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I've been a fan since 2008, so I believe the best series' I've watched were 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2016. I would probably rank them:

1. 2013
2. 2016
3. 2011
4. 2010

Being completely objective here, obviously as a Laker fan I enjoyed 2010 the most but I believe the quality of play/drama was better in the others.

2013
2016
2011

Are the best finals series in the past 20 years IMO. Each with compelling narratives and incredible games.

1988 is the greatest Finals ive ever seen.

The storylines going in:

Good (LA) the beloved Showtime face of the league vs Evil (Detroit) playing a rugged style of play that bent the rules to many.

Was it finally going to be Detroits time? Or was Riley's b2b promise going to come to fruition?

Legendary individual performances by players on both teams.

Gutsiest performance in NBA history by Thomas in game 6 followed by arguably the greatest game 7 performance in NBA history by Worthy.

Controversial to this day. Was that really a foul by Laimbeer on Kareem? How is it the crowd was allowed to flood the court thereby denying Detroit a honest chance to tie the game?

It was a nail biter of a series and I think the greatest nba Finals in nba history between two evenly matched teams.

I LOVED watching the 2005 Finals happen at the time.

Two legendary defensive teams with legendary coaches. Both coming off championship runs of their own and the reasons the Lakers were not champions in 03 and 04. And best of all, it went to seven games. I of course wish the Pistons would have won as I love that team and have always loved Ben Wallace, but I'm proud of the fact that they were the closest to defeating the Duncan led Spurs before the Heat finally did it in 2013.

Bulls v Suns in 93 was a great series. Phoenix had a great, exciting offense, Bulls were Jordan and Pippen lead. Close series that ended with Paxson making the game winning shot in game 6 in Phoenix. If it'd gone to seven anything can happen and likely would've been another real close one.

Not saying it was the BEST finals but 2015 was my favorite. I was in the Bay Area for a year of school living in Oakland, and watching those games in a local bar with the crowd going nuts and chanting WARRRRIORS was a blast. With that being their first title, with a young and homegrown team, they were a super easy team to root. 2016 finals were entertaining, but I was still rooting for GS so it was a bit disappointing haha

When they got KD I went on to somewhat root against them (mostly root against KD for ruining this team I had come to love), but them winning again last year without him, and Curry winning his first FMVP, was really enjoyable too

2004 for the pure schadenfreude.
2013 and 2014 were both amazing as a fan of LeBron, Duncan and Kawhi. 2014 wasn't a close series, but the Spurs were such a well-oiled machine that it was still fun to watch.
2016 for the greatest playoff performance of all time courtesy of LeBron.

I wanted to say 2005 as well because I loved both those teams, but I forgot how lopsided those first four games were before the series really started getting good with Game 5.

I'm not gonna tell it's the Jazz ones cause I wasn't too happy in the end.

Without those... 2013 and 2016. 2013 G6 was crazy, I was rooting for the Heat to win. 2016 cause of a 3-1 comeback.

I also enjoyed 2005 a lot, but was rooting for the Pistons so there is that.

2010 were good also cause it went to 7 games and it was close. I did root for the Celtics but it was also cool to see Kobe win his 2nd FMVP in a row.

I'll probably root for Denver this year and I hope it's a great series that goes to 7.

2008
2010
2012
2013
2015
2016
2020
2022

MartinToVaught wrote:2004 for the pure schadenfreude.
2013 and 2014 were both amazing as a fan of LeBron, Duncan and Kawhi. 2014 wasn't a close series, but the Spurs were such a well-oiled machine that it was still fun to watch.
2016 for the greatest playoff performance of all time courtesy of LeBron.

I wanted to say 2005 as well because I loved both those teams, but I forgot how lopsided those first four games were before the series really started getting good with Game 5.

2016 didn't have a ton of close games too. 2005 was pretty cool, and it was as close as it could get.

migya wrote:Bulls v Suns in 93 was a great series. Phoenix had a great, exciting offense, Bulls were Jordan and Pippen lead. Close series that ended with Paxson making the game winning shot in game 6 in Phoenix. If it'd gone to seven anything can happen and likely would've been another real close one.

That was a good series to watch, as a fan of basketball in general:
*Phoenix [as you said] had terrific, fun to watch offense with Barkley/KJ and crew; and Chicago, of course, had Jordan.
**You had a feeling of another marquee [HOF] finals match-up between Jordan and Barkley (even though they're not the same position); two great stars, two great teams.
***The series was competitive (went to six, not a single game decided by more than 10 pts [five of six by single-digits], and they exactly tied in points scored over the series); you really didn't know who to expect to come out victorious, especially with Phoenix having HCA.
****The go-ahead shot by Paxson (nice assist from Grant), and then Grant blocking KJ's shot on the final possession to close the series.

At the time, I was a Bulls fan, too; so I got my wish on the winner as well.


I wish I hadn't been hoping for the Heat to win at the time in '14 (that way I could have enjoyed that Spurs team more).
'15 was very interesting to watch, given you had this utterly injury-decimated Cavs team somehow STILL challenging a seemingly "super-team" Warriors squad. Bit of a defensive slog (by [Cleveland's] design), but still kinda fascinating to watch.

'16 is one of my favorites; I honestly thought the outcome [in GS's favour] was a forgone conclusion going into the series. And then when GS went up 3-1......but then the best individual Finals performance of all-time [imo] happened. Tons of exciting plays toward the end, including Kevin Love D'ing up on Steph. You gotta figure that was the switch Steph was hoping for, and Love (who we'd never thought of as a good defender) plays maybe the single-best defensive possession of his career right when they needed it.
Plus the shot by Kyrie, the chase-down block by LeBron. So many exciting plays that could have turned the series to a different outcome.

I wish I hadn't hated the Bad Boy Pistons at the time.......otherwise '89 and '90 could have been more enjoyable for me.

I remember '91 well, too, simply because it was Jordan's first, and I'd been waiting awhile (again: was a Jordan/Bulls fan at the time).

As a lifelong Bullets/Wizards fan, got to go with 78. A barely .500 team that had to win the playin just to make the playoffs then were underdogs in every serees winning it all in 7 after being down 3-2. Can't imagine too many non-Bullets fans picking it though as we won it by defense and brutal physical play. It wasn't a pretty series.

"It ain't over till the fat lady sings."

None of the teams i've rooted for have gotten farther than the 2nd round. So I don't have a favorite

2010, 2013, 2016, 2021, 2022 - all from a neutral observer standpoint, that is.

19

2022
2015
2017
2018

The rest just have not been as enjoyable for some reason

97 was the first one I ever watched. So I will go with that.

1998 Jazz/Bulls(first Finals I remember witnessing live)
2010 Lakers/Celtics(My personal favorite finals series)
2014 Miami/Spurs(beautiful display of basketball by the Spurs)
2016 Cavs/Warriors(very entertaining series)

Often times the finals werent the best series int he post season, quality wise. I used to love the 7 sec or less suns and their series vs. Lakers and Spurs were legendary. Sadly they didnt make the finals iirc but Nash, Stoudemire, Diaw, Marion, and Raja Bell were crazy good and Nash was a legit MVP in my opinion.

Top 5
2013
1997
1996
2006
1998

Bottom 5
2019
2015
2010
2016
2014