Sabonis at the feet, 5’10 “Damon Stoudamire and a volatile Rasheed Wallace as their most productive players.
There is a compelling argument that this series is the worst reminiscence of the Kings playoffs of the 2000s. At least one of the games would possibly have been literally manipulated for the Los Angeles Lakers. But Sacramento hadn’t gotten that far in 20 years. , so it is the selection through the clenched teeth.
Apart from the controversies, the finals of the 2002 Western Conference were very entertaining; five of the seven games were for two possessions or less, and the team’s mutual disdain was palpable; and while Shaquille O’Neal can claim otherwise, the Lakers took the Kings seriously, as they deserve to have.
If Sacramento had reached the final, it would have been difficult. Chris Webber played O’Neal in a s still spot at the convention finals, Mike Bibby and Bobby Jackson led a satisfied offense and the Kings’ defense limited Los Angeles to just 42. 0%. shooting, more than 4 percent of problems worse than usual. -seasonal efficiency.
While they were not at their 15-1 level from the previous year, the Lakers remained the league team to beat in 2002, so the fact that the Kings almost defeated them even with possible outdoor interference deserves praise.
The Spurs had already earned a name with Tim Duncan in 2003, but he was still on par with David Robinson at the time. Four years later, however, 37-year-old Robinson was in total decline, while Duncan had just completed a normal winning season for the MVP and pointed the name for a moment.
Duncan’s perfect playoff record is already well known, yet he has become a wonderful all-time with this performance. The Spurs were much more wonderful than the New Jersey Nets and may have still won this series with Duncan at the B-plus level, but Big Fundamental may simply not shut down their quietly relentless engine.
The result is natural carnage.
In all six games, Duncan averaged 24. 2 points, 17. 0 rebounds, 5. 3 assists and 5. 3 blocks worthy of a double catch consistent with the game. He was so dominant that Jason Kidd almost lured Kevin Durant into signing up for the Spurs in a loose. Agency.
The rest of the San Antonio team also played well in the final. Robinson was productive in a more limited role, while Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Stephen Jackson and Bruce Bowen each played to their respective strengths. But this series will rightly fear Duncan forever.
In early 2001, Vince Carter was already regarded as one of the most productive mattes in basketball history, but told the world that he was more than a top player in this series.
After taking the Raptors to their first playoff victory in franchise history, Carter faced Allen Iverson and the fearsome Philadelphia 76ers. Facing the league’s MVP was in fact a challenge, and 54 reaction issues in Game 2 proved it. But Carter will have done so, been encouraged through his All-Star counterpart, as he responded fiercely two days later.
In Toronto, Vinsanity beat the Sixers, scoring 50 points himself while tying an NBA playoff record with nine trios in a 102-78 Raptors defeat. The 76ers had All-NBA defenders like Dikembe Mutombo and Eric Snow and were proud to close the elite goalscorers, but there’s nothing they can do to avoid Carter.
Toronto failed its 2-1 lead, wasting a heartbreaking game from the seventh that was the last shot, but through this tight series, the franchise has transcended its prestige as an expansion team for the first time and established it as a respectable organization.
Seen in a sense, Jazz reached the last of the 2007 Western Conference thanks to the sheer fate of the draw. On the other hand, Utah survived a team with two All-Stars and a team at the time that was in the hot past.
We’d rather read.
Jazz entered those playoffs as the fourth seed, which meant their first-round series theoretically a draw; however, since the team’s top members had never played postseason basketball and that their opponent the Houston Rockets led through Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, this series seemed to lean in favor of the other team.
Thanks to the brilliant performances of Deron Williams, Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur in Game 7 of the team’s defense and clutch, Utah many qualified for the round of the moment.
Luck entered the equation in the convention semi-finals when Jazz faced the Warriors “We Believe”. And while Golden State had a wave of intelligent sensations, it overca overca overca view of Utah, which mitigated the team’s explosive offense and progressed after five quick games.
Jazz was never the team with the most talent at the time, however, they made the most of their lists. When the opportunity for a deep playoff race arose, they took advantage of it.
It was incredibly tempting to decide on DeShawn Stevenson’s taunts about LeBron James. However, Stevenson was an untrided actor who opposed LeBron, and Washington had some good fortune in the playoffs during that decade.
On the role, the Chicago Bulls won this series, took a 2-0 lead, moved the ball well and harassed Gilbert Arenas, but once Washington received the pass, he settled in a rhythm.
Arenas’ jumper’s disappearance has sounded the death sentence for the Wizards, however, he discovered other tactics to contribute, expanding his rebound, assisting and stealing regular-season stats, and the team worked around their problems.
Larry Hughes played a stellar perimeter defense, Brendan Haywood and Etan Thomas provided strong hoop protection, and Antawn Jamison hit three. When the dust subsided, Washington had won four straight wins and on its way to a circular moment with the seed Miami Heat.
It is unhappy that the Wizards’ most productive postseason moment in the 2000s came in the midst of an epic collapse in the Arena, but the fact that they won without it at their most productive time demonstrated how smart they can be when it shoots each and every cylinder.