Joint Contrast

By – J.C.

I don’t know what it is about the NBA postseason this year but I’ve been on board for much of it this spring. Maybe it’s the priceless postgame interviews with Ron Artest that keeps me tuned in, as that’s some good reality television right there. It sure doesn’t get anymore uncomfortably awkward than that, that’s for sure. TNT and the NBA equals a match made in hardwood heaven due largely in part to the back-and-forth between Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley. And thanks to NBA.com I was able to waste too much of my life watching, and selecting, my favorite NBA playoff highlights from back in the day. Enjoy…

1970′s – The New York Knicks road two-time NBA Finals MVP Willis Reed to two titles in four years during the early part of the decade (’70 and ’73; lost in ’74) while the Boston Celtics followed that up with two of their own (’73 and ’75) behind MVP performances from John Havlicek and Jo Jo White. The two big championship game losers during the 1970s, in comparison you could argue, were the Baltimore/Washington Bullets (one win in four trips to finals) and Los Angeles Lakers (one win in three trips to finals). 

1980′s – By the time the Philadelphia 76ers faded out in the middle of the 1980s (winning one title and losing two) there were two teams from each coast constantly in the hunt year after year. And in fact, just four cities claimed NBA titles during the decade. Between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics there were six championship trophies won in the 80′s, with L.A. taking two-of-three in head-to-head meetings. The Lakers would go on to win five in all (with Magic Johnson being named MVP three times) and return to lose in three others. The Celtics (and two-time finals MVP Larry Bird) won three title games themselves despite dropping those other two trips to their cross-country rivals. The Detroit Pistons rounded out the 80′s by splitting two championship games with the Lakers while the Houston Rockets lost both times they advanced to the finals against the Celtics.

1990′s – The Detroit Pistons wrapped up a back-to-back championship campaign to help usher in a new decade but that paled in comparison to the impact six-time finals MVP Michael Jordan had on the game in the 1990s. The Chicago Bulls did much more than win six-of-six titles, they won three in a row on two separate occasions. The Houston Rockets, who went back-to-back behind two-time finals MVP Hakeem Olajuwon in ’94 and ’95, should still be thanking Jordan for taking up baseball after his first three-peat concluded in ’93. The teams on the wrong end of the finals during the 90′s were the Portland Trail Blazers, New York Knicks and Utah Jazz, who each lost twice and have not returned since.

2000′s – Although this season has yet to officially close the door on the first decade of hoops in the new millennium, it’s not too soon to take a quick look back… After the San Antonio Spurs wrapped up the NBA title following the strike-shortened season of ’99, they would eventually ride two-time finals MVP Tim Duncan (three awards in all) to three more championships in five years, essentially matching what three-time MVP Shaquille O’Neal and the Los Angeles Lakers did at the start of the decade. Only the slight difference is that the Lakers got it done three years in a row before returning twice more, only to be turned away against the Pistons and last year’s Celtics. (Sounds like the return of the late-80′s all over again). The New Jersey Nets also lost in the finals twice this past decade, to both the Spurs and Lakers.