6. Which is the NBA Finals performance of the decade?
• 2000 Shaquille O'Neal (38.0 ppg, 16.7 rpg, 2.7 bpg and 2.3 apg)
• 2001 Shaquille O'Neal (33.0 ppg, 15.6 rpg, 3.4 bpg and 4.8 apg)
• 2003 Tim Duncan (24.2 ppg, 17.0 rpg, 5.3 bpg, and 5.3 apg)
• 2006 Dwyane Wade (34.7 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 3.8 apg and 2.7 spg)
Shaq absolutely pulverized the Pacers and Nets in 2000 and 2001. Dwyane Wade's relentless will -- and frequent trips to the free throw line -- inflicted psychological wounds in Dallas that took years to heal.
Neither, though, can top what Duncan did to the Nets in 2003.
Take another look at those numbers: 24.2 points, 17.0 boards, 5.3 blocks and 5.3 assists.
There were loud calls in 2005 claiming that Duncan's NBA Finals trophy should have gone instead to Spurs teammate Manu Ginobili, but 2003 was Duncan at his most dominant.
San Antonio's clinching triumph in Game 6 was David Robinson's farewell game and featured a fitting signoff of 13 points and 17 boards from The Admiral. Yet it was still Duncan's day with a ridiculous 21 points, 20 boards, 10 assists and eight blocks to finally turn the Nets away in a series that was probably closer than you remember.
7. Which is the nickname of the decade?
• Agent Zero (Gilbert Arenas)
• The Big Aristotle (Shaquille O'Neal)
• Flash (Dwyane Wade)
• King James (LeBron James)
With apologies to this quartet of nominees, I'm taking the liberty of going off the board, whether I'm allowed to or not.
I'm not voting for any of the above because "Two Time" is my runaway fave.
That's what they call Steve Nash in Phoenix, if you didn't know, in honor of his back-to-back MVP awards in 2005 and 2006, which he snagged as the quarterback whose contentious departure from Dallas in the summer of 2004 almost instantly established the Suns as the NBA's best entertainers of the decade and an annual threat to win 60 games.
If you don't like the choice, well, too bad. I ain't thrilled that Nash, with those two MVPs, somehow didn't make the list of Player of the Decade nominees.
8. Which is the performance of the decade?
• Shaq's 61 points, 23 rebounds on his birthday (March 6, 2000 vs. Clippers)
• Kobe's 81-point game vs. Raptors (Jan. 22, 2006 )
• Arenas' 60 points vs. Lakers (Dec. 17, 2006)
• LeBron's 48 points vs. Pistons '07 East Finals (May 31, 2007)
I'm breaking my own team-success-trumps-everything rule on this one because the quality of the opposition, where the Lakers were in the championship pecking order at the time and any other factor you might suggest to dismiss this feat are all pretty much nullified when we're talking about someone's scoring 81 points in a single game.
Eighty-one, people.
We believed it at the time and still do: Kobe's hauling his team from 18 points down by uncorking 51 of his 81 points after the Lakers trailed 73-55 in a January game against Toronto is a more impressive feat than even Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game in 1962. The previous link and this one from Professor Hollinger contain all the reasons why.
What LeBron did to the Pistons in the 2007 East finals -- absolutely dismantling 2004's proud champions by scoring 29 of his team's final 30 points -- certainly had more meaning given the playoff stage and undoubtedly ranks as James' signature game as a pro. Yet it can't top the most outstanding individual performance ever witnessed. Which is what Bryant delivered.
9. Which is the NBA Finals of the decade?
• '00 Lakers in 6 over Pacers
• '05 Spurs in 7 over Pistons
• '06 Heat rally from 2-0 hole over Mavs
• '08 Celtics rally in Game 4, defeat Lakers in 6
Miami and Dallas didn't go seven games in 2006, but that's basically the only thing that didn't happen in the wildest Finals of the decade.
You had two teams new to the game's biggest stage hooking up in a matchup that ultimately delivered just the third comeback from a 2-0 deficit in Finals history. Which was almost a 3-0 deficit for the Heat, who were trailing by 13 points at home in Game with just 6:34 to go before Wade suddenly zoomed to a level few have matched when it matters most.
There will always be whispers about Miami's resurrection because of the aforementioned 97 free throws awarded to Wade in the series, including a whopping 25 in the Game 5 comeback that put the crumbling Mavs on the brink. But that doesn't change just how good Wade was in those last four games, carrying both Pat Riley (fifth title as a coach) and Shaq (fourth ring) to new heights by finishing the series with these heady averages: 34.7 points, 7.8 boards and 3.8 assists.
No one doubted the Heat louder than yours truly after they followed a widely criticized offseason makeover with an underwhelming regular season that featured just 52 wins … and Riley's equally criticized return to the bench in December to replace Stan Van Gundy. No one, least of all me, can deny Miami this perch now.
San Antonio and Detroit did go to a seventh game in 2005, but not even that series -- or the long-awaited Celtics/Lakers Finals reunion in 2008 that redefined the careers of Garnett and Paul Pierce -- could match the drama that Miami and Dallas delivered with their respective recovery and collapse.
10. Which is the playoff series of the decade?
• '00 West Finals: Lakers-Blazers (Lakers won 4-3)
• '02 West Finals: Kings-Lakers (Lakers won 4-3)
• '06 West Semis: Mavs-Spurs (Mavs won 4-3)
• '07 West Semis: Suns-Spurs (Spurs won 4-2)
• '09 East Semis: Bulls-Celtics (Celtics won 4-3)
I personally covered all of the above aside from Boston-Chicago and could easily nominate either series involving the Lakers as the decade's standout, since both of those matchups were regarded as that season's true championship series. The Blazers or the Kings would have been heavily favored in the Finals had they managed to finish off L.A.
Suns-Spurs in 2007 was an all-timer of the highest quality, too, which unforgettably swung on Horry's body check on Nash late in Game 4 and the subsequent Game 5 suspensions for Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw for leaving the bench.
If you went with Kings-Lakers in 2002, I totally understand. That's the series folks still talk about today, although the highly questionable nature of the fourth quarter in Game 6 -- with the Lakers shooting 27 free throws to Sacramento's nine -- and convicted referee Tim Donaghy's determination to keep the memory of that game in the news is always bound to overshadow how good the other six games were. Especially Game 7.
But I'm closing with a personal favorite, probably because I can still hear the ever-classy Duncan -- in defeat -- calling it the best series he's ever played in.
The Mavs jumped to a 3-1 lead against the intrastate rivals who had bullied them for years. San Antonio answered with two wins to force a deciding Game 7 back home. Then Dallas, after squandering a 20-point lead in that Game 7, took control of the series for the third and last time and ultimately prevailed in OT on mighty San Antonio's floor, set up by a clutch drive and free throw from European player of the decade Dirk Nowitzki -- and an unfortunate assist from Manu Ginobili -- with the Mavs down by three at the end of regulation.
They don't come much bigger and stronger than Minnesota Vikings left tackle Bryant McKinnie, who was reminded of that last week. After making a push for his first Pro Bowl bid over the first 13 games of the season, McKinnie played so poorly against Julius Peppers and the Carolina Panthers that he was benched in the fourth quarter, the first time that happened in his eight-year career.
