We are a little over a month away from the start of the regular season, and because the campaign flows into the 2020 calendar year, sports sites are publishing their respective “best of” lists from this past decade, including players, teams, feuds, and finals series. SI’s Michael Shapiro made an earnest attempt to rank the decade’s finals — leading with the assertion that it “has served as the premier stage for basketball talent over the past four decades.”
Briefly, the series that we shall not speak of was ranked #2 due to the exhilarating highs (“Tony Parker wheeled into a one-legged shot in the final seconds to upset the Heat in Miami”) and exasperating lows (“a miracle three from Ray Allen halted the Spurs’ title chase in its tracks“) of the devastating 2013 loss.