What are some of your favorite non-Celtics playoff series?

[SuddenFame]

What would be some of the more fun & interesting series that you thought made great t.v. back in the day?  Please elaborate as to why it was a fun or great series....

Here, I'll start:

*1993 Charles Barkley Phoenix Suns march thru the Western Conference......just a lot of fun to watch every round.  Whether it was Sir Charles beating the Spurs on a last second jumper with David Robinson's hand in his face or falling behind 0-2 to an inferior Lakers team in a best of five series and storming back for the win. The West finals against Seattle were pretty thrilling as well, going seven games.  That's when I became initiated to The Big Smooth.  Seemed like everytime Seattle needed a big three he gave them one.  If you left him open he was dangerous.

I didn't want Seattle going to the Finals, was really pulling for Charles to get over the hump that year. And I really dug the look and overall makeup of that team that season.  With Dumas and Ceballos coming off the bench the Suns had the right balance of youth and veteran presence; they should have gone to the finals at least once more, kind of a shame. Plus, I liked Oliver Miller, not sure why, but I rooted for the big guy!
 Also, my roommate at the time used to call Charles Barkley 'Chunkley' . . . he was a Jordan fan, of course. 

[GC003332]

95 Houston Rockets

Winning all 4 series without home court advantage.

Coming back from 2-1 down against the Jazz and winning game 5 on the road.
Coming back from 3-1 down against Phoenix in the second round winning game 7 in Phoenix
Beating San Antonio in the Western Finals, Olajuwon toying with David Robinson after he got the MVP.
Drexler getting his only ring after they swept the Magic in the Finals.

Legendary performance by Hakeem the Dream.

[bdm860]

98 Bulls/Pacers ECF

Pacers were the only team to take the Bulls to 7 games during that 2nd three-peat, and all but game 5 were close.  You had that famous Reggie Miller shot in game 4, but people forgot it was almost negated by a similar Jordan shot on the next play that barely missed.  It really felt like the Bulls could lose for the first time since Jordan started winning rings, and they almost did!

Now it's crazy to think about what might have happened if the Pacers did win.  Does Jordan come back for at least one more season instead of retiring in '99?  The ultimate competitor in Jordan can't go out on a loss like that, can he?  How important was winning one more championship than Magic Johnson to him?  And if they did bring the whole team back in '99, I don't think they're beating the Spurs if they even make it to the Finals.  Jordan has now lost in the playoffs twice in a row, and finally once in the Finals.  Now his legacy is a little more tarnished (but maybe also helped a little by not coming out of retirement a 2nd time with the Wizards now?).

And if the Spurs did beat the Bulls in '99, it would have been seen as Jordan passing the torch to Duncan, similar to Magic passing the torch to Michael 8 years earlier.  Nice bookends to an era in the terms of overall NBA history.

Oh ya, and either Karl Malone  or Reggie Miller have a ring now.  It's all crazy to think about.

[Who]

I really liked that Mavs-Warriors first round matchup in 2007. The 2nd round matchup vs Utah was fun to watch as well.

That Orlando Magic vs Indiana Pacers conference finals series in 1995 was great to watch. Lots of fun offensive basketball. Shaq & Penny were a great duo to watch.

The Kings and Lakers had some great battles in the early 00s. Quality basketball.

In the 80s, the Celtics vs Lakers matchups were amazing. So too were the Sixers vs Celtics in the early 80s. Even the Pistons vs Lakers in 1988 gave a strong showing as well. Much more competitive finals than in the 90s or 00s.

The Sonics vs Jazz in 1996. Conference Finals. Great battles between Shawn Kemp and Karl Malone + Gary Payton and John Stockton. Even Hersey Hawkins vs Jeff Hornacek.

I enjoyed those Lakers vs Knicks Finals in the early 70s. Wilt. Jerry West. Walt Frasier. Willis Reed. Great individuals playing consummate team basketball.

Anything involving the Warriors in the early 90s. Loved their brand of basketball. Run TMC. That Lakers vs Warriors series in 91 had some beautiful moments.

I haven't enjoyed the playoffs as much in recent years. I thought the basketball was better before teams learned how to take advantage of the rule changes brought in in 2004. The first couple of years after that were solid but all downhill since then.

[Moranis]

I actually enjoyed the last two Finals a great deal.  The WCF last year were pretty good as well. 

The Pistons over the Lakers in 04 was pretty great also just from the shear shock factor.  I know I didn't expect the 3 time defending champion Lakers that added Malone and Payton to lose to the upstart Pistons without a real star of any kind, and then the Pistons just ran right through them.  Crazy.

[SuddenFame]

95 Houston Rockets

Winning all 4 series without home court advantage.

Coming back from 2-1 down against the Jazz and winning game 5 on the road.
Coming back from 3-1 down against Phoenix in the second round winning game 7 in Phoenix
Beating San Antonio in the Western Finals, Olajuwon toying with David Robinson after he got the MVP.
Drexler getting his only ring after they swept the Magic in the Finals.

Legendary performance by Hakeem the Dream.

Yeah, those Rocket teams were pretty exciting to watch, especially with Horry and Sam Cassell making one clutch shot after another.  Back to back Champs, can't take that away from them.

[SuddenFame]

I actually enjoyed the last two Finals a great deal.  The WCF last year were pretty good as well. 

The Pistons over the Lakers in 04 was pretty great also just from the shear shock factor.  I know I didn't expect the 3 time defending champion Lakers that added Malone and Payton to lose to the upstart Pistons without a real star of any kind, and then the Pistons just ran right through them.  Crazy.

Wasn't that awesome to see the Lakers get throttled, for once!

[manl_lui]

In recent memory

Cav vs GS (2016)
GSW vs Thunders (2016)
Spurs vs MIA (2014)
Spurs vs MIA (2013)
Portland vs Hou (2014)
-> The play that made me love the series even more
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mejFtEY5faU

Toronto vs MIA (2016) was actually kinda fun to watch
Dallas vs LA (2012), swept our long time rivals and let's not forget the elbow to JJ Barea from Andrew Bynum

[SuddenFame]

That Orlando Magic vs Indiana Pacers conference finals series in 1995 was great to watch. Lots of fun offensive basketball. Shaq & Penny were a great duo to watch.


The Sonics vs Jazz in 1996. Conference Finals. Great battles between Shawn Kemp and Karl Malone + Gary Payton and John Stockton. Even Hersey Hawkins vs Jeff Hornacek

That Magic - Pacers conf. final was exciting, but very frustrating, because the officiating was just horrible.  People forget how Shaq was protected by the refs in his early days.  Everytime Smits or the Davis boys tried to contest anything near Shaq they blew the whistle.  It was just awful. The irony was on the other end Shaq would come barrelling down the court and steamroll guys who were planted in the paint, and the refs would swallow their whistles.  Never saw anything like that before. The Pacers were the better team in that series, but the league wanted the Magic in instead.

I was hoping Houston would make a third Finals in a row but Gary Peyton played like a man possessed in that series.  Rockets had no chance that year.  Stockton and Malone are unquestionably the greatest duo to have never won a title. So many great playoff series those Jazz teams were in.

[SuddenFame]

In recent memory

Cav vs GS (2016)
GSW vs Thunders (2016)
Spurs vs MIA (2014)
Spurs vs MIA (2013)
Portland vs Hou (2014)
-> The play that made me love the series even more
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mejFtEY5faU

Toronto vs MIA (2016) was actually kinda fun to watch
Dallas vs LA (2012), swept our long time rivals and let's not forget the elbow to JJ Barea from Andrew Bynum

I love how Lillard faked out the white dude (Chandler Parsons?) who was guarding him, lol.  He's such a baller and rockstar.  Woulda been cool if LMA had stayed with him.

[RMO]

Lakers/Suns in 2006 I think it was.  Lakers were up 3-1.  Phoenix wins game 5 but Bell gets suspended for Game 6 (he was the primary defender on Kobe that series).  Phoenix down three with a few seconds and missed shot gets tipped to Thomas who hits the three from the top to tie it.  Phoenix wins in OT and destroys them in game 7.

[SuddenFame]

  Gawd I hate the L.A.
After living thru the Showtime Lakers I thought it couldn't get any worse.  But the Kobe version of the Lakers is just puke-inducing & nauseating.  Showtime had playmakers and guys who were superstars.  Kobe? Just an over-glorified ballhog. An Allen Iverson with rings.

[Donoghus]

Off the top of my head.....

'02 Western Conference Finals.  Controversies & all.  That was one helluva playoff series. 

'98 Eastern Conference Finals.  Pacers pushed Jordan era Bulls to the brink. 

'88 NBA Finals.  2 teams I absolutely hate but go back & watch that series.  Good stuff.

I'm sure there are a billion more that I'm overlooking at the moment but those 3 immediately come to mind.

[SuddenFame]

Piston fans still feel they were robbed of that 88 series.
Funny how it was the Pistons who finally put the Lakers and Celtics to bed, after all those combined championships.  That 88 series was an all-time great, no doubt about it.

If L.A. doesn't have all those crazy injuries in 89, I bet that one goes seven games too.

[GratefulCs]

Two that come to mind are when the pistons beat the lakers in '04 (?)

And the most recent spurs/heat series. That was some of the most beautiful basketball i've ever seen. They wanted it soooooo bad