When we try to write the history of the NBA, we inevitably start by breaking it up into dynasties and eras. The Celtics of the ’60s. Bird and Magic clashing in the ’80s. Jordan’s Bulls in the ’90s. Kobe and Shaq’s Lakers in the early 2000s. The Celtics’ Big Three. LeBron’s last decade.
Those are the big-picture things we remember. Nobody specifically recalls that one time the SuperSonics beat the Bullets in the 1979 NBA Finals or when the Rockets swept the Magic in the 1995 championship. It’s not to take away from the accomplishment; it’s just that, in the large context of NBA history, it’s relatively insignificant.