NBA Time Capsule: Ranking every NBA Finals series since 1990
17. 1994 – Houston Rockets over New York Knicks (4-3)
A series in which almost every game is close and goes seven games, so how could it rank so low on this list? Because the first 45 minutes of every game are basically unwatchable, that’s why.
I know it’s sacrilegious to speak poorly about anything that happened in the ’90s, but this is the type of series that you watch and think – “there is no way these are the best two teams in the NBA.”
It was the first post-M.J. season after he had retired to go play minor league baseball in Birmingham, Alabama. That absence was certainly felt in this series, but with both teams running nearly all of their offense through the post it was tailored for a slow, nap-inducing style of play.
The most interesting part of the series is the head to head matchup between Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing. They were arguably the best two centers in the NBA at the time, but Olajuwon completely dominated the matchup. Olajuwon outscored Ewing in every game while shooting over 50 percent from the field and holding Ewing to a not-so-great 36 percent shooting mark.
The saving grace for this series is that every Game 7, without exception, is always fun. It’s the best event in sports, the perfect time to bet the under and inevitably watch some of the greatest athletes on the planet succumb to the pressure of the moment. In this series, the player to wilt under the pressure was John Starks, who shot an unbelievable (let me rub my eyes and make sure this is correct) 2-18 from the floor.
Starks gets most of the blame from Knicks fans, but Starks and Derek Harper were perhaps the biggest reason New York was even able to keep the series alive for so long with Ewing’s poor shooting.
16. 1992 – Chicago Bulls over Portland Trail Blazers (4-2)
This series is most well-known for the Jordan shrug in game 1 after hitting six first-half threes and his overall dominance throughout the series, but I think it’s forgotten that the Blazers had a real shot the whole time and it should have gone seven games.
If you want M.J. nostalgia, watch the first half of game 1. It’s a terrible game, but it’s one of his more iconic scoring stretches which is saying something. But if you want good games, 2 and 6 are the way to go.
Game 2 is worth watching just based on how strange it is. Portland’s star, Clyde Drexler, fouled out of the game with about 4:30 left to play in regulation and down by double-digits, seemingly ending the game. But a technical foul on Jordan sparked the Blazers to a 15-5 run that forced overtime. And in the overtime period, they dominated Jordan and Pippen without their best player to comfortably win by double digits. Like I said – strange.
Game 6 is essentially the same story as Game 2, but with the roles reversed. The Blazers seemed poised to force a Game 7, leading by 15 heading into the fourth quarter. But with M.J. on the bench to start the final quarter, Scottie Pippen and four bench players erased the lead almost immediately, and by the time M.J. came back into the game, the Blazers were deep into a historic collapse in an elimination game that led to the second championship in a row for Chicago.