NBA Time Capsule: Ranking every NBA Finals series since 1990

29. 1999 – San Antonio Spurs over New York Knicks (4-1)

Do you enjoy basketball games where one of the team’s best players (Patrick Ewing) is injured and not playing? How about a series where one team never touches 90 points and in three of the five games they don’t even reach 80? If you correctly answered “no” to these questions then I would recommend skipping this series entirely and maybe joining my movement to have it removed from NBA history.

Game 5 is the most watchable game in this series and comes down to the final play, but neither team gets to 80 points, making the first three quarters about as appealing as a ketchup flavored popsicle.

If you watch this series, liberally use the fast forward button, you’re not missing anything.

28. 2014 – San Antonio Spurs over Miami Heat (4-1)

Except for Game 2, none of the games in this series are close at the end. The only other interesting game would be Game 1, which is the memorable game where the air conditioning was broken in San Antonio’s arena, leading to temperatures up to 90 degrees and was most likely the cause of LeBron James’ infamous cramping in the 4th quarter.

Outside of a lot of not very close games, this series just felt like a letdown after the all-time great 2013 NBA Finals between these two teams. The 2014 version of the Miami Heat was older and breaking down, especially Dwyane Wade, and the Spurs came back this season deeper and on a mission to get revenge from 2013.

The heavy passing and ball movement offense the Spurs ran in 2014 makes these games enjoyable if you watch for those types of things, but if you’re just looking for a good series then 2014 isn’t a good place to start.