Your Favorite Moment(s) as a NBA Fan ?

[Oliver P]

Just curious to know what have been your best moments as an NBA fan so far ?

 

 

Personally I've been a fan of this game for quite some time now and I had a lot of great moments but I would say that there are four moments that I particularly enjoyed as an NBA fan. Here they are :

 

 

I/ The 1994 NBA Playoffs

 

Yes because it's definitely the best Knicks season that I ever seen. Alright I know that we eventually lost in the Finals, but still it was a fantastic season. It's the only time in the 90's that we beat the Bulls. Well Jordan wasn't here but it still was a magical moment. Then there was the ECF against Indiana, a very tense and spectacular one. And of course the Finals, even if we lost, this Finals are among my favorite ever. First it's one of the three 7 games Finals that I've seen (the others are obviously the 05 Spurs-Pistons and 10 Celtics-Lakers), then all the games were won by less than 10 pts in this Finals. Every game was close.

Another thing that I liked was the fact that this Finals was rather defensive, and I've always prefered defense than offense.

Finally this 1994 Knicks squad is my favorite team ever. For all these reasons, it has to be my favorite moment.

 

 

II/ The 1999 NBA Playoffs

 

Well it's the second time that I've seen the Knicks in the Finals. I prefer the 94 squad but this Knicks team was still a great one, despite the fact that Oak, Starks and Mase weren't there any more... But at least Spree had the best season of his career, he was just amazing in the playoffs. Just like Camby, Johnson, Houston, and well the whole team.. The season was a bit disappointing, because of the lock out (no All Star Game, only 50 games...) and we Knicks has been less good than expected, we ended the season as 8th in the East. That's why that when we faced Miami (the first seed so) in the first round, everyone thought that they were going to destroy us. In fact everyone expected us to lose every round. But we proved everybody wrong and beat everyone in the East, Miami so (we met the Heat 4 times in a row in the playoffs between 97 and 2000, at the exception of 1997 we beat them every time), then we swept Atlanta, and beat Indiana in 6. It was just great, I still remember Houston's shot against Miami, Johnson's 4 pts play against Indiana, etc...

It's just too bad that Ewing got injured against the Pacers, cause the Finals would have been way more interesting. As a matter of fact without Ewing we only got Camby inside (Johnson was rather a 3) and it wasn't enough against Duncan/Robinson. And despite the amazing Latrell Sprewell (he was HUGE during this Finals) we lost in 5 games. With Ewing I'm sure that we could have won.

 

 

III/ Jordan's Return in 1995

 

Yes this one doesn't concern the Knicks, but it's still one of my favorite moments. Honestly the first time I heard that Jordan could come back I didn't believe in it, I was sure that Jordan would never ever get back in the big league. That's why that when I first heard that Jordan was back in practice with the Bulls in February 1995 I just couldn't believe it. And when it became official it was just extraordinary, watching Jordan with a Bulls jersey again, that was just unbelievable. I will always remember his first game in Indianapolis, it was so great to see him back on a basketball court. Even Miller himself said that he was so excited that he couldn't sleep the night before the game. And when the Pacers won it seemed that they won the NBA title lol !!! And of course Jordan wasn't particularly amazing in that game but it was normal you can't come back at your best right away.. I knew a lot of people who thought that Jordan would never got back to his best level but I wasn't one of them and I'm glad that I never stopped believing in him. After this game he hit two game winners, one against Atlanta, one against Boston. And in his fifth game against New York he scored 55 pts (it was the record for most points in the Madison at the time) and made the Bulls win. But despite that amazing performance he wasn't at his best yet and the Bulls were too weak inside anyhow. Jordan worked during the whole summer, the Bulls signed Rodman, and they were ready for another three peat !

 

 

IV/ Magic Johnson's Return in 1996

 

Yeah it wasn't as succesful as Jordan's return and people don't talk a lot about it but it was still very exciting to see the best PG ever (arguably second best player ever) get back to the league only one year after Jordan's comeback !!! Of course Magic was 36 and not in the best shape of his career, but he still had some great game, he still had it. And he definitely helped the Lakers... inside. Yes it might be surprising but Magic was a PF when he came back. Well first he wasn't as quick as he used to be, so it would have been harder for him to compete against the best PGs in the league, then the Lakers had a lot of talented guards anyhow, Nick the Quick was their starting PG, it's inside that the Lakers needed help, as a matter of fact they only got Divac, Campbell and Corie Blount inside at the time. So Magic played PF, from the bench.

But no doubt that he helped the Lakers rightaway, he immediately allowed them to get better. But not as good as the best teams in the league though, I remember the Lakers-Bulls in Los Angeles, obviously the most hyped game in the league that season, well the Bulls literally destroyed them.

And in the playoffs the Lakers were able to win only one game against the Houston Rockets. After this disappointed series Magic decided to retire for good.

It was still a very exciting season.

[Check my Stats]

Raps winning 47 games in 06/07. Sure we overachieved. Sure it blew up a lot of Raptors fans heads. Sure we thought Jose was the next Steve Nash. But it was awesome winning all those games, losing to Jersey sucked, but since I became a fan in around 04, it was just an awesome season as a Raptors fan.

 

Winning the lottery. Yeah I know we drafted Bargnani, but jumping from 5 to 1 was extremely exciting. We had cap space, we had a top executive fresh off GM of the year, and the first overall pick. We had a 23 year old 20-10 big man. Boy were things looking up in Raptorland

 

Kobe's 81 was just absolutely amazing to watch. I am one of the first to admit not being a Kobe fan at all, and despite it being against my team, it was just too amazing to not cheer him on.

 

Watching LeBron single handedly take down the Pistons on route to the finals trip with that absolutely trash squad was the funnest playoff game I've watched.

 

I wasn't a die-hard fan at the time, but I wish I was around during the Vince-AI playoff battle, just watching the videos it seemed so epic. If that shot drops, the making of this franchise is probably totally different. I kinda remember it as a kid, but I didn't really care lol... it was all about the Leafs at that point for me.

Edited November 1, 2010 by Check my Stats

[Real Deal]

1) 2000-2002 Lakers Dynasty

This includes the 2001 Playoffs, when we went 15-1, and the 2000 19-game win streak that the Lakers ran off that was ALMOST a 31-game win streak (credit to the Wizards for screwing that up). Personally, I think Kobe and Shaq are, hands down, the greatest duo in the history of the game (Chicago had a bit more help outside of Jordan and Pip), and had it not been for Bryant missing those 16 games in 2000, the 67-win team would've hit 70+ wins on the season.

 

2) Kobe's 81

This was the first NBA game I listened to on the radio, believe it or not. I got a call from a friend who was watching it on a local station in LA, and he told me I needed to find it, somehow, because Bryant was in rage mode (lol...that's what we called his scoring outbursts that season). I didn't have LP that year, couldn't find a link to watch it, so I went to NBA.com and picked it up with an audio stream. It absolutely sucked not seeing it, but it was crazy hearing it go down, and I got to see the replay of it the next day. Not only did he drop 81, but he won the game after being down by a significant margin (20+).

 

3) 1995-1996 Bulls' 72-wins

I don't have to go into detail about it.

 

4) Kobe's scoring streaks, game-winners and 35 PPG average

If it wasn't four-consecutive 50+ point games (two of those being 60+), it was the 13-consecutive 35s, or the nine-consecutive 40s. The playoff run last season, 11 of 12 games at 30+ points after he was so bad for 4-5 games against the Thunder (because of the knee), just stunning. Averaging 40 in multiple months, putting up a 10+ PPG average in fourth quarters for an entire season. Averaging 35 PPG in a season, setting the record with 12 threes in a game, scoring 42 points in a half, outscoring Dallas 62-61 after three quarters, scoring nearly 60 in three quarters two other times (against Memphis and Washington), dropping two of the most amazing game-winning shots I've ever seen against Portland on the road, to win the division (this may be a top five moment, to be honest)...just too much to talk about.

 

5) 2009-2011 Lakers

I should include this time frame because Kobe demanding that we bring in a contributing player has led to a potential dynasty, and bringing in Ron Artest has to be part of that high, especially seeing the way he celebrated after winning his ring (and his complete 180 and trying to repair his image). The last two seasons have been packed with memorable moments for me.

 

HM) 1992-1993 Phoenix Suns

Barkley's run at a title. Had the ball gone to Barkley at the end of Game 6, I think the Suns would be the 1993 NBA champs. Grant ended up blocking KJ on a drive to the rim, and that was all she wrote. At that age, I was the biggest CB34 fan on the Earth, and him getting that close was amazing (even though, deep down, I knew Chicago was going to rip his heart out).