Every NBA Team's Best Playoff Memory of the 2010s：西北赛区由JabariIverson 发表在翻译团招工部 https://bbs.hupu.com/fyt-store
The last decade of NBA basketball was a thrilling one.
Though the constant player movement has gotten aggravating for some, it also gave birth to the two dominant dynasties of the period—the early 2010s Heat and the mid-to-late 2010s Warriors—and produced a host of thrilling results for fanbases across the league.
Today, we're looking at each team's best playoff memory from the 2010s. Unless your team won a title over the past 10 seasons, this exercise is obviously subjective, but we did our best. And if your personal favorite moment isn't recognized here, that's fair. This is supposed to be a joyous occasion, and the memory you cherish doesn't lose any of its intrinsic value because it wasn't selected here.
Before we start, two notes that bear mentioning. First, as these current playoffs are taking place in 2020, they don't factor into our decision. Secondly, as the Sacramento Kings didn't make the playoffs in the 2010s, they will not be covered here. Sorry, guys, but we weren't the ones who drafted Ben McLemore over CJ McCollum and Marvin Bagley III over Luka Doncic.
Denver Nuggets: 2019 Western Conference Quarterfinals
The Nuggets were in and around the playoffs for much of the 2010s but failed to win a series until the last year of the decade.
Though it earned the West's second seed in 2019, Denver's lack of postseason experience combined with the confidence of its first-round opponent—the still-dangerous San Antonio Spurs—made a premature exit very possible. And early on, that worst-case scenario was indeed playing out.
San Antonio took Game 1 and led by seven going into the fourth quarter of Game 2. However, a sensational performance from Jamal Murray (21 points on 8-of-9 shooting in the final frame) saved the day for the Nuggets, who then traded wins with the Spurs until Game 7 arrived.
Though San Antonio made a valiant comeback at the end, Denver was in control of Game 7 from the start, winning an atypically low-scoring affair to clinch its first series win in 10 years. Murray led the team in scoring with 23 points, while Nikola Jokic tallied a triple-double (21 points, 15 rebounds, 10 assists).
This very same Nuggets core is the talk of the NBA right now, overcoming two consecutive 3-1 series deficits to make the Western Conference Finals. But this was the series where they broke through.
Minnesota Timberwolves: April 11, 2018
As this game took place in the regular season, we're slightly cheating. But considering Minnesota didn't do much of anything in its subsequent first-round series against Houston, Game 82 is a worthy substitute.
As we saw this year with the Western Conference's fight for the eighth seed, win-or-go-home games are usually thrilling. They just don't happen very often due to the nature of the NBA schedule. However, the 2017-18 campaign was a wonderful exception in this regard.
By coincidence, the Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets were scheduled to play on the last day of this season, and they were also the two teams battling for the final spot in the playoffs. It could have been an early blowout, but thankfully, it wasn't.
Both sides treated this as a playoff game (because it essentially was), playing reserves limited minutes and relying heavily on their core starters. Predictably, the game went into overtime, where Minnesota took the lead on a Jeff Teague jumper with nearly 80 seconds left and spent the remaining minute-plus holding steady on defense and making free throws.
When the dust settled, the Timberwolves had ended a 14-year playoff drought.
Oklahoma City Thunder: 2012 Western Conference Finals
After drafting Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden in successive seasons, the Thunder were widely considered a dynasty-in-waiting throughout the late 2000s and early 2010s. But that future became the present in the 2012 playoffs.
Though each member of this storied Big Three was just 23 years old or younger at the time, their collective talent was already too great for the Western Conference to contain. Oklahoma City went 8-1 through the first two rounds of the playoffs, dispatching the defending champion Mavericks and Kobe Bryant-led Lakers in the process, before meeting the vaunted Spurs in the conference finals.
San Antonio’s playoff experience shone through early on, as Gregg Popovich’s club quickly took a 2-0 series lead. But the Thunder seamlessly adjusted and controlled the matchup thereafter, winning the next four games and making the NBA Finals off the strength of staggering performances from Durant (29.5 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 5.3 APG) and Harden (18.5 PPG, 49.3/60.9/80.6 shooting splits) in particular.
This trio obviously didn’t stay together much longer. But after this series, it seemed like Oklahoma City would be a regular Finals participant for much of the next decade.
Portland Trail Blazers: Game 5, 2019 Western Conference Quarterfinals
Damian Lillard proved this season that he's at his best when he's doubted. But if you've been paying attention, you know that's been true about him for years.
After LaMarcus Aldridge and the Blazers' other three starters departed in 2015, Lillard led the team to the Western Conference Semifinals the following season. After the lower-seeded Pelicans swept them in the first round in 2018, calls to break up the roster once again got loud.
In 2018-19 season predictions, Portland got kicked to the side in favor of flashier, newer contenders like the Nuggets and Lakers.
When the opportunity came to dispel the doubters, Lillard did so with aplomb. Matched up with the star-studded Thunder in the first round, Lillard outplayed archrival Russell Westbrook, capping his dominance with a high-arcing, series-winning three over Paul George that resulted in two effortlessly cool reactions.
Portland would go on to defeat the Nuggets in seven games and reach the Western Conference Finals for the first time in nearly 20 years, but this shot remains a symbol of the team's postseason breakthrough.
Utah Jazz: Game 6, 2018 Western Conference Quarterfinals
After Gordon Hayward for the Celtics in 2017 free agency, it seemed like the Jazz would be stuck in no man's land. They rebuilt through years of lottery trips, finally breaking through to the second round of the playoffs, only to have their best player leave immediately thereafter.
Donovan Mitchell's rapid ascendance spared them from such a fate.
The No. 13 overall pick in the 2017 draft quickly became Utah's go-to scorer, averaging 22.5 points per game on 45.0 percent shooting from Dec. 1 of his rookie season onward. It's rare for a rookie drafted outside of the top 10 to become such an instant-impact player, yet the Louisville alum led the Jazz to 48 wins and the Western Conference's fifth seed.
That carried over to the playoffs, where Mitchell seized the day in the climactic Game 6. The rookie outdueled a full-throttle Russell Westbrook, scoring 38 points on 14-of-26 shooting and leading the Jazz to a 96-91 victory.
Mitchell and the Jazz haven't made it back to the conference semifinals in the two ensuing years. But in 2017-18, they established themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the West.
The last decade of NBA basketball was a thrilling one.
Though the constant player movement has gotten aggravating for some, it also gave birth to the two dominant dynasties of the period—the early 2010s Heat and the mid-to-late 2010s Warriors—and produced a host of thrilling results for fanbases across the league.
Today, we're looking at each team's best playoff memory from the 2010s. Unless your team won a title over the past 10 seasons, this exercise is obviously subjective, but we did our best. And if your personal favorite moment isn't recognized here, that's fair. This is supposed to be a joyous occasion, and the memory you cherish doesn't lose any of its intrinsic value because it wasn't selected here.
Before we start, two notes that bear mentioning. First, as these current playoffs are taking place in 2020, they don't factor into our decision. Secondly, as the Sacramento Kings didn't make the playoffs in the 2010s, they will not be covered here. Sorry, guys, but we weren't the ones who drafted Ben McLemore over CJ McCollum and Marvin Bagley III over Luka Doncic.
Denver Nuggets: 2019 Western Conference Quarterfinals
The Nuggets were in and around the playoffs for much of the 2010s but failed to win a series until the last year of the decade.
Though it earned the West's second seed in 2019, Denver's lack of postseason experience combined with the confidence of its first-round opponent—the still-dangerous San Antonio Spurs—made a premature exit very possible. And early on, that worst-case scenario was indeed playing out.
San Antonio took Game 1 and led by seven going into the fourth quarter of Game 2. However, a sensational performance from Jamal Murray (21 points on 8-of-9 shooting in the final frame) saved the day for the Nuggets, who then traded wins with the Spurs until Game 7 arrived.
Though San Antonio made a valiant comeback at the end, Denver was in control of Game 7 from the start, winning an atypically low-scoring affair to clinch its first series win in 10 years. Murray led the team in scoring with 23 points, while Nikola Jokic tallied a triple-double (21 points, 15 rebounds, 10 assists).
This very same Nuggets core is the talk of the NBA right now, overcoming two consecutive 3-1 series deficits to make the Western Conference Finals. But this was the series where they broke through.
Minnesota Timberwolves: April 11, 2018
As this game took place in the regular season, we're slightly cheating. But considering Minnesota didn't do much of anything in its subsequent first-round series against Houston, Game 82 is a worthy substitute.
As we saw this year with the Western Conference's fight for the eighth seed, win-or-go-home games are usually thrilling. They just don't happen very often due to the nature of the NBA schedule. However, the 2017-18 campaign was a wonderful exception in this regard.
By coincidence, the Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets were scheduled to play on the last day of this season, and they were also the two teams battling for the final spot in the playoffs. It could have been an early blowout, but thankfully, it wasn't.
Both sides treated this as a playoff game (because it essentially was), playing reserves limited minutes and relying heavily on their core starters. Predictably, the game went into overtime, where Minnesota took the lead on a Jeff Teague jumper with nearly 80 seconds left and spent the remaining minute-plus holding steady on defense and making free throws.
When the dust settled, the Timberwolves had ended a 14-year playoff drought.
Oklahoma City Thunder: 2012 Western Conference Finals
After drafting Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden in successive seasons, the Thunder were widely considered a dynasty-in-waiting throughout the late 2000s and early 2010s. But that future became the present in the 2012 playoffs.
Though each member of this storied Big Three was just 23 years old or younger at the time, their collective talent was already too great for the Western Conference to contain. Oklahoma City went 8-1 through the first two rounds of the playoffs, dispatching the defending champion Mavericks and Kobe Bryant-led Lakers in the process, before meeting the vaunted Spurs in the conference finals.
San Antonio’s playoff experience shone through early on, as Gregg Popovich’s club quickly took a 2-0 series lead. But the Thunder seamlessly adjusted and controlled the matchup thereafter, winning the next four games and making the NBA Finals off the strength of staggering performances from Durant (29.5 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 5.3 APG) and Harden (18.5 PPG, 49.3/60.9/80.6 shooting splits) in particular.
This trio obviously didn’t stay together much longer. But after this series, it seemed like Oklahoma City would be a regular Finals participant for much of the next decade.
Portland Trail Blazers: Game 5, 2019 Western Conference Quarterfinals
Damian Lillard proved this season that he's at his best when he's doubted. But if you've been paying attention, you know that's been true about him for years.
After LaMarcus Aldridge and the Blazers' other three starters departed in 2015, Lillard led the team to the Western Conference Semifinals the following season. After the lower-seeded Pelicans swept them in the first round in 2018, calls to break up the roster once again got loud.
In 2018-19 season predictions, Portland got kicked to the side in favor of flashier, newer contenders like the Nuggets and Lakers.
When the opportunity came to dispel the doubters, Lillard did so with aplomb. Matched up with the star-studded Thunder in the first round, Lillard outplayed archrival Russell Westbrook, capping his dominance with a high-arcing, series-winning three over Paul George that resulted in two effortlessly cool reactions.
Portland would go on to defeat the Nuggets in seven games and reach the Western Conference Finals for the first time in nearly 20 years, but this shot remains a symbol of the team's postseason breakthrough.
Utah Jazz: Game 6, 2018 Western Conference Quarterfinals
After Gordon Hayward for the Celtics in 2017 free agency, it seemed like the Jazz would be stuck in no man's land. They rebuilt through years of lottery trips, finally breaking through to the second round of the playoffs, only to have their best player leave immediately thereafter.
Donovan Mitchell's rapid ascendance spared them from such a fate.
The No. 13 overall pick in the 2017 draft quickly became Utah's go-to scorer, averaging 22.5 points per game on 45.0 percent shooting from Dec. 1 of his rookie season onward. It's rare for a rookie drafted outside of the top 10 to become such an instant-impact player, yet the Louisville alum led the Jazz to 48 wins and the Western Conference's fifth seed.
That carried over to the playoffs, where Mitchell seized the day in the climactic Game 6. The rookie outdueled a full-throttle Russell Westbrook, scoring 38 points on 14-of-26 shooting and leading the Jazz to a 96-91 victory.
Mitchell and the Jazz haven't made it back to the conference semifinals in the two ensuing years. But in 2017-18, they established themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the West.
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