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Just a topic I was thinking about - the most interesting Finals matchups that almost happened(but didn't). We're defining 'near-miss' here as 'we could've gotten this matchup if the conference finals had gone differently'. I've come up with ten, ranging from the early 70s to the mid 2010s.

Tell me who you think would've won these and if you can think of anymore good near-miss Finals matchups!


1971 - Knicks vs Bucks

The '71 Bucks cruised through two five-game series en route to the Finals, dispatching a Lakers team that was missing Jerry West due to injury in the WCF. In the East, the Bullets upset the defending champion #1 seed Knicks, who had won 12 more games during the season and had the second best record in the league after the Bucks. That 42-win Bullets team ended up getting swept by the Bucks in the Finals.

That Bullets team lost four out of five games against the Bucks in that regular season. That Knicks team won four out of five games against the Bucks in that regular season. I think it certainly would've been a closer and more memorable Finals if the Knicks had made it; Reed and Frazier vs Kareem and Oscar, to say nothing of everyone else involved!

Willis Reed / Greg Fillmore
Dave DuBusschere / Cazzie Russell
Bill Bradley / Dave Stallworth / Phil Jackson
Dick Barnett / Mike Riordan
Walt Frazier / Mike Price

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Dick Cunningham
Greg Smith / Bob Boozer
Bob Dandridge / McCoy McLemore
Jon McGlocklin / Lucius Allen
Oscar Robertson / Lucius Allen

1975 - Celtics vs Warriors

The Warriors took advantage of Wilt and West being retired and the Bucks failing to make the playoffs in Kareem's last year as they dispatched a Sonics team led by Spencer Haywood in 6 and then a Bulls team featuring Norm Van Lier, Jerry Sloan, Chet Walker, and Bob Love in 7 to make it to the Finals. In the East, the defending champion Celtics lost a tough six game series to the Bullets, both teams having won 60 games in the regular season. The Warriors ended up sweeping the Bullets.

The Celtics and Warriors combined to win the three titles from 1974 to 1976, but they never met in the Finals(they missed each other in 1976 too when the Warriors fell to the Suns in 7 in the WCF). I think this would've been an interesting matchup, with the Havlicek/Barry and Cowens/Ray(who wasn't much a scorer but I think was a solid defender who matched up with Cowens in terms of size) matchups. It seems like the Celtics would've had more of chance against the Warriors.

Another thing is, it would've given the Celtics a shot at completing a three-peat from 74 to 76, which I would think would elevate both Havlicek and Cowens historically.

Dave Cowens
Paul Silas / Don Nelson
John Havlicek / Don Nelson
Don Chaney / Paul Westphal
Jo Jo White / John Havlicek

Clifford Ray / G.Johnson
Jamaal Wilkes / Dickey
Rick Barry / Jeff Mullins
Beard / Phil Smith
Johnson / Dudley

1986 - Celtics vs Lakers

The Celtics and Lakers played each other in the 1984, 1985, and 1987 Finals as part of one of the greatest rivalries in the history of sports but, in 1986, the Lakers fell to the Hakeem/Sampson Rockets in WCF, and we never got to see how Showtime would've fared against the most legendary of Bird's Celtics teams. A shame.

Robert Parish / Bill Walton
Kevin McHale / Greg Kite
Larry Bird / Scott Wedmen
Danny Ainge / Rick Carlisle
Dennis Johnson / Jerry Sichting

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Mitch Kupchack
Kurt Rambis / Maurice Lucas
James Worthy / Michael Cooper
Byron Scott / Michael Cooper
Magic Johnson / Byron Scott

1997 - Bulls vs Rockets

While the Bulls cruised to a five-game victory over the Mourning/Hardway Heat in the 1997 ECF, the Malone/Stockton Jazz had a harder time with the Hakeem/Barkley/Drexler Rockets in the WCF, narrowly avoiding a Game 7 on a memorable game-winning Stockton 3(and much-complained-about-but-not-called illegal screen set by Malone) to clinch the series in Game 6.

But I think a Bulls/Rockets Finals that year would've had so many storylines. Jordan finally playing Hakeem in the Finals. Barkley and Drexler getting a re-match against Jordan after losing to him in 92 and 93, respectively. The Rodman/Barkley matchup. The two champions of the 90s head-to-head. Would've been a lot of fun.

Luc Longley / Brian Williams ake Biston Dele
Dennis Rodman / Toni Kukoc
Scottie Pippen / Toni Kukoc
Michael Jordan / Jud Buechler
Ron Harper / Steve Kerr / Randy Brown

Hakeem Olajuwon / Kevin Willis
Charles Barkley / Kevin Willis / Matt Bullard
Mario Elie / Eddie Johnson
Clyde Drexler / Eddie Johnson
Matt Maloney / Sedale Threatt

1998 - Bulls vs Lakers

It's not really accurate to call this a near miss, because the early Shaq/Kobe Lakers got their asses handed to them by the Jazz in the WCF in a four game sweep, and even if they had won, this was a second-year Kobe who wasn't yet what he would be even two years later, much less in his prime(he was still coming off the bench behind Eddie Jones), but it still would've been a historical thing in hindsight to have had a MJ/Scottie vs Shaq/Kobe Finals.

Luc Longley / Bill Wennington
Toni Kukoc / Dennis Rodman
Scottie Pippen / Toni Kukoc / Scott Burrell
Michael Jordan / Jud Buechler
Ron Harper / Steve Kerr / Randy Brown

Shaquille O'Neal / Elden Campbell
Robert Horry / Corey Blount
Rick Fox / Kobe Bryant
Eddie Jones / Kobe Bryant
Derek Fisher / Nick Van Exel

2000 - Knicks vs Lakers

While the Shaq/Kobe Lakers fought off the Blazers in 7 games, Reggie's Pacers defeated Ewing's defending ECF Champion Knicks in 6 games to advance to their first Finals.

I know some people still think the Knicks should've won that series, and I think that would've been an exciting Finals. There's the whole NY/LA thing, which would've been awesome, but I also think that Knicks team matched up pretty well with the Lakers on paper; they had Ewing(I know, I know, an almost-done Ewing) and Camby and Kurt Thomas to throw at Shaq, and they had Sprewell and Houston to sort of cancel out Kobe and Rice's scoring. I say 'on paper' because the Knicks lost both regular season matchups to the Lakers that season. I don't know, maybe the Lakers would've won easily. But maybe it would've been a good series.

Patrick Ewing / Marcus Camby
Larry Johnson / Marcus Camby / Kurt Thomas
Latrell Sprewell / Larry Johnson
Allan Houston / Latrell Sprewell
Charlie Ward / Chris Childs

Shaquille O'Neal / Travis Knight / John Salley
A.C. Green / Robert Horry
Glen Rice / Rick Fox
Kobe Bryant / Brian Shaw
Ron Harper / Derek Fisher

2005 - Heat vs Suns

The two conference finals series that year were Heat/Pistons and Spurs/Suns. There's no particular storyline between the Heat and Suns here; it's just that I remember it feeling like EVERYONE outside of Detroit and San Antonio wanted that matchup because it would be more entertaining to watch - Shaq/Wade vs 7SOL - but Miami fell to Detroit in a tough seven-game series that some still think the Heat could've won had Wade not missed Game 6 with a rib injury,the Suns got knocked off in five by the Spurs in the wake of a Joe Johnson eye-socket injury, and we instead we got a seven-game Pistons/Spurs defensive slugfest. That was a very old-school type of Finals which some loved but a lot found very boring and tough to watch(the low tv ratings bore that out). I personally didn't mind the Finals we got that much, but I understood why people wanted Heat/Suns.

Shaquille O'Neal / Alonzo Mourning
Udonis Haslem / Christian Laettner
Eddie Jones / Rasual Butler
Dwyane Wade / Rasual Butler
Damon Jones / Kenyon Dooling

Amare Stoudemire / Steven Hunter
Shawn Marion / Amare Stoudemire
Joe Johnson / Jim Jackson
Quentin Richardson / Jim Jackson
Steve Nash / Leandro Barbosa

2008 - Celtics vs Spurs

The Lakers dispatched the Spurs in 5 in that WCF(not sure what happened to make the Spurs fall so easily, aside from that it looks like Manu had a bad series) to advance to a matchup with the Celtics, who had defeated the Pistons in 6 games in the ECF.

A Celtics/Lakers matchup is always money for the league and the networks, but a Celtics/Spurs matchup would've been Duncan vs Garnett in the Finals, which is something any NBA fan would want to see, particularly given how rare a playoff matchup between those two was(it only happened once, when the Spurs and Wolves played each other in the first round in 1999).

Kendrick Perkins / P.J. Brown
Kevin Garnett / Leon Powe
Paul Pierce / James Posey
Ray Allen / James Posey
Rajon Rondo / Sam Cassell

Fabricio Oberto / Kurt Thomas
Tim Duncan / Robert Horry
Bruce Bowen / Brent Barry
Michael Finley / Manu Ginobili / Brent Barry
Tony Parker / Manu Ginobili

2009 - Cavs vs Lakers

Probably the most talked about one of these in recent years. Man, as those playoffs went on you could practically FEEL the league and ABC and much of the viewing public salivating over what looked like an inevitable LeBron/Kobe clash in the Finals.

And then the Cavs couldn't get it done in a difficult matchup for them vs Dwight Howard's Magic in the ECF, falling in 6 games. To this day people still lament that that LeBron/Kobe Finals didn't happen.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas / Ben Wallace / Anderson Varejao
Anderson Varejao / Joe Smith
LeBron James / Wally Szczerbiak
Delonte West / Sasha Pavlovic
Mo Williams / Daniel Gibson

Andrew Bynum / Pau Gasol
Pau Gasol / Lamar Odom
Trevor Ariza / Luke Walton
Kobe Bryant / Sasha Vujacic
Derek Fisher / Jordan Farmar

2016 - Cavs vs Thunder

This is one is very interesting to me for two reasons. While the Cavs dispatched the Lowry/DeRozan Raptors in 6 games in the ECF, it took the 73-win Warriors seven games and a chokejob from the Durant/Westbrook Thunder(who had a 3-1 lead in the series and every chance to win Game 7) to prevail in the WCF.

First off, that LeBron/Durant matchup would've been epic. I know they met in the Finals three times, but the first time in 2012, KD and the whole OKC team was too young, and the last two times the Cavs had no chance against that cheat-code Warriors team(especially in 2018 when Kyrie was gone). This would've been LeBron and Durant at or near their peaks with evenly matched-teams(Kyrie/Westbrook, Love+Tristan/Adams+Ibaka). I know the Cavs/Warriors series we got was as epic as it gets considering how it went down, but I think this had the potential to be equally epic.

Secondly, there's the what-if, where Durant getting to the Finals that year perhaps stops him from ever going to Golden State.

Tristan Thompson / Timofey Mozgov
Kevin Love / Channing Frye / LeBron James
LeBron James / Richard Jefferson / James Jones
JR Smith / Iman Shumpert / James Jones
Kyrie Irving / Matthew Dellavedova

Steven Adams / Enes Kanter
Serge Ibaka / Kyle Singler
Kevin Durant / Dion Waiters
Andre Roberson / Randy Foye
Russell Westbrook / Cameron Payne

Might be snitching on myself here but 1993 Olajuwon vs Jordan

1973 Celtics vs Lakers is a good pick

As both West and Wilt would have got the chance to finally beat Boston in the finals while in the process going back to back.

Jordan vs Hakeem some time in from 93-96 and Kobe vs LeBron in 09 are the main ones for me.

I'd like to add one outside the initial 70s-2010s range. In 1963 where we were 1 game away from the Royals upsetting the Celtics in 7 and giving us a West vs Oscar finals. They did face each other in the 72 play-offs but that wasn't a final and both were 33 and on the decline (Oscar especially at that point).

My favorite ones that were possible:

1962 Lakers vs Warriors
1968 Lakers vs Sixers
1971 Bucks vs Knicks (but with healthy Reed)
1976 Celtics vs Warriors
1983 Spurs vs Sixers
1993 Rockets vs Bulls
1995 Spurs vs Magic
1997 Rockets vs Bulls
2006 Heat vs Spurs
2008 Celtics vs Spurs
2012 Celtics vs Spurs
2013 Pacers vs Spurs
2022 Bucks vs Warriors

henshao wrote:Might be snitching on myself here but 1993 Olajuwon vs Jordan

70sFan wrote:My favorite ones that were possible:
1993 Rockets vs Bulls
2022 Bucks vs Warriors

The 93 Rockets were not in the conference finals, so that one doesn't qualify by my definition from the OP.

Same with last year's Bucks, they weren't in the ECF.

Good picks otherwise.

henshao wrote:Might be snitching on myself here but 1993 Olajuwon vs Jordan

Yup. Olajuwon at his peak and by far the best player Jordan would have faced in the Finals.

OldSchoolNoBull wrote:Just a topic I was thinking about - the most interesting Finals matchups that almost happened(but didn't). We're defining 'near-miss' here as 'we could've gotten this matchup if the conference finals had gone differently'. I've come up with ten, ranging from the early 70s to the mid 2010s.

Tell me who you think would've won these and if you can think of anymore good near-miss Finals matchups!


1971 - Knicks vs Bucks

The '71 Bucks cruised through two five-game series en route to the Finals, dispatching a Lakers team that was missing Jerry West due to injury in the WCF. In the East, the Bullets upset the defending champion #1 seed Knicks, who had won 12 more games during the season and had the second best record in the league after the Bucks. That 42-win Bullets team ended up getting swept by the Bucks in the Finals.

That Bullets team lost four out of five games against the Bucks in that regular season. That Knicks team won four out of five games against the Bucks in that regular season. I think it certainly would've been a closer and more memorable Finals if the Knicks had made it; Reed and Frazier vs Kareem and Oscar, to say nothing of everyone else involved!

Willis Reed / Greg Fillmore
Dave DuBusschere / Cazzie Russell
Bill Bradley / Dave Stallworth / Phil Jackson
Dick Barnett / Mike Riordan
Walt Frazier / Mike Price

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Dick Cunningham
Greg Smith / Bob Boozer
Bob Dandridge / McCoy McLemore
Jon McGlocklin / Lucius Allen
Oscar Robertson / Lucius Allen

1975 - Celtics vs Warriors

The Warriors took advantage of Wilt and West being retired and the Bucks failing to make the playoffs in Kareem's last year as they dispatched a Sonics team led by Spencer Haywood in 6 and then a Bulls team featuring Norm Van Lier, Jerry Sloan, Chet Walker, and Bob Love in 7 to make it to the Finals. In the East, the defending champion Celtics lost a tough six game series to the Bullets, both teams having won 60 games in the regular season. The Warriors ended up sweeping the Bullets.

The Celtics and Warriors combined to win the three titles from 1974 to 1976, but they never met in the Finals(they missed each other in 1976 too when the Warriors fell to the Suns in 7 in the WCF). I think this would've been an interesting matchup, with the Havlicek/Barry and Cowens/Ray(who wasn't much a scorer but I think was a solid defender who matched up with Cowens in terms of size) matchups. It seems like the Celtics would've had more of chance against the Warriors.

Another thing is, it would've given the Celtics a shot at completing a three-peat from 74 to 76, which I would think would elevate both Havlicek and Cowens historically.

Dave Cowens
Paul Silas / Don Nelson
John Havlicek / Don Nelson
Don Chaney / Paul Westphal
Jo Jo White / John Havlicek

Clifford Ray / G.Johnson
Jamaal Wilkes / Dickey
Rick Barry / Jeff Mullins
Beard / Phil Smith
Johnson / Dudley

...

Getting a feeling you just didn't think much of the 70s Bullets teams.

Agree with the picks for 1971, 1975 (sweeps are rarely fun lol), and 1997. Although 1975 would also be interesting if the Bulls played the Celtics or Bullets.

I think 1975, 1976, and 2006 (including the Spurs as a third choice western team) are all years where any matchup among the top teams was reasonably possible and would have been entertaining in any combination.

I would've loved to see AD vs Giannis in 2020

2018 Rockets vs Cavs

With Chris Paul's injury this should be competitive and you have a massive legacy moment for both Lebron and Harden on the line

2022 Bucks vs Warriors, 2019 Bucks vs Warriors

if the bucks make it past the raptors, particularly if they do it in a dominant fashion after winning game 4, this starts looking like a clash between two all-timers(Up until the raptors comeback, the Bucks were looking like one of the best teams ever) spearheaded between polar opposites(curry/giannis) in play. Even with a healthy KD, I think the Bucks have a potentially winning matchup with the Warriors just not having the defensive personell in 2019 to do much to Giannis's offense

2022 doesn't carry the potential weight of 2019, but it does present a potential 2015ish situation where Giannis is trying to hard-carry with minimal help.

2021 Clippers vs Nets
Kawhi vs a Superteam with Durant is always fun

2020 Raptors vs Lakers
The Raptors getting this far after a 60-win regular season means plenty on its own. With health and personel I could also see them proving to be a worse matchup against the Lakers(and they did well in the regular season).

2009 Cavs vs Lakers
This is kind of obvious. Both would be entering looking like atg teams, and you have a guy who was looking like the best player ever(anchoring what was shaping up to be seen as the best season of all-time) facing off against the incumbent(at least by consensus) best player and reigning MVP. Both were on historic tears in the postseason so the hype would be overkill. If the magic series was just shooting variance and the Cavs find a way to win, Lebron is crowned as the new and improved MJ(at least until he loses in the playoffs again). If Kobe wins, he's probably crowned as the best player itw(no he wasn't, but people would push it for sure) and his legacy jumps beating the new promising goat at the peak of his powers.

2009 Nuggets vs Magic
Two teams that have never won meet in the final having upsurped the mega-stars. Pretty cool scenario

1993 Bulls vs Rockets
This is also fairly obvious. The best two players of the era go head to head with maybe the best player in the world coming against the incumbent finally getting the help he needed. Could go either way and the ramifications are pretty big. If Hakeem outplays Jordan and the Bulls lose, a new narrative emerges(if he can still pick up 94/95 titles Hakeem may actually just supplant MJ, at least until the second-three pear). If Jordan outplays hakeem and wins, his legacy gets bolstered having beaten the one guy who can claim to have been a legitimate rival(at least individually). Interesting is if Hakeem outplays Jordan and still loses. Is it seen like the 2015 cavs vs the warriors, or is it glossed over?

1994 Bulls vs Rockets
Now this would be pretty interesting. If Bulls win really everything changes. Chicago is seen the way people currently see Russell's celtics. Bulls making the final threatens that already, but a finals mvp for Pippen completely shifts these conversations for better or worse. Hakeem's legacy obviously takes a dip if he loses, but in the likely outcome he wins, 1995 becomes pretty interesting.

1992/1993 Knicks vs Suns
Ewing having just vanquished a dynasty in the making clashes with Barkley in a pretty clean example of offense vs defense. Could be interesting.

1990 Bulls vs Magic
Things get started early and the seemingly miraculous in-season improvement just makes everything associated with the Bulls more impressive if they win as they should here.

A few others:

1990 Pistons/Suns — more entertaining team, although doubt they do better

1993 Bulls/Sonics — Sonics were the stronger team and far better equipped to guard Jordan (although who knows with George Karl)

1999 Spurs/Pacers — sweeps are not fun

2000 Pacers/Blazers —

2008 Lakers/Pistons — Kobe has a chance to avenge his woeful 2004 performance

2010 Suns/East — most enjoyable team of the 2000s breaks through as a likely underdog against more experienced Finals teams

coastalmarker99 wrote:1973 Celtics vs Lakers is a good pick

As both West and Wilt would have got the chance to finally beat Boston in the finals while in the process going back to back.

Would have been tough to beat the Celtics that year with them having the MVP and 68 wins.
Now in 72 they almost met in the finals that year. That would have been the monkey off the back season.

Again, feeling like some of you didn't read the OP fully:

OldSchoolNoBull wrote:We're defining 'near-miss' here as 'we could've gotten this matchup if the conference finals had gone differently'.

Colbinii wrote:Yup. Olajuwon at his peak and by far the best player Jordan would have faced in the Finals.

OhayoKD wrote:2022 Bucks vs Warriors

if the bucks make it past the raptors, particularly if they do it in a dominant fashion after winning game 4, this starts looking like a clash between two all-timers(Up until the raptors comeback, the Bucks were looking like one of the best teams ever) spearheaded between polar opposites(curry/giannis) in play. Even with a healthy KD, I think the Bucks have a potentially winning matchup with the Warriors just not having the defensive personell in 2019 to do much to Giannis's offense

2021 Clippers vs Nets
Kawhi vs a Superteam with Durant is always fun

2020 Raptors vs Lakers
The Raptors getting this far after a 60-win regular season means plenty on its own. With health and personel I could also see them proving to be a worse matchup against the Lakers(and they did well in the regular season).

1993 Bulls vs Rockets
This is also fairly obvious. The best two players of the era go head to head with maybe the best player in the world coming against the incumbent finally getting the help he needed. Could go either way and the ramifications are pretty big. If Hakeem outplays Jordan and the Bulls lose, a new narrative emerges(if he can still pick up 94/95 titles Hakeem may actually just supplant MJ, at least until the second-three pear). If Jordan outplays hakeem and wins, his legacy gets bolstered having beaten the one guy who can claim to have been a legitimate rival(at least individually). Interesting is if Hakeem outplays Jordan and still loses. Is it seen like the 2015 cavs vs the warriors, or is it glossed over?

1994 Bulls vs Rockets
Now this would be pretty interesting. If Bulls win really everything changes. Chicago is seen the way people currently see Russell's celtics. Bulls making the final threatens that already, but a finals mvp for Pippen completely shifts these conversations for better or worse. Hakeem's legacy obviously takes a dip if he loses, but in the likely outcome he wins, 1995 becomes pretty interesting.

1992 Knicks
Ewing having just vanquished a dynasty in the making clashes with Barkley in a pretty clean example of offense vs defense. Could be interesting.

1990 Bulls vs Magic
Things get started early and the seemingly miraculous in-season improvement just makes everything associated with the Bulls more impressive if they win as they should here.

The above all feature teams that didn't make the conference finals. They all surely would be good/great matchups, but they don't align with how I defined 'near miss'.

OhayoKD wrote:2018 Rockets vs Cavs

With Chris Paul's injury this should be competitive and you have a massive legacy moment for both Lebron and Harden on the line

Not sure how competitive it would've been, I think that Rockets team would've prevailed over the 2018 Cavs without Kyrie.

2019 Bucks vs Warriors

if the bucks make it past the raptors, particularly if they do it in a dominant fashion after winning game 4, this starts looking like a clash between two all-timers(Up until the raptors comeback, the Bucks were looking like one of the best teams ever) spearheaded between polar opposites(curry/giannis) in play. Even with a healthy KD, I think the Bucks have a potentially winning matchup with the Warriors just not having the defensive personell in 2019 to do much to Giannis's offense

That would've been a good one for sure, but if GSW's healthy, I don't know if Milwaukee has the defensive personell to stop them either...this was before they had Jrue.

2009 Nuggets vs Magic
Two teams that have never won meet in the final having upsurped the mega-stars. Pretty cool scenario

Yeah, I was rooting for that Nuggets team hard in those WCF.

1993 Knicks vs Suns
Ewing having just vanquished a dynasty in the making clashes with Barkley in a pretty clean example of offense vs defense. Could be interesting.

This is one I thought about - one of Ewing or Barkley's legacies would be different now, for sure.

penbeast0 wrote:Getting a feeling you just didn't think much of the 70s Bullets teams.

Ha, I have no issue with the '75 team, those were two 60+ win teams in that ECF and it could've fairly gone either way. But I do think the Knicks were clearly a better team in '71 and I still don't fully understand what happened there(was somebody hurt for the Knicks?).

I forgot it was the Suns/Sonics in the Conference finals in 93

Could have Drexler vs Jordan 3 years straight from 90-92. 87 Hawks vs Lakers would have been a track meet series.
Mavs vs Pistons in 88. 2 young and different teams.
2011 Mavs vs Bulls. Mavs get to redeem themselves from 06. Bulls get a chance to get out of the shadow of the dynasty.

Cavs Lakers Lebron vs Kobe for sure, if you count 2010 that'd probably be even more interesting with Shaq involved. Going the other way in 2010 Suns vs Celtics would also be cool. Bulls vs Rockets is a good pick when the Bulls only lead in titles 4 to 2 or so.

Spurs vs Pistons rematch in 2006 or 2007 is a more interesting final and makes it a memorable rivalry. Celtics and Spurs in 2008 as mentioned.

2016 real finals is most interesting storyline wise, but 2016 Cavs vs Thunder and Cavs vs Spurs is also good replacements.

Warriors vs Giannis last year is more fun than the Celtics scenario for me

Biggest dodged bullet finals in terms of ratings/casuals interest (maybe NBA hardcores appreciate it): 2000 Pacers vs Blazers.