What has been the best finals in the post-Jordan era

[Culburn369]

Pretty puny list---aside from the raw result of 4 rings for the Lakers. Ain't a one that is worth a tinker's dam, but, two moments stand out:

1. That POS Wallace lettin' his Pistons get "Horryed"...a couple years after CWEBB had turned his back on Horry and the Kings were left dead in the ground.

2. In the immediate aftermath of that Indy/Lakers Finals watch Shaq search the crowd for his people. The look on his face is just devastating. No game face. No horse Daddy. Just anquish.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

I made my pick, 2005, before reading the thread. I was EXTREMELY surprised to see that it won the poll by a long way, but shouldn't have been since most of us around here support either the Spurs or Pistons and thus actually watched the 2005 series.

My reasons:
*incredible variations in how the games played out. Game 1 was close until we blew it out in the 4th, and then in game 2 we played almost perfect ball. Then, in games 3 and 4 the Pistons did likewise - played almost perfect basketball, turning the ball over a cobined 12 times in 2 games IIRC. Game 5 was a classic, game 6 an under-rated backs-against-the-wall win by the Pistons, and then game 7 was in the balance until Timmy took over in the middle of the 3rd then handed off to Manu to close the deal. Defensive basketball at its finest.
*subplots - Pop vs Larry, Parker vs Billups, Rip vs Bruce, Timmy vs the Wallaces, Manu, Big Shot Rob coming out of nowhere to put in the most incredible performance I've ever seen (21pts in 17mins, the dunk, the 3) from a player who was totally missing until that point.
*it went 7 games with two teams playing quality basketball, be it more defensive than your average NBA fan would appreciate.
*Ben Wallace played the best he ever has, as did Manu Ginobili who should have been joint MVP of the series after playing a huge role in 3 of the Spurs' 4 wins.

I could go on, but there's no need to - y'all know what I'm talking about.

No-one but Spurs and Pistons fans rates the 2005 series at all, mainly because not many peiople other than us actually watched the series, but it was a fine way to say goodbye to the era of defensive basketball as the athletes and touch fouls took over and turned the game in women's soccer.

[Spurtacus]

'05

[resistanze]

Funny, the '05 Finals is the only Finals I've missed in like the past 15 years.

[tlongII]

Pistons vs Spurs easily. That was a terrific series.

[phyzik]

Funny, the '05 Finals is the only Finals I've missed in like the past 15 years.

Honestly, standing outside as a Spurs fan, you missed an awesome series. 7 games for the championship, all games highly contested, you have no idea what you missed. Its trully too damn bad that series couldnt go best of 15, it was that close.

[Obstructed_View]

Since there's either a team I love or a team I hate (two in 2008) in each Finals since Jordan left, I'm not sure how to answer the question. The Pistons denying Karl Malone a ring and the Heat denying Mark Cuban a ring were both pretty great.

[holcs50]

Honestly, standing outside as a Spurs fan, you missed an awesome series. 7 games for the championship, all games highly contested, you have no idea what you missed. Its trully too damn bad that series couldnt go best of 15, it was that close.

Not to be a , but the first four games were far from highly contested lmao. Spurs smoked them first two games in SA and manu went off both games, Detroit went home blew us the out for two games....Then the 5th was probably the best game ive ever seen -spurs win. Goes back to SA, pistons play a tough game and pull it out-good game. Then game 7, really intense game, TD hits some big shots down the stretch. Overall amazing series tho, the back and forth was great. Still think Manu should've got that MVP tho.

[LnGrrrR]

I picked the Celtics/Lakers game, due to the history behind it, and because I didn't see the Pistons/Spurs finals live (I was deployed... they played at like 2 in the morning over there.)

Edit: And yes, also because I'm a homer.

[stretch]

spurs vs pistons was the best

pistons vs lakers was my favorite

heat vs mavericks is obviously my least favorite, but from a basketball fan POV, its underrated, as 3 games went down to the wire and had margins of 3 or less points. but it was all largely overshadowed by people (not just mavs fans) being upset with the fishy officiating.

[resistanze]

Honestly, standing outside as a Spurs fan, you missed an awesome series. 7 games for the championship, all games highly contested, you have no idea what you missed. Its trully too damn bad that series couldnt go best of 15, it was that close.

Yeah, I was out of the country - it really sucked. I followed the series through NBA.com. The only video highlight I was able to see was Horry hitting the game winner in game 5. I knew I had missed a classic.

[Allanon]

Pretty puny list---aside from the raw result of 4 rings for the Lakers. Ain't a one that is worth a tinker's dam, but, two moments stand out.

Yup, I'm thinking the same thing.

That list kind of sucks...2000 era Finals have sucked and were decided pretty much in the Conference Finals.

Conference Finals after 2000 > Finals after 2000

[LEONARD]

Most of the Finals series post-Jordan have been horrendous. One sided other than 2005.

If the Lakers win the championship...

I'll leave this forum for life.

I am doing this to prove to everyone how much of a non-factor the Lakers are in the playoffs. They haven't accomplished anything. They just want to come out, shoot some hoops, and BS their way to everything. Not going to get it done in the Finals. Orlando will win the championship. There are no All-Stars other than Kobe on this Laker team. Not an intimidating lineup. Just a bunch of a jump shooters who score off Kobe double teams.

Pussy...

[baseline bum]

My top 3:

1) Spurs/Pistons '05
2) Mavs/Heat '06
3) Lakers/Pacers '00