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Drew
My boyfriend's been working on growing his plants and he want to show y' all. So y' all gonna listen up.
J.E. Skeets
Come on, Boo Boo. Yeah. This one's a dragon plant. I got it because it grows really easily indoors. It's got a pretty like lemon lime looking leaves and it's air purifying.
Drew
My girl got some allergies so you.
J.E. Skeets
Know this dirty air here too.
Drew
So I gotta get this to clean the air inside. Good job, Boo Boo. Now y' all better comment like and.
Instacart Representative
Share and get you.
Drew
What's this called?
J.E. Skeets
Dragon plant.
Drew
A dragon plant.
J.E. Skeets
Good morning, sweet world and welcome to the no Dunks podcast on the Athletic Network. It's Wednesday, June 18, 2025. I'm Je Skeets here in the Classic Factory and alongside me, as always, Tas Melas basketball lovers.
Trey Kirby
This is definitely for you.
J.E. Skeets
Next to him, it's the bearded one, my top shot, hot boy, Trey Kirby Ayo. Hey, yo. And over Yonder, making the magic happen. Super producer JD Hello. There he is. Here we are. Hello, hello, hello to everyone watching on YouTube and listening to the podcast. Do your likes, do your subs, do your reviews, do your five star ratings, do your part. We appreciate it. Yes, on today's show we're taking a quick time out when it comes to talking about the 2025 NBA Finals. We have tomorrow to really set the table for Game 6 of the Thunder Pacer series. They don't play tonight, they play on Thursday. So instead today we're going to have some fun. We're firing up the tier list maker to rank every NBA Finals from this century. So we're looking at 26 if we're counting Thunder Pacers. We can get this at the end.
Drew
Yeah, okay.
J.E. Skeets
You know, 25 looks better on the thumbnail. Let's just be hon. I can't deny it, but we'll include Thunder Pacers, which is obviously still happening. But tk, you got it here. Looks good. We've got the S tier and then abcd.
Drew
Yeah. Will we end up with the perfect bell curve distribution? Only time will tell. I'm surprised you guys didn't want to do 90 minutes on Billy Donovan and Arturis Carnisurus getting extensions. But I guess we can save it for tomorrow.
J.E. Skeets
We can save it. We can save it.
Drew
We're going to. We're going to tier rank all of our tourist carnitivus's best moves tomorrow. So turn in today. We're talking about the finals starting in 2000, which is a long time ago, so maybe some of these early ones will go pretty quickly. I personally was still in high school in the year 2000. Not even a senior yet. But in the NBA Finals, the Lakers beat the Pacers 4 to 2. It's the last time the Pacers were in the finals. MVP of the 2000 finals, Shaquille O' Neal. You ever heard of him? He averaged 38 points, 17 rebounds, two assists, a steal and three blocks in this series. He had three 40 point games. 2000 NBA finals is best known for being the first of the Lakers. Three Pete.
J.E. Skeets
Yep.
Drew
Phil Jackson's first title in LA. Reggie Miller's only finals appearance. And for me, Austin Crozier getting paid at the end of this. He had a bizarrely awesome series. And that's why the gamors like 15 a game for the Pacers. He got a seven year contract, $51 million, which in 2000, that's a lot. And that's why he keeps showing up at these pacers games in 2025. So, yeah, 2000 NBA finals had a few notable games. Game two, Shaquille O' Neal took three 39 free throws.
Trey Kirby
That's notable.
Drew
Yeah. Of the Hack a Shack era, I think he went 18 for 39.
J.E. Skeets
He did.
Drew
That's pretty crazy. So many miss free throws that would. I don't remember it specifically, but maybe not a lot of rewatch value. 39 free throws. Game 4, Kobe Bryant came up clutch after missing Game 3 with an ankle injury. Shaq files out late in this one. Kobe, this is kind of his first real clutch moments with the Lakers. And then game six, the Lakers close it out behind Shaqs 41 and 12. And the Lakers had a whole bunch of threes in the fourth quarter as well.
J.E. Skeets
So I love that we're jumping right into this. We are ranking these with the criteria of just what, like, overall competitiveness, individual performances, like, memorable moments. Like, it's all that.
Drew
Right. Entertainment value.
J.E. Skeets
Yes. Okay.
Trey Kirby
How do you feel about. How do you remember it to some degree?
J.E. Skeets
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So where do we. Where do we start? Like, I know we can move things around as we go on, but I'll throw it out there. This one feels like an average one. It's not S tier by any means, but it's not the worst. And that's why I'll make a case for the B tier.
Drew
I think that's perfect.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, absolutely. It's middle of the pack. You know, I'm still thinking about my last year in high school, now that you brought up high school. Trey. 2000 was my year. Back when Ontario had five years in high school, this was my year number five. I was thriving, sort of. I just. Just don't find many memories about this series at all. Really. You remember how the Lakers got there, beating Portland in the conference finals, and the alley oop to Shaq and how they came back in the last game of that series? I mean, Shaq had monster numbers. And it's not just because Hacker Shack in the NBA Finals, he was 38, 16.7 boards, and 2.7 blocks.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah, it's nuts.
Trey Kirby
It is. It is nuts. Colby injured, but I don't really think of many moments from this series. They're not that memorable.
J.E. Skeets
Well, you slipped it in there. And Trey already talked about his game four where Kobe took over and hit those clutch shots because Shaq had fouled out. But game two, there was Jalen Rose, and he even admitted as much, admittedly, like, undercutting Kobe. Like, it. Like he didn't want, like, he, he wanted. He didn't want to like, take him out for good, but he like, wanted to get in his head. So he purposely sort of got under him and that he was out there for a little bit, but then to come back and have those big games. So that's the only other thing that like, really jumps out to me.
Trey Kirby
But Ron Harper was good. It was really good.
J.E. Skeets
It was good. Ye. It was good. And you know, it's. The memorable part is the start of the 3p. There is something there. And when we get to the other ones that they played, like, I think maybe this is the most memorable of the three. We can debate that as we move on here. But I like a B. Yeah, yeah, go with me.
Drew
I think that's good. Len, like you're saying test. This was the era for the Lakers where it's like the Western Conference finals was kind of the NBA Finals.
J.E. Skeets
Oh yeah.
Drew
You know, blazers one year, Kings one year. I don't remember who they beat in 2001. I wasn't paying good enough attention. But in the Finals, the 2001 NBA Finals, the Lakers beat the Sixers 4 to 1. Shaq, once again the MVP. 33 points per game, 16 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks. This series is only known for Allen Iverson stepping over to Ron Lou in game one. Yep, the only Lakers loss in the postseason that year. They went 15 and 1. Iverson had 30 points in the first half of this one, then seven straight in overtime, including when he stepped over Ty Lou. Sixers won the game in overtime and then the Lakers smashed the next four games.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah, I wrote my notes. The douchiest of douchebag sweeps to ever sweep. When you think about it, because of Iverson's awesome game one, they pull it out and then they just get sort of pummeled from there. And like when they came into this finals too, the Lakers were undefeated. They were 11. And oh, so they steamrolled through the west while the Sixers, I mean, they had to go through like seven game wars against our Raptors. Obviously that was the whole Vince Carter graduation series. And then they went to a seven game series against the Bucks as well. So like, you know, they're just getting by and it's all Iverson and then the defense. But yeah, then they had to run into this to this juggernaut of a team. But they got the game one and an awesome moment and then it was over from there. So I'm, I have this below 2000. So I'm, I'm a C tier guy on this one. But maybe you have a different because.
Trey Kirby
Of that singular moment, because this was also the peak of Allen Iverson's postseason career. I think that is a role in my brain, you know, it plays, it plays a prominent role. So I kind of, I can't go, I can't go below. It's an average. And so you want B tier. Yeah, at the very, at the very least for me.
J.E. Skeets
Okay. Okay. Well then you're the deciding factor. He's bmc. Where do you put it?
Drew
I'm gonna put it at the end of the beat here. I'll put it behind the 2000 finals. But it is funny that like the most notable moment is from the team that got beat 4 to 1. But it was Alan Iverson's MVP season. Like.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah.
Drew
How much value do you give a guy stepping over another guy? Yeah, a lot for me.
J.E. Skeets
I do love a lot. My only other note from this series is in game two, Shaq went for 28, 29 assists and he had eight blocks. So he was flir with the quadruple double. And before that game too, because it was a storyline after game one that they, they not only lost, but like Shaq had zero blocks and Phil Jackson had growled at Shaq, don't be afraid to block a shot. That's what he told them, obviously coaching him hard. And so he went out and got eight blocks and put up that line that I just gave you.
Drew
So fine, I'll do it.
J.E. Skeets
And then they went and crushed him. So okay, end of the B. That's fine.
Trey Kirby
It was a weird playoffs for the Lakers because that one loss was their only loss the postseason because they kept sweeping. They swept the spurs in the conference finals to get there pre Manu and. And Tony Parker. It was just Antonio Daniels had a really good series. According to my computer. That's. That was Tim Duncan's number two is David Robinson was pretty old, but that's all I'll remember. Robert Ori hit a game winning shot for the Lakers as well. You know, doing his Robert Ori things and then he goes and does it for the spurs later. So that's a good storyline. But yeah, not the super most super memorable.
J.E. Skeets
No.
Drew
Yes. Oh one Lakers are a pretty good team. Their one loss was an overtime game. One loss.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah. And it took like Iverson going bonker like Iverson remember, like they were down in that game. And then he went off in the second quarter especially. I think he had 30 points of the half.
Drew
Yep.
J.E. Skeets
What did he finish with? You said 48 in game one.
Drew
I don't know. I only wrote down 30 in the first half.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah. Yeah. So he went bonkers. But, yeah, they have. This team was so good. And it continued here.
Drew
Honestly, you read through all the Wikipedia summaries, and Wikipedia is a great resource for reviewing all this stuff. You're like, man, Shaq was. Was good. A lot of respect for the greats of the game while flipping this back. And then you're like, oh, yeah, Robert Hori made a lot of big shots for a lot of teams over a lot of years. 2002, NBA Finals, though, the Lakers beat the Nets 4 to 0. Sweepsville. Shaq, MVP once again, 36, 12 rebounds, four assists and three blocks. This is known for the Lakers repeating this was the final NBA Finals on NBC. And I think this is their last broadcast game until next season as well. Notable games actually kind of hard to find.
J.E. Skeets
This is a.
Drew
This is, I think, gonna be a D tier. But Jack had 42, 12 and eight in game two. And in game three, Kobe had 36 and Jack had 35. So pretty good.
J.E. Skeets
This is a D tier. Yeah. And again, we're only ranking the Finals, not the. The totality of the playoffs. Because the real championship was the series before Kings. It was Kings, Lakers, that Western Conference finals, that was your real championship series. This one was a joke. It's so funny. Like Todd McCullough, the pinball wizard himself. I mean, he was essentially useless. And then I read that the two reserve centers for New Jersey, Jason Collins and Aaron Williams, they collected more fouls than points. So Shaq was just devouring every single guy they were trying on him, and it was nothing they could do. Game two, he was a monster. He had 40 points, 12 boards. They were doubling them, as you should. He was kicking out of that. He had eight assists. He went 12 of 14 at the free throw line in game two. That might be when you look at all of his Finals games and might be Shaq's best game ever in the finals. That 40, 12, 8, and then all the free throws. But this is a D tier. This one is. Was bad. It was an unfair fight.
Drew
It was an unfair fight.
Trey Kirby
There's not many notes. It was. Yeah, it was a clear sweep. Backup centers of Jason Collins and Aaron Williams is Aaron Williams. Is that why the Raptors traded Vince Carter for Aaron Williams? Because of what he did against Shaq?
J.E. Skeets
Yeah, because he had more fouls than points.
Trey Kirby
That's a weird one. Yeah, it's the. Clearly, the Western Conference finals was the finals for the Lakers. And Those, those are sad moments considering all the free throws that they shot against Sacramento Kings. We didn't know about that. Game six. So many free throws. 27 free throws in that fourth quarter. That was, that was the most noteworthy thing of those, those playoffs. Really. So this is nothing. This is nothing.
J.E. Skeets
Okay. D tier.
Drew
Yeah, that was, that was an easy1. The 2003 NBA Finals. Hey, the Lakers don't win it.
J.E. Skeets
I know, but. But we all think they were there.
Drew
Or feels like it.
J.E. Skeets
Or when they play the Pistons. We all think that was the. This one. We've talked about this before.
Drew
Yeah.
J.E. Skeets
This is a forgotten year.
Drew
It feels like it should be. 01, 0203 are the years that they won the Finals, but it's not.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah.
Drew
Because in 2003, it's the Spurs.
J.E. Skeets
Yes.
Drew
They beat the Nets, who got back to the finals for a second straight year. Four to two victory for the Spurs. Tim Duncan was the MVP in this one. His second Finals MVP at the time. 24 points per game, 17 rebounds, 5 assists, a steal and 5 blocks per game for Tim Duncan. This is known for the spurs scoring 101 points in their game one victory. And every other team score in this series was under 100 points.
J.E. Skeets
The scores are like 87, 85, 84, 79, 77, 76. Game six, a barn burner. 80, 80, 88 to 77. Yeah, like, I'm pretty low on this one as well. Just these games were rough. This was a rough time.
Drew
And this dark days in the NBA.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah, the only real lasting mem. Probably David Robinson getting his final championship here as he goes into retirement. I do remember that. I can visually think of that, but not a lot else.
Trey Kirby
The Nets won a couple games.
J.E. Skeets
Well, yeah, that's good.
Trey Kirby
You know, they didn't get bombed. They didn't get swept. I went through this with my wife Danielle, who was a New Jersey Nets fan as a kid. Their family went to the games and so this was a better series than getting swept. A lot of low scoring games though, but incredibly low scoring. When you went through Tim Duncan's overall numbers, it's kind of a great accomplishment to get that high because he was putting up Numbers that game 1, 32 and 26 assists and 7 blocks. And that game 5, 29, 17, 4 assists and 4 blocks. So I kind of want to put it up because this was my, my Tim Duncan series for me.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah, I get that.
Drew
I'm kind of with you. Actually. I think this is maybe C tier because this is the peak of Tim Duncan. He's back to back MVP at this point. Right. He won it in 2002 and then 2003. And like you're saying, he dominated in this Finals. In the game six, closeout game, Duncan went for 21 points, 20 rebounds, 10 assists and eight blocks.
Trey Kirby
Eight blocks near quad.
Drew
Not many better games in the NBA Finals than that. Well, I mean, we'll hear some crazy numbers coming up, but still.
J.E. Skeets
So you guys want to go C tier? I guess I'm more of a D tier man. That's fine. We got a lot to rank here.
Drew
Yeah, we got a lot to rank here. Like, let's put it this way, you're.
J.E. Skeets
Not going back to watch this. Whatever.
Drew
Not quite. You watch a Tim Duncan highlight mix. That's it.
Trey Kirby
But because it's arguably his best series. Yeah, yeah, I, I, I would, but.
J.E. Skeets
You'Re playing the Nets. Like, no offense, Danny, I'm sorry if you're listening or watching, but like, the Nets were the Last team under 50 wins to reach the NBA Finals in a fully played season until we got to the 22, 23 Miami Heat being a low season. So, like they were not a very, very good regular season team, but they.
Trey Kirby
Got there to get back there and they won two games.
Drew
They did.
J.E. Skeets
It turns out when the scores are in the 80s and 70s, you know, it can break your way.
Trey Kirby
But yep, okay, Tom Nicola got out of the way for Kembi Mutombo. You know, things were different with that. But yeah, C's. C is definitely.
Drew
It might be at the bottom of this.
J.E. Skeets
You know what? Okay. Bottom of the sea tier. And, and I'll make a case for you guys to get it to C instead of D. We did have 25 year old rookie Manu Ginobili playing in this one and he was like a positive player. Like, you don't, you're not gonna look at the box score and go like, wow. He took over games, but every time he was out there, like he was basically a, a positive player and they won his minutes all the time. So that was like the start of Ginobi. Okay. And his runs here. Yeah. Okay. C tier.
Drew
C tier it is for now, the 2004 NBA Finals. I feel like the Detroit Pistons are a team that has gained a lot of respect since this time. In the past 21 years, the Pistons beat the Lakers 4 1. Lakers made it back after a year out of the finals. The MVP was Chauncey Billups. He went for 21 points a game, three rebounds, five assists per game, plus a steal. Obviously known as one of the biggest upsets in NBA Finals history. Also known for the pistons defense. In three separate games, they held the Lakers to 75, 68 and 80 points. This is also the end of the Shaq, Kobe and Phil Jackson era in la.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah, right. Yeah. This one is commonly referred to as a five game sweep because the Pistons dominated the four. The four victories. And the Lakers barely managed to win that game too. But that had some like, cool. That was Kobe, I think, hitting a big shot to get it into overtime.
Drew
Yeah, that's like a. Should we foul up? Three moments from NBA history. The Pistons decide we're not gonna foul anybody unless it's Shaq catching the ball. But it goes to Kobe. He makes the shot. Lakers win it in overtime. And then I went to my Josh, my friend Josh Franks's house for game three, and I thought for sure the Lakers are gonna bounce back. They just had that awesome win in game two. They've got three championships. They're hungry for another one. You know, Carl Malone, I think this is the very last, last series of his career as well.
J.E. Skeets
He got injured.
Drew
I'm like, they're gonna do this for sure. And they got blown out, 88 to 68. Gary Franks couldn't believe it.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah, man. Torian Prince was shutting down Kobe.
Drew
It usually happens the other way.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah, I know. Shut down Kobe in the Game 3, though.
Trey Kirby
That was their franchise low 68 points in a freaking game. And that's why it's not that noteworthy for any modern NBA fan.
J.E. Skeets
No, no, this is, this is tough basketball to watch. Yeah.
Trey Kirby
Yeah. Outside Shaq, another Lakers rotation shot over 40%. Like not even really, really close. No one got close to it. That's a bad number. But it is notorious because of who the Detroit Pistons are.
Drew
Right.
Trey Kirby
And because everyone refers to, you know, if they're thinking about a modern team and they don't really have a super duper star, they say, what about those 2004 pistons? They did it. Yeah, you know they did it.
J.E. Skeets
They come up a lot.
Trey Kirby
They do.
J.E. Skeets
As the, the David to this Goliath. That was the Lakers. Yeah. Even though, again, I always forget that this wasn't like the fourth straight finals appearance for those Lakers. It's that weird year there. They weren't there there. But I guess I'm gonna go C tier.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, I'm fine with that.
J.E. Skeets
Maybe, maybe a little higher than some of the ones we got there. But I can't go super high, though.
Drew
I got it over 2003 for sure.
J.E. Skeets
Okay. Okay. Yeah, that's fine with me.
Drew
Cool.
J.E. Skeets
I was even flirting with the idea of a D tier. But C tier is fine. And you said Carl Malone's last game and then Gary Payton's and Shaq's last game in a Lakers uniform as well.
Drew
Yes, indeed.
J.E. Skeets
So this was the end of that.
Drew
The Kobe shaq At least 2005. The spurs are back. They beat the Pistons, who are also back. Spurs win 4 to 3 in the 2005 NBA Finals. MVP once again. Tim Duncan. 20 points per game, 14 rebounds, 2 assists plus 2 blocks per game. This is known for the Larry O' Brien sticker getting on the court for the first time. Like the giant one at half or decal. Third spurs title in seven seasons. I guess starting in 1999. Notable games in this one start in game five because the first four games were blowouts for the home team. 18 ties in game five, 12 lead changes and Robert Horry went nuts in the fourth quarter and overtime. Went 5 for 6 starting in the third quarter, scored 21 points in the third, fourth and overtime. He had that left handed dunk. Is the play I remember from Robert Ori also hit the game winner. And then in game seven, it was the first game seven in 11 years. 25 points, 11 boards for Tim Duncan, 23 points for Manu Ginobili.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah, Ginobly was really good series. I remember he star in game one as well. He said played well in game seven. But yeah, Duncan took over in the third quarter in game seven. This one's tough because the first four sort of suck. Yeah, the first four games. But then it's saved by five, six, seven and a lot of heroics. So I have it pretty high and maybe it going to seven plays apart. I think there could be a case for an A tier here.
Drew
Wow.
J.E. Skeets
A or B, you're not going that high.
Drew
A B for sure. Yeah, I think, I think this is our best B yet. I would have it ahead of 2000 and 2001.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, this is my Manu Ginobili series. Arguably he could have won mvp. Those numbers were super close to Tim Duncan and he came through big time in game one. Yeah, that fourth quarter, if you had dropped 15 points to. To get them. It was. There was that dunk, hook shot, three pointer and they won by 15. But then. Yeah, game two, another blow. Game three, another blowout. Game four, super blowout. And then game five was. They started to get close again. It got fun. That was the Robert Ori game winner. N O T. So when you look back, seven games should be fun. But I can't go super high. Yeah, because they. Because they weren't all that. That all that fun. But the Manu thing, you're coming off.
J.E. Skeets
He was on the floor.
Drew
Larry was there.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
J.E. Skeets
And the finals. Word. Mark was on the floor. I think they had that on the baseline. So.
Drew
Okay, we're probably saying too much stuff on the floor.
J.E. Skeets
So you're saying that Robert Hori 3. Was that the one where Rashid Wallace leaves him?
Trey Kirby
Yes.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Trey Kirby
Okay, man. Man. Who set him up?
J.E. Skeets
I mean. I mean, it got good at the end, but. But okay, you guys are knocking it for the first four. That's understandable. They were a blowout. So you want to go top of the B tier.
Drew
Yeah, I'm trying to put.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, that's a B. That's. That's a B. It's not something you really.
Drew
Maybe it'll get back.
J.E. Skeets
I'm gonna say. I think that could get bumped up.
Drew
How much of it. How much of it did you remember before you did research?
J.E. Skeets
I mean, that's a part of it for sure. I remembered the Robert Hori game. I remembered Manu, like to break out. Obviously, Duncan's still a monster. Yeah, yeah. I. I didn't remember, like, final scores of those first four. Like, in my head. Was it close or not? Yeah, no, no, but it. Okay, B. B's fine.
Drew
All right. 2006 NBA Finals. One of the most controversial in NBA history. The Heat beat the Mavs Fortitude. Dwayne Wade was your MVP. 35 points per game, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and a block. Really? His coming out party. This is definitely known for Dwayne Wade taking 25 free throws in game five.
J.E. Skeets
Yep.
Drew
Also Shaq's first non Lakers title. The Mavs won the first two games of this series, lost the next four. And this is the first Mike Breen final finals in NBA history. So the notable games definitely was game five. Dwayne Wade, 43 points, including 25 free throw attempts. The Heat win this one in overtime after an odd timeout call on Josh Howard. This is the most known game for sure from this finals.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah, yeah. So for those that don't know, like you said, Wade with all the free throws, there was like a controversial over and back call or no call at the end of that game five.
Trey Kirby
Cuban was so mad.
J.E. Skeets
Cuban was. He got fined a lot for that. And Wade back at the line and. And he hit the first free throw. And then you see Dallas Mavericks coach Avery Johnson signaling to the team, hey, call a timeout. But he's trying to say, call a timeout after Wade's attempt if he hits another one here. But Josh Howard was a little confused what Avery Johnson was relaying. And he starts to gesture timeout. And starts walking to the bench. Like it was pretty blatant. Like he thought, okay, we're calling time out here. And so the rest like, okay, timeout. And that was huge because they couldn't advance the ball after Wade then hit the second one. And it was like Devin Harris, like chucked up like a half court shot that. That wasn't that far off. He's sort of. He's good at those crazy shots.
Drew
I've seen him make a half.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah, exactly. But anyway, that was a bit of the controversy. The, the. The over and back call, all the weight free throws. And then this idea of, like, Josh Howard, did he or did he not call the timeout? Did he or did he not show? The refs have known he meant to do it after. Anyway, weird series. We also had Jerry Stackhouse getting suspended in game four hitting Shaq. So he didn't play in that game. Class.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, the moment sticks out to me. Is Gary Payton's game winner in game three? Cause they were down two zero and they're down big in the fourth quarter. I don't know. It was double digits 13, 14. I got it written down 13 midway through the fourth quarter. And Gary Payton hit a game winner to get the Heat. Their first win. That was monstrous and a championship for him. Obviously his. His first and only championship, but it is remembered for free throws.
Drew
Especially if you're a Dallas fan.
Trey Kirby
Yeah.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah. So where do we put it?
Drew
It's a C to me.
J.E. Skeets
C. Maybe a B. I had a B tier. I mean, I did like the. I think the Heat were only the third team at the time. A couple have done it Since. To be down.02 and then come back and win four straight. So that's like a little something there. I mean, obviously we see the Cavs do it later and the Bucks do it later. Only a handful of teams have done it before the Heat.
Trey Kirby
That's when the NBA starts to contemplate, do we kill this two, three, two thing? Because it.
Drew
Because it hurts.
Trey Kirby
And Dallas complained about that as well. Mark Cuban complained about a lot of things, and he definitely complained about that. I get that.
Drew
Yeah.
J.E. Skeets
B.C.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, it's a memorable. It's memorable.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah. That's why I'm B.
Drew
All right.
J.E. Skeets
I'm a B man for this one.
Drew
Memorable.
J.E. Skeets
Okay, so we got the Heat over the mask.
Drew
You like it better than 01. Oh, geez.
J.E. Skeets
This gets very tough. Yeah, I think I do.
Drew
I like breaking up the logos.
J.E. Skeets
Sure, sure.
Drew
That was the 06. All right. 2007 spurs are back. They win 4 to 0 over LeBron James's Cavaliers MVP was Tony Parker, who went for 25 points per game plus 5 rebounds, 3 assists. This is known for being LeBron's first Finals. Honestly, a throwback, bad ratings Finals. When you're reading through the Wikipedia, I think this was the first one that was like, ratings were pretty low for this one.
J.E. Skeets
Lowest television NBA Finals ratings since we got to 2020.
Drew
Yeah, yeah, exactly. The fourth spurs title since 1999. Notable game ones are LeBron's first finals game or notable games. Game one is LeBron's first finals 14 points on 4 of 16 shooting. Not great. Game three, 75 to 72, which is the lowest scoring finals game since 1955. I think this is a D tier Finals.
J.E. Skeets
It's a D. Yeah, it's a D. And here's a couple reasons there's not a lot of memorable moments. I mean, honestly, one of the most memorable moments is from after Game 4 when Duncan seeks out LeBron, like in the tunnel or in the locker room to say, hey man, you know, this. This league's gonna be yours someday. That's one of the first things I think of, like that cool scene.
Trey Kirby
Yeah. Where he says, I appreciate you giving it to us this year. Literally. Yeah. So that made LeBron smile. That's the most memorable moment. I mean, big Z had a lot of big boards. Mr. Junicel Goskis had 18 rebounds in that clanker that you said. 75, 72. Other than that, now it's LeBron getting a hug from Duncan and getting his team there. Literally LeBron getting his team there. And he dragged him.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah, and that's what I was gonna say. The two best series of the 07 playoffs are both the spurs son second round, when Robert Horry's body checking Steve Nash. And then we have Amari coming off the bench and the suspension, all that. That's an incredible series. And then so is the Cavs Pistons Eastern conference finals where LeBron has the bunkers game where he goes like, for 29 of the final 30 points in that double overtime win. So like, those are way more memorable than this sweep of the spurs taking care of the Cavs, which LeBron was just dragging this crazy team to the finals. Yeah, I mean, look, I wanted to.
Drew
Be like, reading it. You're like, game three, they decided to start Booby Gibson Yeah.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah.
Drew
One for ten.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah. It took until game four for Cleveland to take their first second half lead of the series.
Drew
Wow.
J.E. Skeets
So they weren't even leading in the second half of that. So it's a D tier.
Drew
Yeah.
JD
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J.E. Skeets
B It's not great.
Drew
It's a D Boy, this might be our first A tier finals though. The 2008 NBA Finals the Celtics beat the Lakers 4 to 2. Paul Pierce was your MVP. 22 points per game, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and a steal. This is known for the Celtics big three Ubuntu title for sure. Doc Rivers winning a championship. First Boston championship in 22 years. The most notable games are definitely game one where Paul Pierce leaves in a wheelchair. Oh yeah, comes back, went 6 for 6 from the field like he was pretty sweet after coming back from after.
J.E. Skeets
We thought he was done for this series.
Drew
Yeah, after it looked like his career was over.
Trey Kirby
He left twice that game. I didn't realize like he went to the bench or went to the locker room earlier, then came back in, then had to get on a wheelchair. Then had to talk about it a decade later when he said he just needed to poop.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah.
Trey Kirby
Lies.
J.E. Skeets
There's no way.
Drew
Y there's no way. Also notable Game two, the Leon Po game. He's like goes crazy in this one. Paul Pierce blocks a Sasha Vujic three pointer at the end of the game. Game four has a huge Celtics comeback for the win. And then game six, a 39 point Celtics blowout. Which was just weird to see in a closeout game.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah. Sometimes I think I may have been live blogging this series for Yahoo Sports because I remember that 39 point blowout in game six and it was like oh what a crappy End to what was a pretty entertaining series. Yeah, you went through it. I wrote down game one, wheelchair game, game two, Leon Powell, Game three. That was sort of the machine game. Sasha Vujicic was really good in that one. Game four was the comeback game. Celtics were down huge. Came back game five. I just called it the game of runs game because LA went up big twice and both times they gave the lead back, but then they pulled out the victory at the end. And then game six, I wrote down the blowout game, rocky first quarter. And then the Celtics dominated and it was drubbing. Largest ever difference in an NBA championship clinching game, 39 points. So yeah, you want to make a case for the A tier.
Drew
It kind of peters out at the end.
J.E. Skeets
It does peter out. I had it high. B, but where do you fall?
Trey Kirby
Yeah, because it is Lakers, Celtics.
J.E. Skeets
It's.
Trey Kirby
It's Laker Celtics. It gets. Gets put up higher a little bit more for that. But yeah, it ended poorly. No, no podcast has mentioned Leon Poe more than this one in the last month because of what he did in that game. Because Ben Matherin was emulating that here in the 2025 finals. It was the most notable note for me was seeing what the Celtics had to do to get there. They played a seven game series, then a seven game series, then a six game series, and then this one ended up in six games. It's a record of 26 playoff games because they're so long.
Drew
Wow. That was our log. That's a long playoff run.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, they literally almost had, you know, that's a lot of games, period. And then they ended it with a 39 point win, which was a. That being said, it's the Paul Pierce story. I got it. I got it. To be at least. Okay, at least.
Drew
All right, we'll put it.
J.E. Skeets
I'd put it top of the.
Drew
Top of the bees.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Drew
Okay. 2009 NBA Finals, the Lakers, they beat the Magic 4 to 1. Kobe Bryant was the MVP in this one. 32 points per game, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, plus a steal and a block. This is known for being Kobe's first non shack title, his first finals mvp, and most notably, I would say Courtney Lee missing an alley oop layup with 0.6 seconds left in game two, which may have changed the series because I think it would have been then one one.
Trey Kirby
Yeah.
Drew
Going back to Orlando. But instead the Lakers beat the magic in OT. Of that one, they're up 2 0. And then game four, the Lakers win an OT again. I guess that's Kind of the most notable things.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah. Three of the five games were close. You said two went to overtime, so that's good. It was competitive games and you said the Courtney Lee moment. I can't think of a lot of other things that jump out to me from this one. I mean, we're obviously now at this point doing the show, watching these in great detail and it's like, like what else was there?
Trey Kirby
I just remember like Dwight missing two free throws at the end of game four was very important.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Trey Kirby
He literally, he hits one and it's a four point game, but he misses both. And then Derek Fisher, who was ice cold, gets a shot to tie it and sent it to overtime.
J.E. Skeets
Right.
Trey Kirby
So that was big. Yeah. Along with Courtney Lee. Whoa, whoa. You gotta. I've watched that probably 1 billion times. I still can't believe it doesn't go in. He still can't believe it doesn't go in. Pagasol's hand actually goes through the rim. But it doesn't really matter. Cause Courtney Lee's shot is so off, far off. And he didn't, he didn't pull it out and he didn't mess it up. That was a, that was a series where those two, two games obviously could have swayed it big time.
J.E. Skeets
If we're being honest. Dwight Howard and the Magic robbed us from what would have been our only Kobe versus LeBron finals. Yeah. So there's that part too. But it was cool that it was the Disney series. Remember Disney World versus Disneyland? I remember that. I don't know. The games are competitive though, like I said, so it's like, it's, it's BC to me. I don't know where we slot it. I guess I did have in my notes B tier, which I'm surprising myself a little bit.
Drew
Probably would go high C. Okay, that's fine by me. Sure.
J.E. Skeets
Okay. High C. Top of the seas.
Trey Kirby
There's the Jameer Nelson starting again for Rafer Alston. Maybe he shouldn't have been starting, but he was fine.
Drew
Yeah, it's funny to see those storylines come back. You're like, man, I remember so much wondering about Jameer Nelson. I remember so much wondering. Is Tyler Hero gonna play in the 2023 NBA?
J.E. Skeets
Oh, yeah.
Trey Kirby
I gotta shout out a heato block. Hido block on Kobe. What game was I gotta noted here? Four. Four.
J.E. Skeets
Game four was a banger.
Trey Kirby
No, no, no.
Drew
Game four was a Lakers ot.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, yeah, that was a Lakers ot. But no, it was, it was game two. That keto block Kobe. I think so Anyways, I could be wrong. Okay. You know, it's 25 years of basketball here.
Drew
Yeah. 2010, the NBA Finals. The Lakers beat the Celtics four to three. Pretty great. Finals MVP Kobe Bryant, 29 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals. Obviously the Lakers are known for winning back to back titles here. Also notable, Kobe went SEC 6 for 24 in Game 7. And there was a lot of talk about should Pau Gasol be. Should he have won Finals MVP? I think he has 18 rebounds in Game 7. And that was a game that the Lakers basically won by grabbing offensive rebounds and Kobe going to the free throw line 100 times. Notable games. Game 3, Derek Fisher scores 11 of his 16 points points in the fourth quarter to save the Lakers. Game 4, it's the Celtics bench going crazy. That's when you got Nate Rob jumping on the back of big baby. They were Shrek and Donkey.
Trey Kirby
Yeah.
Drew
All right. Pretty funny. Game six, Kendrick Perkins hurts his knee, which is how we got Doc Rivers saying we never lost a series with our starting five intact. And then game seven, Kobe Bryant has 23 points on 6 of 24 shooting, plus a million free throws. Ron Artest, still Ron, our test at the time, I believe hits a late three pointer. And then in his post game game, post finals press conference, Kobe passed me the ball. He never passes me the ball.
J.E. Skeets
Very funny.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, good Finals calling out or saying thanks to his psychiatrist game.
Drew
So good was this, say Queensbridge is this. It might have been the same playoff run because I guess Craig Sager would have been a Turner guy. So it would have been probably Western Conference finals. But great.
Trey Kirby
Ron.
Drew
Ron Artest was on a good run then.
J.E. Skeets
He was. This was Phil Jackson's first ever finals game seven. And it was in a, you know, like, like game Sevens can be. It was pretty ugly. Yeah, it was a rock fight. Game seven, but good series. And Lakers were down three, two and it went back to la. So there's the comeback. Yeah, a couple unfortunate injuries, but I'm an A tier guy on this one. You know, it's going seven. These are two storied franchises. There's some big moments. You went through them. So I'm an A tier guy.
Trey Kirby
I am an A tier. Even though game seven was not that well played and there were so many clankers and our man Matt Austin was lying down on a carpet for this game. He was. He was watching. He fell asleep on a carpet watching.
J.E. Skeets
This game with his hand in his pocket.
Trey Kirby
That's right.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah.
Drew
Free thrust.
Trey Kirby
Yeah. It was a little boring. Also the note that I, I made. Apparently Monica sang national. The national anthem after or before game three, who was also married to Shannon Brown, who was also playing in this series. You don't see that very often.
Drew
She showed up on time. Huh?
Trey Kirby
She showed up on time. Didn't show up for one of our shows years later. But it was a seven game series, so I've got it. I've got an A as well. Although I was definitely one of those, oh, pow. Should win mvp.
J.E. Skeets
Were you?
Trey Kirby
Yeah, I was one of the.
Drew
He could have, he had, he had a better Game 7 than Kobe at the very least.
Trey Kirby
But whatever. It was also a bond that those two really made. You know, we've, we've heard other moments of Kobe and, and pow making that bond, but that this, this series was to me was. It was about pow and Kobe be bonding. So I like it, I like it as an A for me.
J.E. Skeets
And then this is, yeah, this is Kobe's fifth championship. And he like in the press conference was like, I got one more than Shaq. Like he made that whole joke.
Drew
That's right.
J.E. Skeets
Noted that out five to four for him. So, okay, eight here.
Drew
2011, NBA Finals. A banger. The Mavs beat the Heat four to two. MVP was Dirk Nowitzki, who averaged 26 points per game, 10 rebounds and two assists. This is known for being one of the craziest championship runs in NBA history. Dirk crying after closing things out in Game 6. Some LeBron meltdowns. JJ Berea is a notable name here. And then Wade and LeBron doing the fake cough when they were mad that Dirk Nowitzki was getting a lot of leeway for having a hurt hand and for, you know, coming down with an illness. Lot of notable gains in this one. In game two, the Mavs come back from down 15. Dirk hits a game winner with that left hand that was injured. Game three, Bosch, it's a game winner. Game four, LeBron scores eight points on three of 11 shooting. Game five, Jason Terry takes over in the fourth quarter. And then game six for me, I really just remember for Dirk winning and then going into the locker room before he comes back out for all of his post game stuff. So this is a great finals.
J.E. Skeets
This is the top of the A tier to me. But maybe you guys want to throw it in the S tier and include up there. But it's, it's legendary. And that run, I mean, they beat the Blazers, okay, the Mavericks do, but then beat the defending champion Lakers, then the Thunder, the upstart Thunder at that, and then take care of the Big three. Miami Heat. That evil Miami Heat. Dirk just ending the narrative that he's like this underperformer in the playoffs, which had been following him around like a dark cloud for like a decade. He was incredible. He had all these, like, huge shots in fourth quarters and overtime throughout the entire postseason. And then, man, holy crap. The takes were flying when it came to LeBron James.
Drew
Oh, yeah.
J.E. Skeets
And this one having like, like, what do you say? Average, like 18 points and 7 and 7. When you look at that with LeBron's name beside it, you're like, oh, the hell happened?
Drew
I feel like we were getting those graphics showing us, like, look how short JJ Berea is guarding LeBron in the post. He's so much smaller. DeSean Stevenson became a guy that we all knew about.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So there's a lot. So I have it at the top of the A tier, but where do you go?
Trey Kirby
I'm going straight to the top. Okay. The fact that heat were up 2, 1, and then they did the walking in the hallways, doing the crying, they're mocking him. And then the Mavs come back and win the rest of the way. They won three straight games after that. So it's just too good a storyline. And that's LeBron's worst game. Game four, where they came back. He had that eight point performance. No respect for Sean Marion, who did a great job against him.
Drew
He really did.
Trey Kirby
And that's probably why LeBron said, Sean, come join me on the Cavs a little later in his career because of what he did to him in that game. This is just a great team for me too.
J.E. Skeets
Terry was a monster.
Trey Kirby
Yeah. It's like, who was the second best player for the Mavs? You can debate so many different players. Probably just Terry off the bench, scoring wise. But, you know, Jason Kidd was also really good. Chun Marion was also very good. Tyson Chandler was also very good. I. I heard about JJ Berea coming in and starting for that team. So that was. That was just an incredible team, period. All right. Yeah.
Drew
Like, you talked me into an S tier.
J.E. Skeets
Wow. We got our first S tier. Those mavericks beatings in 2011, 2012.
Drew
NBA Finals. Heater.
J.E. Skeets
Back, back.
Drew
They beat the Thunder 4 to 1. MVP in this one was LeBron James, 29 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists, and a steal per game. This is known for being LeBron's first title, his first Finals MVP. And that shot of Durant, Westbrook and Harden at the end of game five. All the Thunder are going to be back.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah.
Trey Kirby
Yeah.
Drew
Just another 13 years later. Notable games, game two, Katie driving baseline. In game two, maybe a little touch on the hip from LeBron James. He misses the shot, it's a no call. He get the win. In game four, LeBron cramps up, can't play the last two minutes minutes of the game, but Mario Chalmers carries the team to a win. And then in game five, the closeout game, Mike Miller hit seven threes. Yeah, but he did have his shoes on for every single one of us.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah, we'll get, we'll get to the. The socks made.
Drew
It's hard to remember when his shoe came off.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah, I had to look it up. I was like, oh, is this when Mike Miller lost the shoe? No, no, this is another game where he was just on fire. He went 7 of 8 from deep. LeBron had a triple double in that final game too. We should note. This was the 66 game lockout season.
Drew
Yes.
J.E. Skeets
So there is, there is that. It was a little different.
Trey Kirby
There was an asterisk for some.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah, look, look.
Trey Kirby
Come on.
J.E. Skeets
Amazing that LeBron is in the two champions. Two of his championships are in the lockout season. And then the bubble season is sort of funny. Katie was amazing though, in that game one like you said. And then maybe. Was he foul? I think he was. That would have been LeBron's sixth foul too. He would have been out of that game. Yeah, that was a really big call or no call. I go B tier. You know, this one is like, to me a perfect, like sort of average finals, you know, big names, obviously a bunch of future hall of Famers in it.
Drew
Westbrook has a 40 point game, I think in this one. Right.
J.E. Skeets
And there were close games. I think the Heats experience sort of did like, sort of, you know, outclass the Thunder, the young Thunder at that, in these finals games a lot of times down the stretch. But I, I go B tier.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, it's good.
J.E. Skeets
Not great.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, the experience definitely was a factor because the first two games were an okc. They lose that one because of the, the no touch or the no foul, I should say. And then they lost three straight. Great. In Miami. But because it's such a short series and because it really is remembered for a foul that wasn't a foul, which is horrendous to be talking about with LeBron's first title. I'm a C tier. I just, I just. It's not that memorable for me. Even though it is LeBron's first title, there just wasn't that many moments.
J.E. Skeets
Seems a lot better than some of those ones we have in the sea to me.
Trey Kirby
Five game series.
Drew
Yeah. I don't know. I'm feeling generous to the NBA legends right now, so I'll put it in the the beach.
J.E. Skeets
Okay.
Drew
You know, it is formative moments for LeBron and for the other the Thunder guys as well for sure.
J.E. Skeets
Right.
Drew
2013 NBA Finals a banger. The Heat beat the Spurs 4 to 3. MVP LeBron James 2511 and 7 with two steals on a block. This is known for a lot of stuff, including the Ray Allen shot.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah.
Drew
In game six, LeBron blocking Thiago splitters dunk. In game two, Danny Green almost winning finals MVP Mike Miller making a three pointer with one shoe. In game six, there's almost all notable games. I feel like in this one. Game one, Tony Parker has a bank shot to win it. Tess has brought that up recently on the show. Game. This must be game two. I have my notes wrong. Game two, Gary Neil hits six threes. Danny Green hits seven threes. Game six and all timer LeBron loses his headband late in the fourth quarter. The ropes are out as the spurs are up 94 to 89 with 28, 7, 28 seconds left. LeBron misses a three pointer, offensive rebound, swings back around to LeBron, makes the second one. Tim Duncan goes to the line, one of two free throws. Then LeBron misses another three pointer. But Chris Bosh grabs the rebound, finds Ray Allen in the corner right in front of Jimmy Goldstein. Back pedals, knocks it down. Heat win it and get win game six in overtime. And then game seven, also a really tightly contested game. Tim Duncan has two looks, point blank range to tie things up with 50 seconds left. But he misses it. And the Heat end up pulling things out in one of the craziest finals ever.
J.E. Skeets
Just one, I think one correction. I think you said Duncan missed one or two freezes. Wasn't that Kawhi?
Trey Kirby
Kawhi definitely did.
J.E. Skeets
But yeah, in that game six Ray Allen game. That's right. Dumb stretch. Yeah. But today's the 12th anniversary of the Ray Allen show.
Drew
Cool.
J.E. Skeets
There you go. Yeah. Get those ropes out of here. As he said, we'll go back to the bench. Pretty baller, but ropes were out.
Drew
We watched this one at Ken's house.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah, we did. This is awesome. This is an S tier.
Trey Kirby
Oh yeah.
J.E. Skeets
I mean there, there are some blowouts early in the series. Like despite some great moments, like you said, a lot of guys like catching fire from three on both sides throughout some of those games. But like game one. Awesome. And then. Oh my God. God. Like game six, one of the most memorable games of all time, Even into the overtime, where it's like they did play an extra five, and it was tightly contested. And Bosch obviously got the block in the. In the corner on Danny Green. And then game seven happened and it was like, that was such a weird. Like it was a whole other game after that.
Drew
Yeah.
J.E. Skeets
And then it's such a weird game. Like, LeBron went for 37 points, so he was special in game seven. Chris Bosh, Ray Allen and Mike Miller didn't score in game seven. Think about that.
Drew
Who boss?
J.E. Skeets
Ray Allen and Mike Miller, like three of their most important players didn't score and they win it. That's wild.
Drew
To me, that is pretty crazy.
J.E. Skeets
But this is s tier.
Drew
Easy, easy one. 2014 NBA Finals. The spurs are back. It's a rematch with the Heat. Spurs take this one four one. The MVP is Kawhi Leonard. 18 points per game, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal and a half and a block per game. He kind of wins this one for playing defense against LeBron James, if we're being quite honest. But it is Kawhi's coming out party, which I think is what this is known for, as well as being the peak of like the beautiful game. Spurs. Look how the ball is moving. This is the spurs first title since 07. The end of the heels era in Miami, and also my first finals, which ended up being a 22111 for the first time.
J.E. Skeets
That's right.
Drew
A long time. So I was on the road for a long time now.
J.E. Skeets
And correct me if I'm wrong, were you in game one when we had the air conditioning?
Drew
Oh, yeah.
J.E. Skeets
Malfunction. Yep. Which then led to LeBron being dehydrated and experiencing cramps. And he played like five minutes in the fourth quarter. That was a huge story. Oh, yeah. And it was like, did they do it on purpose? Like it was like 90 degrees or whatever, 32 Celsius in the building. That was what a way to start a finals. But then, yeah, they sort of did take care of business. Kawaii was awesome. I don't know how I feel. I don't know where to put this one. I struggle with this one.
Trey Kirby
So you being there, Trey, and having been to five games and it was long, it was hot. How do you feel about it, considering that it's a short series, being that it's only 5?
Drew
When I think back on this series, what I remember is how hot it was in game one.
J.E. Skeets
That was the story. Yeah.
Drew
That's kind of the biggest thing. And then Like, I think it's game three. Boris diagonal to start for the Spurs. And as soon as that happens and Miami just couldn't keep up. They looked old and tired. The final three margins of victory for the spurs were 19, 21 and 17. Like they kind of unlocked how to Play. And Boris DL was awesome. Like guarding LeBron in that series as well. So I mean, at best, to me, this is like probably a C tier.
J.E. Skeets
That's right. I think I do have it there a pretty. Probably higher than some of our Cs. But yeah, it is because you said it. It's LeBron cramping because of a malfunctioning air conditioning system. Them. It's Kawhi like dominating the final three games. He shot like nearly 70% over the final three games. Like, Guy couldn't miss. And then it was the. The beautiful basketball spurs and getting the revenge on what happened the year before.
Trey Kirby
Right, Right. They literally were waiting 12 months to play them again. And how many casual fans did this series suck in? Just because it's played like a different sport. It felt like. Like they were monumental. And so that kind of makes me want to push it up because they played it so beautifully. That's basically the. The talk.
J.E. Skeets
The games weren't close at all. Yeah. They were just a class.
Trey Kirby
Yeah. So that, that's, that's why it's kind of like it's polarizing.
J.E. Skeets
Okay.
Trey Kirby
But I'm fine, you know, fancy.
Drew
Interesting.
Trey Kirby
I would push it up a little bit.
J.E. Skeets
Probably.
Trey Kirby
I'm a B man.
Drew
I think I'm a B man at least.
Trey Kirby
Even though it's five. Even though it's five. So I. I can take that argument. Argument.
Drew
Yeah. We'll see. We'll see if we upgrade it. I think if I was ranking just like NBA champions, like just the team that won the spurs would be much higher than.
J.E. Skeets
Right.
Drew
They would probably be more like an A tier team.
J.E. Skeets
But we're looking at the games and the moments and all that.
Drew
Yeah.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, we got the new logos going. This is great. This is a great time for basketball.
Drew
2015 NBA Finals. The warriors win their first championship in forever. Four to two over the Cavaliers MVP. It's Andrea Guadalupe, 16 points per game, six rebounds, four assists and a steal. This is known for being the first warriors title of this era. And Iguodala taking Steph Curry's MVP. Steph, just a mere 26 points per game, five rebounds and six assists. It's not enough.
J.E. Skeets
It's because he didn't have like just two stinkers. Right.
Drew
He Wasn't great.
J.E. Skeets
He definitely had one Brutal Steph Curry.
Drew
Yeah.
J.E. Skeets
That really hurt his chances. And then I think he had another rough one, but otherwise he was totally fine. Yeah.
Drew
Yeah. Notable games in this one. Game one was a banger. Kyrie blocks Steph Curry's layup at the end of regulation, but then Kyrie hurts his knee in overtime. Warriors win that 1 even though LeBron has 44 points on 38 shots to start in the finals game, too. Another overtime game. Cavs win this one. LeBron goes for 39 points, 16 rebounds, and 11 assists in 50 minutes. Also, Matthew Delavadova plays some insane defense.
J.E. Skeets
On Star in this series.
Drew
Game 3, Deli scores 20 points and then had to go get an IV immediately after the game. I think they said he was like chugging coffee before these games. Steph Curry, Game 4, Iguodala starts for Andrew Bogut. Kind of the beginning of small ball.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah.
Drew
In the NBA. And then game five, Curry scores 17 of its 37 in the fourth quarter before they close it out in game six.
Trey Kirby
Oh, yeah.
J.E. Skeets
So this one's. It's like tarnished because of the Kyrie busted kneecap in game one overtime. He's out for the rest of the series. And then there was no Kevin Love Love either for the entire series. The Finals. I mean, he missed a ton. Yeah. Against that in that series. So, like, that knocks it down a little bit. And then I guess the Igadala part is fun. He's like the first guy to ever win Finals mvp. Not starting every single game of said Finals because, like you said, he came off the bench later. He got seven of the 11 votes for finals MVP. LeBron got the other four.
Drew
Yeah. That was like one. Is a guy on the losing team gonna win Finals mvp?
J.E. Skeets
Because it was six games. You know, it's getting there. Maybe if it goes seven, I feel like maybe LeBron does win.
Drew
It could be right.
J.E. Skeets
Even in a loss. Let's say they had lost that. But I'm a B tier guy.
Trey Kirby
I put it up to A. Because. Because it just changed the way teams plan their schemes. I mean, it changed the way teams play basketball to some degree. They would want to be the warriors, spreading that ball around, being. Being the warriors if they could. So I think that plays a part. It started off so well too. I know it kind of petered off a little bit. But that OT game, Kyrie, that recovery block was freaking awesome. And game two, another overtime game. I read first series that had the first two games go to overtime in NBA history. Probably the last series, now that I'm saying it. First two games, it's pretty great. Iman Shumpert came out of nowhere banging a three. This guy was big for the Cavs, but they just didn't have enough without Kevin Love and Kyrie. So I understand it would drop a little bit because. Because they don't have their second and third best player.
Drew
Yeah. End up being a problem, but it didn't mean we get to see LeBron like, hold the ball for 20 seconds on every possession and then either score or set up Mozgoff. Like, Mozgov was, like, probably close to 20 a game.
J.E. Skeets
It was.
Drew
I think in this series, I'm a tier as well.
J.E. Skeets
Okay.
Drew
I just think. Honestly, I think 2010 is looking lonely up there.
J.E. Skeets
Okay, that's fine. Put it behind that.
Drew
Yeah. 2016 NBA Finals. The Cavs beat the Warriors 4 to 3.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah.
Drew
LeBron James, MVP. 30 points per game, 11 rebounds, nine assists, two steals and two blocks. This one's pretty forgettable, though. Known for being the best finals of the 2000s. A 31 comeback over a 73 win team, and LeBron winning in Cleveland. S tier.
J.E. Skeets
It is. Oh, yeah, it is. A lot of these games were yawners, though. Sure, they were. They were. But, man, there's so many. Like, then we get to game four, and that's when things got spicy, because game four, that's a monster Curry game. But that's the game where Draymond Green is assessed after the flagrant foul one for contacting LeBron's nuts.
Drew
Oh, yeah.
J.E. Skeets
Unnecessary retaliatory. This was huge because then Draymond had the four flagrant foul points in the playoffs, and he was suspended for Game 5, and he had to watch that from the Oakland Coliseum. Remember that luxury box?
Drew
Oh, yeah, I do.
J.E. Skeets
And that's in game five, when LeBron and Kyrie score 41 each, and suddenly it's like, oh, my God, what's going on here? Game six, Steph fouls out, chucks his mouthpiece, ejected like, couldn't stay on the bench. Get out of here. And then game seven was an awesome game. One of the best games of all time, probably. How close it was, how many lead changes, and then the block and then the Kyrie shot. So, I mean, look, there were some early honors, but, my God, does it get awesome?
Trey Kirby
Yeah. When a series peaks as it goes on, it's not. It's hard not to put it up, but I. I love watching, watching all those camera shots of where and how LeBron was punched in the testicles by Draymond Green. I mean, because we had to zoom in. Cameras weren't as good back then. It was. It was so fun. I was there in game five. I was one of those dummies that thought, well, it's just one game without Draymond Green. I'll figure it out. But then you watch. You watch, obviously, the Kyrie and LeBron game, and you watch Steph not be able to be Steph in game five. And towards the end of that series and all the talk about maybe the 73 and 9 Warriors team did a little too much in the regular season. Not preserved here, but it's. It's. It's. It's too monumental. It's too memorable. Then we had the. At the Halloween party mere months later. You know those little cakes? That's the cupcakes. That said three one. That's cool. Oh, yeah.
J.E. Skeets
This is where we got. I mean, this is where we got the meme of LeBron with the headphones in. Is this. This one?
Drew
Oh, yeah, for sure. It's like an NBA TV screenshot, right? No team has ever come back from the 31 lead in the finals there.
J.E. Skeets
With his head just looking unbothered. Yeah.
Drew
Yeah.
J.E. Skeets
Okay. This is the best. I mean, top of the.
Drew
He's wearing an undertaker shirt, right?
J.E. Skeets
Yeah. Yeah.
Drew
There was never dead, but his death will never die. 2017 NBA Finals. Hey, it's another rematch. Warriors beat the Cavs 4 1. The MVP, Kevin Durant, 35 points per game, eight rebounds, five assists, a steal, and a block. This is known for KD's first title, Finals MVP. Notable games are KD hitting a dagger three with 45 seconds left in game three. And game four was the first warriors loss of the postseason. They got completely blown out, but then they finished the postseason going 16 and 1. Pretty good.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah, this. This like. It was fun. I remember it like it was the rubber match with these two teams. Obviously, the warriors had Kevin Durant, so it's a little different, but they are coming in undefeated. The Cavs steamrolled through the East. I mean, I think they lost. I think they lost one game. Yeah, they swept the Pacers. They swept our Raptors, and then they beat the Celtics in five. So they only had one loss to their name coming in, so that was awesome. But the warriors were just like. They were on another level once they added Kevin Durant. I have this as a C tier because really, is that Kevin Durant shot like you said? Then they lose a game where the Cavs hit a million threes, and it.
Drew
Was 24 threes or something like that. They went crazy.
J.E. Skeets
It was just odd. But then we had like a day or two of like, oh my God, can they do it again? Can they come back from three one again? And it was like, no, they can't.
Drew
They could not do it.
J.E. Skeets
No.
Drew
No.
J.E. Skeets
So I'm a C tier. It's not the worst, but it's down there.
Trey Kirby
I'm a C tier. Yeah.
J.E. Skeets
You really don't.
Trey Kirby
Excuse me. Remember much other than Durant hitting one shot, and you remember actually the Cavs hitting shots in Game four when it could have been a sweep, but they came out and bombed. You said 24 threes. Yeah. Seven for Kyrie, six for Kevin Love and J.R. smith. Of course, he had five. So those are the memorable moments. As n. Not. It's they can't be up there.
Drew
Not that many.
J.E. Skeets
No. It's a different series if the Cavs hold on and win Game three, because they were up six with like two and a half to go, and then the warriors just ripped off like an 110 run and that was it. Then they're up 30 and like, okay, yeah, they lost game four. They finally lost the game, but it was just like a matter of time.
Drew
By that point, not beating them four times straight. Which is, you know, too bad for the Cavs because I think they would probably say 2017 was our best team. Like, like you're saying they destroyed the conference. They were awesome. But they didn't have two mp. They had one.
Trey Kirby
No.
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Over. Roger, wait.
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On your next campaign. Get started today at LinkedIn.com results, terms and conditions apply. 2018 NBA Finals unfortunately, the teams are the same. The warriors continue to have two MVPs, and the Cavs only had one. Warriors sweep this one. 40 MVP Kevin Durant, 29 points per game, 11 rebounds, seven assists, a steal and two blocks per game. This is known for J R Smith not taking a layup after grabbing an offensive rebound. Rebound. And that's about it.
J.E. Skeets
I know. So it feels like an automatic D tier, but I do wonder if that Junior Smith, game one brain fart, gets it just up to C tier because LeBron had 51, then goes back and by all reports punches the whiteboard.
Drew
Yep.
J.E. Skeets
And then we learned like maybe like broke something in his hand. Obviously they kept that a secret. I mean, that's pretty memorable.
Drew
That's memorable for sure.
J.E. Skeets
But the basketball is not because the warriors are even like better than this Cavs team was the year before. But, but I don't know, it's so it's D or C, but I don't care where we put it.
Trey Kirby
Yeah. It's funny going through these game ones because LeBron is known as a guy who feels out game ones. But then you see his game one performance. He just wants to seal. He just wants that close. J.R. smith was obviously thinking that. Obviously. I, I, I say obviously, but I don't know. I, I, I listened to these J.R. smith interviews, wondering what was he thinking. And I guess in the back of his mind he thought George Hill was hitting a free throw and they were leading the game.
J.E. Skeets
Game.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, they're winning.
J.E. Skeets
I think he just thought it was tied. Right? It was, sorry, the opposite. He didn't think it was tied. Yes.
Trey Kirby
Yeah. Because he missed that second one and he thought it was over.
Drew
I don't know. And I think he said he thought that the Cavs were going to call timeout.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah.
Drew
I mean, honestly, George Hill kind of gets off.
Trey Kirby
Yes.
Drew
The hook a little bit here because he did miss.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah.
Drew
Game winning free throws that would have just won the game. You wouldn't have even had this J R Smith thing.
Trey Kirby
Yeah. He hit the first one and then I guess J.R. smith thinks, man, we're winning this game. Game. I guess.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah.
Trey Kirby
Because he misses the second one.
Drew
Yeah.
Trey Kirby
Jerry Smith grabs the ball. But no Timeout. Yeah. Iconic. And then four straight, and he's just furious.
J.E. Skeets
I, like, just. What I love about is, like, LeBron knew right then and there, when either the Miss Free throw or Junior, like, not knowing what to do, he's like, well, damn, we're done. We lost. Like, I can't do much more. I gave you 51.
Trey Kirby
That was the one.
J.E. Skeets
And, you know, that's it. That's why he's all frustrated. But, yeah, sweep. So where are we putting it?
Drew
I mean, LeBron. It's LeBron's best finals game. And it's a crazy ending, but also, like, I was there for game four. You know, we would do the. Go in the locker room and catch the celebrations, and even the warriors were, like, nice. Like, this was easy.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah.
Drew
Steph Curry just eating popcorn out on the court afterwards.
Trey Kirby
Oh, they won by 33 points. Excuse me. My math is. My math is off. Hold on a second. Second. That was a bombing. Yeah, that was a bombing game. Yeah, it was a 23 in Cleveland. It's just 20 by 23 points.
J.E. Skeets
I just also think we came into this series not thinking that the Cavs had much of a chance, which is why that Game one was like, oh, my God, he almost did it. Like, we were. We were. Everyone was heavily, like, the words are just too good, man. They're just too good.
Trey Kirby
Yeah. Yes, Mike.
Drew
So you hit the top of the.
J.E. Skeets
D. Top of the D. Wow.
Drew
LeBron, we love your game one. We love it so much.
Trey Kirby
Match.
Drew
What year are we at? 2019.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Drew
2019. Anything happened?
J.E. Skeets
Hey. Oh, Canada.
Drew
The Toronto Raptors. I've seen the Toronto Raptors here won the NBA championship in 2019. Beat the Warriors 4 to 2. MVP Kawhi Leonard for the Raptors. Interesting. 30 points per game, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and a block and a half per game. This is known as being the Raptors first championship. LeBron becoming the second guy to win finals MVP, be on two different teams. Yeah, yeah. After LeBron. And then also, if we're being quite honest, Kevin Durant tearing his Achilles and Klay Thompson tearing his ACL were major storylines in this one. Game 1, Pascal Siakam has 32 points, 8 rebounds. Huge game in the first finals game played outside of America ever. Game four, Fred Van Vliet bleeding from the face. Game five, Kevin Durant comes back, gets hurt in the second quarter. But the Splash brothers go crazy in the last three minutes. I think it's three threes between Curry and Thompson.
J.E. Skeets
Why'd you call a timeout?
Drew
Nick, he didn't want to celebrate in the locker room. He said go to game six. Kyle Laurie is going to hit 11 points in the first two minutes. Clay Thompson did tear his ACL in that game as he was starting to heat up. Bold moments for him to go to the free throw line even and try and knock him down. But yeah, Raptors pull it out in six games.
J.E. Skeets
Okay, we're obviously biased with this one. Yeah, right. You know we were there for Game 5. I was in Toronto for Game 6 the night they win. Obviously it's in Oak, but we celebrate in Toronto all night long. One of my best nights of my life, if I'm being honest. It was so much fun. But you did go through the injuries like does suck. It's sort of a deflating part of this series. Katie obviously missing the first four and then coming back and then the whole. I forgot Klay Thompson was injured earlier in the series and then obviously gets injured right at the end of it. So that does suck. But the games were close. A lot of the games were close. They were pretty competitive.
Drew
I didn't remember how much Boogie Cousins there was until I was reading things back.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah, right, right, right. So I, I do have it a B tier.
Trey Kirby
Yeah. People outside of Toronto, they will. They remember the series well.
J.E. Skeets
They will remember it. Just because of Katie's injury, unfortunately.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, yeah. Because it's injured, not because of the basketball.
J.E. Skeets
I mean he was banged up. Yeah.
Drew
I think Festus Azili is even in.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah.
Drew
This one, like this was the end of the Warriors Kevin Durant era and they were fighting with each other and. And they played 100 games per season for the previous three seasons, including now this one, number four. And it just started adding up.
J.E. Skeets
You could tell now Raptors fans like to say we would have beaten a fully healthy warriors team. So confident they were.
Drew
That's true.
J.E. Skeets
And maybe this is the case. I mean they won a lot of road games. They won three road games. Right.
Trey Kirby
They won game one. Pascal Siakam, 32 points.
J.E. Skeets
Game one was Inter. I thought the Raps had a. I.
Drew
Think it's the only home win that series has.
J.E. Skeets
Game won.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, my bad, my bad.
J.E. Skeets
Raps started. Started. The Raps had home court advantage. They may have been in lower seed somehow, but anyway, because of the record.
Trey Kirby
They lost game two. Steve Kerr always says game two, that's a series that the home team can lose because they, you know, they get. They win game one. They're a little comfortable. But yes, that's the shocking part was.
J.E. Skeets
Raps winning Game three and four.
Trey Kirby
Yeah.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah.
Drew
Oh, yeah.
Trey Kirby
Oh, yeah. Yes. And no Clay for one of those. And the box in one was invented. And everybody talking about that as a defense with that, watching Kevin Durant come back in Game 5, we're there and he's on the floor warming up. It looks like Kevin Durant, he looks good. He starts banging over like, oh yeah.
Drew
He was playing well.
Trey Kirby
He had 11 points in that first quarter. Played nearly 10 minutes. He was playing, he was banging home threes. And then he gets injured, the play runs the other way and the entire arena is going to going crazy. Are they going crazy because Kevin Durant is down or because they're running back the other way? There's the controversy that started it all. It does suck. Yes. That Clay had to miss a game and he was injured that entire series. Most of that series. And that's why the boxing one was invented. But yeah, for Raptors fans, seeing Kyle Lowry do it in that first quarter as he.
J.E. Skeets
Raptors fans, it's S tier.
Trey Kirby
Yeah. For everybody else at C, I think.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah. That's why I like a B. I'm a B man on this. They were close games. I'm telling you. They were really close.
Drew
Yeah, for sure, sure. Remember how hot that poutine was? They brought us out. It was like a rainy night and they brought us out, I don't know, 500 degrees Kelvin.
Trey Kirby
My mouth is. My tongue is still burning. It's cuz you. You literally have to eat it cuz we're on tv.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah, it's like they're like, here, you got to eat it. Live tv.
Drew
Yeah, yeah, we're on live tv. Here's a metal container with the hottest thing you've ever held in your life. That was awesome. It was kind of like, like torture, but also a good bit at the same time.
J.E. Skeets
So how do you feel about this one? We're obviously the Raptors.
Drew
I think B is good. Okay. Yeah, I think B is good. I think. I think unfortunately I'm Raptors colored on this as well. Because if you're not a Raptors fan, the first thing you think of is KD.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, injuries for sure.
Drew
But it's hanging in the ACC, so who cares?
J.E. Skeets
That's right.
Drew
That's right. 2020 NBA Finals. The Lakers beat the Heat 4 to 2. MVP was LeBron James. He averaged 30 points per game, 12 rebounds, eight assists and a steal per game. This is known for being a bubble champion and LeBron winning with the Lakers. I think you would also say this is known for maybe the Biggest playoff Jimmy series. In game three, Jimmy Butler goes for 40 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists. In game four, AD hits a back breaking three pointer. In game five, Jimmy Butler goes for 35 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists. And this is like him on the edge of the scorers table. I think he played all but 50 seconds in this game. Guarded LeBron for the majority of it. And then game six, Alex Crusoe so gets the start for Dwight Howard and the Lakers close things out pretty easily over Miami.
J.E. Skeets
This one unfortunately had injuries play a part too, Right. Bio. Goran Dragic, who was pretty important to that team. And then it felt like it was Jimmy against the world. And that's why we got the meme and him all like hunched over, gasping for air.
Drew
Yeah.
J.E. Skeets
In the bubbles. Like this is played in September, this.
Drew
Is played in September. Pretty weird.
J.E. Skeets
Basically October. Excuse me. It started September 30th and obviously went through the first couple weeks of October, which is a weird thing to wrap your head around at the, at the sports complex there in, in Florida. So I guess does that make it more memorable? Less memorable? I'm not sure, but I have it pretty low. I do, I have it as C tier.
Trey Kirby
Even though it's Jimmy's. Yeah. Biggest finals for sure. You see, in that 40 point performance, I kind of can remove myself from the homerism of the Raptors and I, I exact, I go to the exact same route that you'd be with the Warriors. Warriors here for the Miami Heat because bam. Missed part of the series. Goran Dragic missed most of the series. I mean those guys were really, really important.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah.
Trey Kirby
And it still went six because they. Yeah, Jimmy's had a great series.
Drew
Yeah, he was great.
Trey Kirby
And we all wondered after two games, Anthony Davis was Ballin 34 and 32 in the first two. Maybe this is Anthony Davis MVP coming. But although it was great, I mean C for me, I guess, memorable moment.
J.E. Skeets
Rondo celebrating with his son on the floor.
Drew
Oh, with like a bottle of champagne, Right? Yeah, that's pretty funny.
J.E. Skeets
That was cool. I did write down. I didn't know this. I saw this in doing some research. The Lakers became the first and only team in NBA history to be undefeated in a season when leading entering the fourth quarter, they went 570 in the regular season and playoffs when they were up going into the fourth. That's crazy to me. Yeah.
Drew
Lakers fans definitely contend that even if this wasn't played in the bubble, that they had a pretty good shot of winning the championship. And surely they did. But you know, getting a couple of months off is pretty key for LeBron and AD two guys who get banged up all the time. I think AD also shot like 50% on jumpers in. In this series and in the bubble. It's like everybody was shooting crazy percentages in the bubble.
Trey Kirby
Yeah.
Drew
But it was played there and the Lakers did it.
J.E. Skeets
I do love the debate of, like, whether this was a more difficult championship to win, as LeBron tries to tell us, or the opposite. It's like, no, it's actually much easier. You're not, first off, you're not playing in road arenas where there's 20,000 people jeering at you, and then you remove the travel part and maybe distraction part. Like, you really are just trapped in a bubble. I don't know. Interested to hear what people think, which side you fall on of that debate.
Trey Kirby
But anyway, I think I. Well, I would love to hear Heat fans and how they feel about it. If they thought they would have won. I'm sure they would have felt the way that they would have won to if they had everybody healthy, because that's important. That was important in this series, even though it's boring to talk about.
J.E. Skeets
So you're a B tier, you said. No, I mean, okay, I'm a C tier.
Drew
I think it's a C. Okay.
Trey Kirby
I just want to forget that time of our lives, really. I mean, that's a part of it.
Drew
I also got big face coffee out of this.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah.
Drew
Tyler hero sneering. Right. Like, oh, yeah.
J.E. Skeets
What else was going on in the bubble? I mean, the guys were fishing. Yeah.
Drew
Ben Simmons caught a bat. Ass just threw it and it hit the. Like hit the walkway and bounced.
J.E. Skeets
He couldn't even throw it in the ocean.
Drew
Wasn't there a coach, like, had a cut on his head from playing pickleball or something?
J.E. Skeets
I was about to say pickleball was a hot topic. The referees were playing it. Maybe.
Drew
I don't know.
Trey Kirby
Yeah.
Drew
Weird times, man. Very weird. 2021 NBA Finals. Slightly less weird. The Bucks beat the Suns 4 to 2. Giannis Kumpo was your MVP. Averaged 35 points per game, 13 rebounds and 5 assists. Assist with a steal and 2 blocks. This is known for Giannis winning a title. The sun's going up 20 and then losing four straight. I think there's also six 40 point games in this.
J.E. Skeets
Well, Booker had a couple.
Drew
Booker has two and Chris Middleton has one. Notable games, I would say is game four. Middleton has 40 scores 10 straight to tie the series two, two. Booker has 42 in that game. That's also the same game Giannis blocked the alley oop to deandre Ayton. Game five has, has Drew Holiday stealing the ball, getting it up to Giannis for the alley oop. An incredible play. And then game six, one of the better closeout games you'll ever see. Giannis, 50 points, 14 rebounds, 5 blocks, 17 of 19 at the line. And this is when everybody was counting them down.
J.E. Skeets
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. This one is a polarizing series. I remember we talked about this last year. I feel like some people either think this one's like, sort of underrated and like, as you just went through, man, big performances, obviously some big game players, some competitive games, some memorable moments. And then other people are like, now this one sucked. They do. People are like. Some people are like, maybe it's because of the, the, the markets. I don't know if that played a part. Milwaukee and Phoenix, but I'm high on it. I'm in the previous camp. I, I like it. I have it as a B tier. I mean, I almost was flirting with the idea of an A tier.
Drew
Okay.
J.E. Skeets
But I ultimately went, I like high B because this is a great one and some great plays.
Trey Kirby
Extremely high. I'm extremely high because we didn't know if Yanis said Gooba would be placed in this series. I mean, he got injured in the Eastern Conference finals, missed the last two games with that hyper extended knee. It looked like it bent backwards, but that guy fought through it. And then he still loses the first two games even though he's balling, and then comes back and wins all four. That block of DeAndre Aiden is just, you know, that's cool. And then, and then you drop 50 in a game sealer and you sit in that seat by the court and just chill out and just, you know, soak it all in. So to me, I mean, I'm a Yanis. I'm a Yanis fan, obviously, so it's high. If I understand why it's not an S tier, because I think it's part of the, part of the, the. Just the media and, and just the markets. It just wasn't big enough. Like, it just, it didn't hit it.
J.E. Skeets
I guess we did. We had fans obviously in attendance for these games.
Drew
Yeah.
J.E. Skeets
But maybe was it limited at least? Could have been at least during the regular season. Maybe it was. Maybe it was state rules at that. Yeah, right. Right. So, okay, so where do you put it? He's got it sound like, yeah, I'm maybe high B. So you're the deciding interesting.
Drew
When I'm Looking at the grid. Yeah, I think this should be a high B and we should move 2008 up to the A tier, personally. Okay, that would be me.
J.E. Skeets
Okay. I do think there's a debate here about which one is better. This Finals Bucks over Suns in six or the next one that we're going to get two warriors over Celtics and six also. I think those are pretty damn close.
Drew
They're both good. Yeah, I think I would say D tier though, for the logo goes for 18 to 21. NBA Finals. The Square NBA Finals. Presented by YouTube TV. That looks so bad. Yeah, yeah, they were not choking with that one. 2022 NBA Finals. I think it'll rate highly. The warriors beat the Celtics 4 to 2. Steph Curry wins his first Finals MVP. 31 points per game, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and a couple of steals. This is known for Curry's finals mvp. The warriors getting back to the championship after people thought maybe they were done. I think you would also say this is known for fu. Draymond sh chance at game three. Draymond has a terrible game in Boston. 34 minutes, he files out with two points, four rebounds and three assists. They were in his head. He eventually had to be like an offense, defense, sub with Jordan Pool of everybody, of anybody you could think of. Game four, though, is Steph Curry's kind of crowning achievement in the finals. He scores 43 points, has 10 rebounds, takes over in the fourth quarter. I remember him hitting a floater that I was convinced was from 20ft away. The way he shot it was like a 12 footer play by play, but it felt monumental at the time. Game five, also a huge Andrew Wiggins game. 26 points, 13 boards.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah.
Trey Kirby
Andrew Wiggins series.
J.E. Skeets
Yep. He really was. He was the second banana. He was in this complete series. It's a good series. Not amazing. Again, this is why I sort of like pair it with that Buck Suns one. It feels like right on par to it to that series with me. Like really good moments. Like the Curry game is huge. Like that Game four is like one of his most legendary games. They were down. They were down like four or five late. They just ripped off a tenno run to suddenly tie the series. So wherever. Where do we end up? On our last one, we had that.
Drew
In the high B.
J.E. Skeets
High B. So I have that. I have this. I'm gonna put this just ahead of it. So I guess I have it back of the A tier or. Or you can put it obviously ahead of it in B if you want.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, I'm there because because this was Curry's most notorious moment in an NBA Finals. Even though he won four championships. This game four, that 43 points was the big one. Game four, it's an important finals game. And it's when that. That other team thinks yeah, we could do this and then you go and steal it from them. So that's why it's. It's pretty high for me. Because it just made up for it. I mean you made up. Curry made up for so much in his career. This is just. This is the button.
Drew
Big legacy series for sure. I would go a as well.
J.E. Skeets
I think that's fine.
Drew
Yep.
J.E. Skeets
A tier. Love it.
Drew
And we got some script back in our finals logos.
J.E. Skeets
Good stuff.
Drew
2023 NBA Finals the Nuggets beat the Heat 4 1. Nicole Jokic is your MVP. His first title. The Nuggets first title. Jokic averaged 30 points, 14 rebounds, 7 assists, a steal and a block. This is known for Jokic balling out certainly. And also the Heat making the finals as a play in team notable games. Game two Miami. Crazy comeback. Denver still almost comes back to steal it. But Miami takes one on the road in Game 3.
J.E. Skeets
3.
Drew
Jokic and Murray become the first players to both have 30 point triple doubles in a game. 32, 21 and 10 for Jokic. 34, 10 and 10 for Jamal Murray in game five playoff. Jimmy scores 13 straight points in the fourth quarter to take a one point lead with two minutes left. But Bruce Brown gets a tip in Kentavious Caldwell Pope makes a steal, makes some free throws and then Bruce Brown knocks down some more free throws to close out the Heat. Where do you guys rank the 2023 finals seat?
J.E. Skeets
Here? Yeah, I got it pretty low.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, I. I don't remember a lot. I was there and it was. And it was a fantastic run for the Denver Nuggets and Miami stealing game two after. After looking like they weren't going to win the series in game. Game one was. Was fun. But then they just. They were too small. They were too small and somehow they stole game two. But then the rest of the series just me. It was just as. Even though you mentioned those numbers for Jokic and Jamal Murray, it's not. It's not something I really remember all that much. I remember putting on one of those monster hats from a fan.
Drew
Oh, big hat.
J.E. Skeets
Oh, big hat.
Drew
I remember that too.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, that was.
J.E. Skeets
Were we live on playback?
Trey Kirby
Yes.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah.
Drew
Hey, sir.
Trey Kirby
Yeah. Those giant hats.
Drew
That is a memorable moment.
Trey Kirby
Yeah. Not as heavy as you'd expect it be to really. So it's not. It's not really the moments for Jokic are, you know, beating the Lakers, the shot over Anthony Davis. Those moments are more than what happened here in Miami.
J.E. Skeets
He just dominated. And then Murray was great. And then I do remember, like, Michael Porter Jr. Had some moments here or there. Bruce Brown had some moments here, there. Good old cowboy himself. Christian Brown even as well.
Drew
But, like, Aaron Gordon had some big games.
J.E. Skeets
Aaron Gordon, Yeah. Thank you. Like, everybody contributed and, like, they were. The Heat were the eighth seed. I mean, I know they were actually the seventh seed, but lost the first game of the play in and then became the eighth seed. And that was cool. Like, that was a pretty magical run being, like, what, only the second team since the Knicks in 99 to get there at that lowest seed. But once they got there, Denver was just too damn good after what they had to do to come out of that west. So I just have it low.
Drew
Yeah.
J.E. Skeets
And again, we're not judging the Nuggets as a champion. We're judging the totality of the Finals.
Drew
Yeah, exactly. I think this is the one where Tyler Herro has a broken hand. It's like, will he play? Won't he play? We were, like, tracking which bucket hat he's wearing on the sideline. They finally activate him for game five and then don't play.
J.E. Skeets
He didn't play.
Drew
Weird.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah. There's no hero.
Drew
So what are you saying? A Seaboy?
J.E. Skeets
I got a Sea Boy?
Trey Kirby
Yeah, I think that's fair.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah. Wherever. Wherever you want to slot it in.
Drew
Yeah, I'm not. I'm really just throwing them in there now. Yeah, I was organizing them.
J.E. Skeets
I feel pretty good about this. Yeah.
Drew
2024 NBA Finals. The Celtics beat the Mavs 4 1. Jalen Brown was the MVP, 21 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, a steal and a half and a block per game. I think you would say this is known for Brown and Tatum getting over the hump.
J.E. Skeets
Yep.
Drew
After several conference finals and. And earlier finals appearance, poor Zingis's return, I think was a major storyline. And then Luka Doncic made his Finals debut for the Mavs. He's on a different team now. Have you heard notable games? Game one, Kristaps Porzingis comes back after injury, goes crazy coming off the bench. 20 points, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks. Game 3. The Celtics tried to blow a lead as they had done during this era. 22 to 2 run in the fourth quarter for the Mavs, but Celtics end up pulling it out anyways. Game four, the Mavs win by 38. And then in game six. Jason Tatum has 31. 8. 8 and 11 assists in a closeout game. And the people said that's not good enough for mvp.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah. Game five.
Drew
Game five.
J.E. Skeets
Because this was a gentleman's sweep. Yes, it was a perfect gentleman's sweep. Here you go. You take game four. We'll take game five. D tier.
Drew
Whoa.
J.E. Skeets
Oh, yeah. We were moved on from this finals in, like, 48 hours. We talked so much about this being a juiceless finals. It just. They were. It was not a lot to. To it. I mean, it was Jalen Brown winning finals mvp. It was like. That was cool. That was like, the story. Oh, wow. I just. I. I hate to say it. We, like. I remember it was time, like, what's going on here? Why is there nothing from this? So I gotta go D. Yeah.
Trey Kirby
Nico Harrison agrees, man. They're just not good enough to win. Really. It was. It was useless. It was like. Even though I was at the. The previous finals, before that against with the Nuggets and. And the Heat, and that was just. I was a quick five gamer as well. This one was far lower. It just. There wasn't enough competition. The Celtics routed. Really.
Drew
Yeah, I agree. Now that I'm thinking back, like, the most memorable thing was Brian Winhorse being like, Lucas over there with the losers. Remember that? Calling him out. That was the beginning of the end for Luka Doncic in Dallas. Kinda incredibly.
J.E. Skeets
I don't remember that.
Trey Kirby
Teammates, you mean, or.
Drew
Well, no. Like, Windhorse did a. A thing on espn. Like, his hit post game was kind of like, the Mavericks don't think Luca can play defense. He doesn't play both sides of the court. So where is he right now? He's over there on the loser's side or something. A little loser, basically. And, I mean, the Mavs got smoked in this series.
J.E. Skeets
They got smoked.
Drew
Yeah. We were like, the whole year, we're like, Chris Th Pongus. This guy is the absolute X factor for this team. And then he was injured for the entire playoffs and it didn't matter.
J.E. Skeets
No, it did not.
Trey Kirby
But.
J.E. Skeets
But it came back. Yeah.
Drew
That was a cool moment. Game one for sure. For sure.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah, it's. It's a classic. You said that game too, where the Dallas Mavericks made that massive run to get back into it. It's like another one. It's like they win that game. It's a completely different series. Maybe, but still, the Celtics pulled it out. And then they went game three, no problem. And then game four, it's like, who cares? Here you go. You take one and Then we'll take game five. Yeah. So it's low. I'm sorry. It just is.
Drew
Sorry. 2025 NBA Finals. They're ongoing right now the Thunder have a three two lead over the Pacers. We don't have an MVP yet. What's it known for Tyrese Haliburton hitting a game winner in game one. Being a small market finals.
J.E. Skeets
Yep.
Drew
Getting to say 54 from treball is od shooting hang pulse. Notable games are the okc collapse h game winner and game one. I think you would also say thus far, game four, shay gil, just alexander, fourth quarter is a notable moment. And then game five is the j Dub game. Where does this rank now?
J.E. Skeets
The basketball's been amazing.
Drew
The ball has been amazing. Amazing. Four out of five games I think have been bangers.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah.
Drew
Three out of five classics.
J.E. Skeets
It's a little tbd, obviously. I mean, if it goes seven, I, I, if it goes seven and we get another amazing shot or two, like it could, could knock on the door of an S tier, but I have it right now at lower end A tier and that's, you know, again, could wrap up here on Thursday night or we could get a game seven and I just think the basketball has been so awesome and they've played harder than I can ever remember two teams playing. It's been cool with the depth factor. We, you know, I even like, we're getting some buzz now. It's like there's a late push for people saying, has Jalen Williams got himself into the Finals MVP conversation? I mean, he would need one or two more banger games because SJ's numbers are stupid. So I don't think he's gonna do that. But no, there's a lot, there's a lot to it. I just love the basketball, so I'm, I'm high on it. A tier?
Trey Kirby
Yeah, Yeah. I like the specificity. A lower end, a tier. Okay. I mean, it's, I'm with you. It's one of those memorable series for sure.
J.E. Skeets
With the chance.
Drew
Still got a chance.
J.E. Skeets
Who knows?
Drew
Got a chance.
J.E. Skeets
We got a, we got a Game 7 on Sunday if we get there. And you know, we need Halliburton to maybe be healthy for game six, but we'll break all that down tomorrow. But I, I like where we have that.
Drew
I think it's good. We got a nice distribution here, actually.
J.E. Skeets
Great.
Drew
Well done. All right, our final rankings, we'll start at the bottom, our D tier year. It's the 2024 NBA Finals. 2018, 2007, and 2002 NBA Finals. Some sweeps down there. Yeah, not a surprise. And our C tier, second from the bottom, we've got the 2014 spurs winning. I'm sorry.
J.E. Skeets
No, no. They're so small.
Drew
2023 finals as well. The Nuggets followed by the Lakers winning in 2020, the Lakers winning in 2009, the Pistons winning in 2004. That one seems a little undervalued to me, but whatever. 2017 warriors and the 2003 spurs winning are our seat here. The B tier, 2021-2005-2019-2000, 2012, 2006, and 2001. The. The Allen Iverson really carrying some weight there. For 2001. The A tier, we have the 2010-2015-2008-2022, and 2025 NBA Finals. And then our S tier, the best finals of the 2000s include 2016, 2013, and 2011.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah.
Drew
Inarguable, I would say, on those ones.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah, yeah, those are. Those are good ones. You said. Yeah. You said we have Cavs, we have Heat, and we have Mavericks, Cavs, Heat, Mavs. I like it. Yeah. And after saying that, like you said, did we go too high on the. That on the Iverson game one performance against the Lakers during their three peep. Maybe. And then we said the 04 Pistons, one we had a little lower than.
Drew
Maybe 04 is in the seats here. Yep.
Trey Kirby
It's.
J.E. Skeets
You're not rewatching it. I'm telling you, B and C isn't that different.
Drew
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Trey Kirby
No, we did well.
J.E. Skeets
All right.
Trey Kirby
We got it very well.
Drew
Nailed it.
J.E. Skeets
You tell us what you agree with, what you disagree with, let us know as you are here in the stream team. Let us know in the YouTube comments. You can tweet at us Dunks Inc. If you want to do that as well. Heck, I'm sure you could fire up your own.
Drew
Yeah. Search no dunks on Tier Maker. It'll pull up this very thing. And you can use these exact same logos.
J.E. Skeets
These exact same, sometimes crappy logos. Yeah.
Drew
Once they make the font small and then write it in gold, it's impossible to see.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah. Yeah. But go check that out. Well, maybe we'll link that in the show notes. But thanks for joining us here today. Not bad. We did that in about 90 minutes. A little less move with some pace. There's a lot of memories, A lot.
Drew
Of memories to be shared.
J.E. Skeets
A lot of stats to share. That was a fun trip down memory lane, hopefully. You know, Thunder, Pacers, we got it in the A tier right now. Hopefully it can bump up to an S tier. But we'll talk about that game six tomorrow here from the Classic Factory. Get you hyped for that. Talk about any other NBA news and then we'll go from there. Till then, Clipper Bros. You heard it here first.
Drew
Have a great time turn up.
J.E. Skeets
Love you guys.
Trey Kirby
Guys, awesome, thanks for joining us. And remember Nick Nurse S tier but also D tier sometimes. Why'd you call a timeout in Game 5, man? We wanted to celebrate in Toronto winning the championship.
J.E. Skeets
It was a weird time called a timeout. And then the Splash brothers just nailed three after three.
Drew
The Raptors were on a run, I think.
J.E. Skeets
Oh, they were cooking. It was stop this momentum done. We were there. It was done.
Drew
It was cooking like poo.
J.E. Skeets
For some reason he stopped it.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, he wanted to do his own. He wanted to be known for something, right? I mean they're, they're up six points and they got the ball.
J.E. Skeets
Yeah, that was weird.
Drew
Didn't Curry called it janky defense right when he was talking about the the box.
Trey Kirby
And one Nikki.
J.E. Skeets
All right, brace the day people.
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Podcast Summary: "No Dunks" – Episode: Ranking The Last 25 NBA Finals
Podcast Information:
The episode begins with hosts J.E. Skeets, Trey Kirby, and Drew introducing the day's topic: ranking the last 25 NBA Finals. They set the stage by explaining their intention to create a tier list ranging from S-tier (the best) to D-tier (the least impressive) based on criteria such as competitiveness, individual performances, memorable moments, and overall entertainment value.
Key Quote:
The hosts discuss their ranking criteria:
They decide to exclude their current playoff discussions to focus solely on the historical Finals, covering 25 series including the ongoing 2025 Thunder-Pacers Finals.
Key Quote:
The lowest tier includes Finals that were either dominated by one team, lacked memorable moments, or featured underwhelming performances.
2000 NBA Finals: Lakers vs. Pacers
2001 NBA Finals: Lakers vs. Sixers
2003 NBA Finals: Spurs vs. Nets
2007 NBA Finals: Spurs vs. Cavaliers
2018 NBA Finals: Warriors vs. Cavaliers
2019 NBA Finals: Warriors vs. Raptors
These Finals are considered average, with some memorable moments but lacking standout series dynamics or pervasive excitement.
2014 NBA Finals: Spurs vs. Heat
2020 NBA Finals: Lakers vs. Heat
2017 NBA Finals: Warriors vs. Cavaliers
2023 NBA Finals: Nuggets vs. Heat
Finals that deliver good entertainment and memorable moments but fall short of the top tiers in terms of legacy or impact.
2008 NBA Finals: Celtics vs. Lakers
2011 NBA Finals: Mavericks vs. Heat
2015 NBA Finals: Warriors vs. Cavaliers
2019 NBA Finals: Warriors vs. Raptors
2005 NBA Finals: Spurs vs. Heat
These Finals are highly regarded for their intense competition, memorable moments, and lasting impact on the NBA.
2010 NBA Finals: Lakers vs. Celtics
2015 NBA Finals: Warriors vs. Cavaliers
2022 NBA Finals: Warriors vs. Celtics
2025 NBA Finals: Thunder vs. Pacers (Ongoing)
The pinnacle of NBA Finals history, featuring legendary performances, unforgettable moments, and significant legacy impacts.
2016 NBA Finals: Cavaliers vs. Warriors
2013 NBA Finals: Heat vs. Spurs
2011 NBA Finals: Mavericks vs. Heat
The hosts wrap up their tier list, acknowledging the subjective nature of rankings and encouraging listeners to share their opinions. They highlight their final rankings:
They plan to revisit the ongoing 2025 Finals in the next episode to finalize its ranking based on final outcomes and memorable moments.
Key Quotes:
The episode provides a comprehensive and engaging analysis of the last 25 NBA Finals, offering listeners a detailed breakdown of each series' strengths and weaknesses. The inclusion of memorable quotes and timestamps enhances the narrative, making it accessible for those who haven't listened to the podcast. The hosts bring their unique perspectives, ensuring a balanced and insightful ranking system.
Note: The timestamps correspond to the podcast transcript provided and highlight key moments and quotes during the episode.