If you were to rank the most devastating losses in NBA history what would your list look like.

[coastalmarker99]

For me personally here is my list of the most devastating losses in NBA history from 1 to 10.

1 Kings game seven 2002

2 Rockets game seven 2018

3 Lakers game seven 1969.

4 76ers game seven 1965.

5 Jazz game six 1998

6 New york game seven 1994

7 76ers game seven 1981

8 GSW game seven 2016.

9 Spurs game six 2013.

10 Portland game seven 2000

[coastalmarker99]

Had that 2018 Rockets team won that game seven and afterwards the title so many narratives would have been shifted.

CP3 and Harden now have a ring while taking down the most stacked team ever in the process.

Harden is now ranked as a top 20 to 15 player ever.

KD now has only one ring.

D'Antoni would be now considered an all-time coach

Daryl Morey would be viewed as a genius

[70sFan]

I think 1968 ECF loss was more devastating that 1965 for Philly team. I think that they would have been able to keep Wilt for another year with a ring, even despite some off-court disagreements. Meanwhile, they lost Wilt and disappeared until Julius arrival for a decade.

[coastalmarker99]

I think 1968 ECF loss was more devastating that 1965 for Philly team. I think that they would have been able to keep Wilt for another year with a ring, even despite some off-court disagreements. Meanwhile, they lost Wilt and disappeared until Julius arrival for a decade.

That 76ers team in 1968 was incredibly banged up and half of them could barely move at the end of that ECF.

I think the Lakers take them out in 6 games in the finals.

However in 1965 if they had gotten past Boston they would have faced a Baylor-less lakers team and it would have been a definite ring.

[70sFan]

I think 1968 ECF loss was more devastating that 1965 for Philly team. I think that they would have been able to keep Wilt for another year with a ring, even despite some off-court disagreements. Meanwhile, they lost Wilt and disappeared until Julius arrival for a decade.

That 76ers team in 1968 was incredibly banged up and could barely move at the end of that ECF.

I think the Lakers take them out in 6 games in the finals.


However in 1965 if they had gotten past Boston they would have faced a Baylor-less lakers team would have been a definite ring.

It's likely they wouldn't have won the ring in 1968, but that's not the point. Wilt would have beaten Russell two years straight and that would greatly improve his confidence going forward.

1965 would bring Sixers a ring for sure, but Philly team wasn't devastated by this loss - quite the opposite. They kept getting better and better, so I don't think it was nearly as devastating as 1968. It would have given Wilt his first ring, but from team perspective I don't think it would change that much.

[coastalmarker99]

I think 1968 ECF loss was more devastating that 1965 for Philly team. I think that they would have been able to keep Wilt for another year with a ring, even despite some off-court disagreements. Meanwhile, they lost Wilt and disappeared until Julius arrival for a decade.

That 76ers team in 1968 was incredibly banged up and could barely move at the end of that ECF.

I think the Lakers take them out in 6 games in the finals.


However in 1965 if they had gotten past Boston they would have faced a Baylor-less lakers team would have been a definite ring.

It's likely they wouldn't have won the ring in 1968, but that's not the point. Wilt would have beaten Russell two years straight and that would greatly improve his confidence going forward.

1965 would bring Sixers a ring for sure, but Philly team wasn't devastated by this loss - quite the opposite. They kept getting better and better, so I don't think it was nearly as devastating as 1968. It would have given Wilt his first ring, but from team perspective I don't think it would change that much.

I do think had the 76ers won in the 1968 ECF that Wilt would have stayed with the 76ers for the rest of his career.

As he wouldn't have gone to a team who beat him in the finals.

That probably keeps the 76ers as serious contenders from 1969 to 1973 instead of the massive decline they entered before Doctor J came.

As Jones--Walker--Greer--Wilt--Jackson with Billy C who was entering his peak years as the 6th man would have been a nasty squad.

The only big question mark would have been who they would have got to replace Hannum.

As Wilt wanted Sharman or Mcguire or himself to do the job as he didn't like Jack.

[FuShengTHEGreat]

1. 1969 Finals - Los Angeles Lakers

This was supposed to be the year the Lakers finally beat the Celtics.

There's not a more devastating loss in NBA history than that as far as I'm concerned. I'll completely absolve Jerry West of accountability for the Lakers' defeat in that series. His 69 Finals was as great individually as any player at any position that won a Finals MVP. Undone by the worst Finals performance from Wilt as far as I'm concerned by any HOF player not completely on the wrong side of their careers and to a lesser extent Elgin.

2. 2016 Finals - Golden State Warriors

Had GS won they would've made NBA history. Instead their 73 win season was essentially Fools Gold.

3. 1990 Eastern Conference Finals - Chicago Bulls

A hard fought series vs their most hated rivals. Pushed to 7 games. In game 7 only Jordan was able to get going and the rest of the Bulls team completely disappeared. Pippen was supposedly suffering migraines and told coaches he couldn't go anymore. In the locker room after the game Jordan was in tears and consoled by his father James. .

[Homer38]

In the moment present,I think the spurs in 2013 is number 1

[coastalmarker99]

1. 1969 Finals - Los Angeles Lakers

This was supposed to be the year the Lakers finally beat the Celtics.

There's not a more devastating loss in NBA history than that as far as I'm concerned. I'll completely absolve Jerry West of accountability for the Lakers' defeat in that series. His 69 Finals was as great individually as any player at any position that won a Finals MVP. Undone by the worst Finals performance from Wilt as far as I'm concerned by any HOF player not completely on the wrong side of their careers and to a lesser extent Elgin.

2. 2016 Finals - Golden State Warriors

Had GS won they would've made NBA history. Instead their 73 win season was essentially Fools Gold.

3. 1990 Eastern Conference Finals - Chicago Bulls

A hard fought series vs their most hated rivals. Pushed to 7 games. In game 7 only Jordan was able to get going and the rest of the Bulls team completely disappeared. Pippen was supposedly suffering migraines and told coaches he couldn't go anymore. In the locker room after the game Jordan was in tears and consoled by his father James. .

The Celtics SRS that year was 5.35, the Lakers 3.84;

The Celtics were 10x champions.

The Lakers traded Archie Clark, their leading scorer, and another starter to get Wilt.

They were a 3 man team, with one of the three-way past his prime in Baylor

Call Wilt and Russell even
Havlicek was better than Baylor in 69
West is better than anyone on Celtics
After that, it is really one-sided for the Celts - Don Nelson and Sam Jones are 6th and 7th men in minutes played and would have started for Lakers.

So guys 4,5,6,7 8 and 9 on Celtics are better than guy 4 on the Lakers

The 69 Lakers were like the first year LeBron,Wade, and Bosh were together, except imagine them 5 years older.

[Ein Sof]

For me personally here is my list of the most devastating losses in NBA history from 1 to 10.

1 Kings game seven 2002

2 Rockets game seven 2018

3 Lakers game seven 1969.

4 76ers game seven 1965.

5 Jazz game six 1998

6 New york game seven 1994

7 76ers game seven 1981

8 GSW game seven 2016.

9 Spurs game six 2013.

10 Portland game seven 2000

It's either 1968 Sixers blowing a 3-1 lead for the 1st time in history (with homecourt no less) or 1969 Lakers wasting West's 38 PPG (his 2nd-highest scoring series).

[Stalwart]

Barkley in 93, 94, 95, and 97

[Jaivl]

Gotta be the Kings, right? From basically having a championship to... well, still being the Kings.

[FuShengTHEGreat]

The Celtics SRS that year was 5.35, the Lakers 3.84;

The Celtics were 10x champions.

The Lakers traded Archie Clark, their leading scorer, and another starter to get Wilt.

They were a 3 man team, with one of the three-way past his prime in Baylor

Call Wilt and Russell even
Havlicek was better than Baylor in 69
West is better than anyone on Celtics
After that, it is really one-sided for the Celts - Don Nelson and Sam Jones are 6th and 7th men in minutes played and would have started for Lakers.

So guys 4,5,6,7 8 and 9 on Celtics are better than guy 4 on the Lakers

The 69 Lakers were like the first year LeBron,Wade, and Bosh were together, except imagine them 5 years older.

The Lakers were starved of a dominant C the entire 1960s vs Boston. Wilt was seen as the final missing piece to put them over the top. Instead he ended up averaging fewer ppg for the series than career role player Johnny Egan. Egan almost doubled his regular season scoring and impoved his FG% in the series so no the Lakers in the 69 Finals weren't just a 3 man team as you claim, although he did fade at the end of the series.

The Lakers had a 2-0 lead at one point on Boston. They were also up 3-2 with a chance to finish Boston off. If they were good enough to race out to such leads in a 7 game series then they were obviously good enough to win the title period.

SRS or not the Lakers still should've won that series.

[FuShengTHEGreat]

In the moment present,I think the spurs in 2013 is number 1

They almost mmediately got that back with a ATG team Finals performance vs the team that beat them.

Not sure if that was THAT devastating, even though they blew gane 6 at the end

[Homer38]

In the moment present,I think the spurs in 2013 is number 1

They almost mmediately got that back with a ATG team Finals performance vs the team that beat them.

Not sure if that was THAT devastating, even though they blew gane 6 at the end

I agree but when it happened in 2013, it was crushing at that time for them!

[penbeast0]

...Call Wilt and Russell even
Havlicek was better than Baylor in 69
West is better than anyone on Celtics
After that, it is really one-sided for the Celts - Don Nelson and Sam Jones are 6th and 7th men in minutes played and would have started for Lakers.

So guys 4,5,6,7 8 and 9 on Celtics are better than guy 4 on the Lakers

The 69 Lakers were like the first year LeBron,Wade, and Bosh were together, except imagine them 5 years older.

To be fair, Don Nelson and Sam Jones were better than the other two Celtics starters too (Em Bryant and Larry Siegfried though Sanders played more in the playoffs). I would be hesitant to say that Bryant and Siegfried were better than Mel Counts and Keith Erickson; I like Johnny Egan better than Bryant too and Hawkins was a very solid bench scorer (though not as good as Don Nelson who was one of the best scoring 6th men in the league, as was Satch Sanders on the defensive end). Basically you should be comparing Havlicek (played more guard than forward in 69 if I remember right) to West and Bailey Howell to Baylor then giving the Celtics bench an edge.

[falcolombardi]

1969 finals- celtics vs lakers

2011 finals- heat vs mavs

[Dr Positivity]

2013 Heat vs Spurs game 6
2002 Kings vs Lakers game 7

[AEnigma]

Not sure how devastating a loss can be if it is near a win.

2002 Kings Game 7
2018 Rockets Game 7
1994 Knicks Game 6
1976 Suns Game 5 (triple overtime)
1998 Jazz Game 6 (with hindsight, 1995 Game 5 is also a painful what-if)
2000 Blazers Game 7
1995 Suns Game 7
2016 Thunder Game 6
1998 Pacers Game 7
1975 Bulls Game 7

[OhayoKD]

Gotta be the Kings, right? From basically having a championship to... well, still being the Kings.

yeah