1998 NBA Finals

The 1998 NBA Finals was the championship round of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 1997–98 season. The Eastern Conference champion Chicago Bulls played against the Western Conference champion Utah Jazz, with the Jazz holding home-court advantage with the first 2 games in Salt Lake City. In a repeat of the previous year's Finals, the Bulls won the series 4 games to 2 for their third consecutive NBA title and their sixth in eight seasons. Michael Jordan was voted the NBA Finals MVP of the series (he also had won the award the last five times the Bulls won the Finals: 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, and 1997). This would be his sixth NBA championship and sixth Finals MVP award in six full basketball seasons. Until 2014, it was the last consecutive Finals rematch between two teams.

The 1998 Finals garnered the highest Nielsen TV ratings in NBA history at 18.7, and even surpassed the Nielsen ratings for the 1998 World Series, marking the first time the NBA had a higher rating in its championship round than of Major League Baseball's championship round.

2002 NBA Finals

The 2002 NBA Finals was the National Basketball Association (NBA) championship series for the 2001–02 season. The best-of-seven playoff was contested between the Los Angeles Lakers, champions of the Western Conference and two-time defending NBA champions, and the New Jersey Nets, champions of the Eastern Conference. The Lakers swept the Nets, four games to none, to win the franchise's 14th NBA championship. The 56th edition of the championship series was played between June 5 and June 12 and was broadcast on NBC.

Shaquille O'Neal, who averaged 36 points and 12 rebounds in the Finals, was named the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player. Lakers coach Phil Jackson won his ninth ring, tying him with Red Auerbach for most all-time. During the series, he surpassed Pat Riley for most career playoffs wins with 156.

Will Lyman narrated the season-ending documentary for NBA Entertainment.

Series summary

The Finals were played using a 2-3-2 site format, where the first two and last two games are held at the team with home court advantage. The NBA, after experimenting in the early years, restored this original format for the NBA Finals in 1985.

1979 NBA Finals

The 1979 NBA World Championship Series at the conclusion of the 1978–79 season were won by the Seattle SuperSonics defeating the Washington Bullets 4 games to 1. The series was a rematch of the 1978 NBA Finals which the Washington Bullets had won 4–3. Due to a better regular season record, the Bullets had home-court advantage.

Dennis Johnson of the SuperSonics was the Finals Most Valuable Player while Gus Williams of the SuperSonics was the top scorer, averaging 28.6 points per game.

Besides the Seattle Metropolitans victory in the Stanley Cup in 1917, this remained Seattle's only men's professional sports championship until the Seattle Seahawks won Super Bowl XLVIII.

Coincidentally, the series (along with the 1978 NBA Finals) was informally known as the George Washington series, because both teams were playing in places named after the first President of the United States (the SuperSonics were playing in Seattle, the largest city in the State of Washington, and the Bullets were representing Washington, D.C. albeit playing in nearby Landover, Maryland).

1983 NBA Finals

The 1983 NBA Finals, also known as Showdown '83, was the championship round of the 1982–83 NBA season. It was the last NBA Championship Series completed before June 1.

Background

This was the third Finals meeting in four years between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers won the first two meetings in 1980 and 1982 with Magic Johnson earning Finals MVP awards each time. But Johnson wasn't the only problem the 76ers faced. While Julius Erving played superbly in both series, their frontcourt of Darryl Dawkins, Caldwell Jones and Bobby Jones couldn't neutralize Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. So in the off-season, the 76ers acquired Moses Malone from the Houston Rockets in an effort to solve Kareem, in addition to providing some offense and rebounding to the team. They parted ways with Caldwell Jones, Dawkins, and Lionel Hollins before the season, while giving greater responsibility to high-scoring guard Andrew Toney and backup playmaker Clint Richardson, and adding forwards Clemon Johnson and rookie Marc Iavaroni.