Taking a look back at the wild 1999 NBA postseason

The strike caused the 50-game NBA season to become crammed into a short time frame and, in turn, caused the playoffs to be shoe-horned into a tight window. The first day of the playoffs was May 8th and the NBA Finals ended on June 25th — meaning it took less than seven weeks to crown the champion. Both Western Conference semifinals played on back-to-back days (May 22 and 23) and there was rarely more than one day between games in any series. That made for one of the most action packed postseasons in NBA history. 

The Chicago Bulls became just the second defending champion to miss the playoffs (the 1969-1970 Celtics were the first). Michael Jordan retired again before the season, Phil Jackson and Dennis Rodman walked away and Scottie Pippen was traded. The 1999 playoffs would be the first time in 15 years Chicago wasn't a part of it and ended one of the league's most impressive dynasties. Six championships in eight seasons but it would be time for new dynasties to begin. 

As the Bulls dynasty came to an abrupt end, a new one was starting. The Spurs twin towers of David Robinson and Tim Duncan captured the top seed in the Western Conference and bulldozed to the Finals — they went 15-2 en route their first NBA championship. Unbeknownst to us (especially since the Lakers would three-peat after this season), the Spurs would embark on a dynasty that would see them win five championships over 16 seasons and 22 straight playoff appearances 

The ABA was a whimsical league in the 1960s and 1970s that featured some great players and great franchises alongside a lot of struggling teams. When the league merged with the NBA in 1976, only the Spurs, Pacers, Nets and Nuggets survived. When the Spurs won the NBA championship in 1999, it was the first time one of the ABA teams won that league's title. In fact, the Spurs were the first former ABA team to even make the NBA Finals. This would spark a renaissance of sorts for the ABA as the the Spurs (1999), Pacers (2000) and Nets (2002) would make the Finals...with the 2003 NBA Finals featuring the Spurs and the Nets. The Spurs are still the lone ABA team to have won an NBA title — they've done so five times — but those franchises have been formidable in the 21st century.  

The Knicks became just the second No. 8 seed to beat a No. 1 seed in NBA playoff history when they downed the Heat in five games on a fortuitous bounce from an Allan Houston jumper. New York wouldn't stop there, however, as they'd sweep Atlanta and beat the Pacers in six games to become the first 8th seed to reach the NBA Finals. It is a remarkable feat as the Knicks were banged up all season and with the abbreviated regular season it was tough to get healthy. In the postseason, they lost Patrick Ewing with an Achilles injury yet an offseason trade of Charles Oakley to Toronto for Marcus Camby gave the Knicks some depth at center. They would lose in the Finals but they still made one of the most historic postseason runs in league history. 

The Forum saw many Laker wins and six NBA championships. It was one of the most iconic venues in sports and was a hotspot for celebrities. In the 1999 playoffs, it would host its final NBA game. On May 23rd, the Spurs beat Shaq, Kobe and the Lakers, 118-107, in the Western Conference semifinals to end the Lakers' era at The Forum. The team would move into the Staples Center in the fall and begin a new dynasty there.

The Pacers also played their final game at Market Square Arena during the 1999 playoffs. Interestingly, the Lakers and Pacers would meet in the 2000 NBA Finals. 

The heated Knicks-Pacers rivalry gave us another classic postseason moment in Game 3 of the 1999 Eastern Conference Finals. With the series tied 1-1 and down by three, the Knicks' Larry Johnson hit a three-pointer with 5.7 seconds to play...and was fouled. Well, a foul was called on Antonio Davis as he defended Johnson though replays showed he didn't touch him during the shot. Johnson hit the free throw to give New York the lead in the game and series as they marched on to the NBA Finals. 

The Kings were one of the worst franchises in sports since arriving in Sacramento in 1985. They finished with a losing record for their first 13 seasons in California's capital. But in the offseason, the Kings acquired Chris Webber, Vlade Divac and Vernon Maxwell, drafted Jason Williams and hired Rick Adelman to be their new head coach and would go 27-23 and make the playoffs. They would lose to defending Western Conference champion Jazz in the first round in five games (the first round was five games back then) but began a run of eight winning seasons and eight postseason berths.  

The Utah Jazz were an outstanding team from 1996 to 1998. John Stockton and Karl Malone were in the prime of their Hall of Fame careers and they had a great roster to compliment them. Everything was set for them to win a title or two except they had to unfortunate luck to face the Chicago Bulls both years they made the Finals. In the 1997 and 1998 Finals, the Jazz made the Bulls work for their titles but Jerry Sloan's team left empty-handed.

Karl Malone had another spectacular season that ended with an MVP and the post seasons successes came to and end with a second round loss to the revamped Trail Blazers in six games. Utah would beat Seattle in the first round in 2000 but the tandem of Stockton and Malone wouldn't win another playoff series together. In the West, the Spurs, Lakers and Blazers were becoming elite contenders while the Jazz got older. 

Iverson was the first overall pick in the 1996 draft but wouldn't get the Sixers into the postseason until his third season. When A.I. finally got there, he certainly delivered. Philly, as the No. 6 seed, upset the Magic in the first round, 3 games to 1, behind Iverson's 28 ppg and his playoff record ten steals in Game 3. He was great in the second round as well but the Sixers were swept in four close games. Two years later Iverson would become league MVP and lead the Sixers to the NBA Finals

Shaquille O'Neal is one of the greatest players in NBA history and has four rings to prove it. He also has had a strange knack for getting swept in the playoffs. In 1999, his Lakers were beaten by the Spurs in four games. That was the fifth time in six years his team was swept in the playoffs.

1994-Swept by Pacers
1995-Swept by Rockets
1996-Swept by Bulls
1998-Swept by Jazz
1999-Swept by Spurs

He would right the ship by winning the next three championships and would only be swept one more time (in 2007 his Heat were run by the Bulls).

Kobe's stats in the 1999 playoffs don't look Mamba-esque but you have to remember that he was the first high school guard to make the leap to the NBA. He was a role player his first two seasons but became a regular starter for the first time in 1999. During the postseason, he would average 19.8 points, 6.9 rebounds and 4.6 assists as the "sidekick" to Shaq and hit two free throws with five seconds left in Game 1 of the first round to beat Houston. Again his stat line didn't foretell we were about to see a guy who would win the next three championships and five total titles but you could see the drive and the need to have a big impact on winning.

Charles Barkley and Dominique Wilkins made their final playoff appearances in 1999 and did so wearing jerseys we normally don't associate with them. Barkley's final playoff game was as a member of the Houston Rockets where they'd lose to the Lakers in the first round. He would tear his quadriceps the next season and his career would end. Dominique would play his final postseason game with the Orlando Magic where he would play just three minutes in their first round series to the 76ers. Joe Dumars would play his final NBA game in a Game 5 loss to the Hawks in the first round. 

There were 66 games played in the 1999 playoffs. Only 11 times a team scored at least 100 points...and four of those times were in the same game. The NBA was a lower scoring league twenty years ago and it showed in the playoffs. For perspective, just using the first two games of each of the eight first round series in the 2019 playoffs there were 20 times a team scored at least 100 points.  

NBA teams averaged just 91.6 points per game in the 1999 season ... the lowest since the 1950s and and the ninth lowest on record. Now, some of the low scoring can be attributed to the strike shortened season where teams didn't have much practice time and rosters were quickly put together is a rushed offseason but even in the seasons surrounding that year saw teams scoring in the mid-90s.

The 1999 NBA Finals is, to date, the last Finals where no team scored at least 100 points in a game. 

The Spurs trailed the Trail Blazers by two points with 12 seconds left in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals when Sean Elliott hit one of the biggest shots in San Antonio history. Mario Elie inbounded the ball to Sean Elliott who toed the line turned around and hit a go-ahead three pointer with nine seconds left in the game. Elliott's shot was off the tips of his toes as his heels were in the air and out-of-bounds. Elliott was suffering from a kidney ailment that required a transplant but delayed it until after the season. 

There are some people and fan-bases that like to apply an asterisk to the Spurs' championship. For starters, the season was thrown together in a couple weeks (training camps opened as free agency began) and players all over the league were out of shape. To hold a 50-game season, there were only conference games. The Spurs not only got to play the only No. 8 seed to ever make the Finals but the Knicks were devastated by injuries -- mainly to Patrick Ewing and Larry Johnson -- by the time they got there. It was also the first season after the Bulls completely broke up. Add all that up and some feel that it isn't a true championship season.

While no one denies they won the ring, it does feel a little out of place, even among the Spurs titles. Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker weren't on this Spurs team (this was the Mario Elie/Sean Elliott/Avery Johnson team). When the Lakers would go on to win the next three championships, this title felt like a blip more than a dynasty...especially considering they were the only "one-term" champion since the Celtics won it in 1986. Despite anyone's feelings, San Antonio not only proved to be a worthy champion but turned into one of the best franchises in sports.