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The 5 best NBA Finals losers since 2000

By Luke Duffy

Allen Iverson (L) of the Philadelphia 76ers and Kobe Bryant (R) of the Los Angeles Lakers (R) exchange words at the end of game two of the NBA Finals 08 June 2001 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Lakers won 98-89 to tie the seven-game series 1-1. AFP PHOTO/Jeff HAYNES (Photo by JEFF HAYNES / AFP) (Photo credit should read JEFF HAYNES/AFP via Getty Images)
Allen Iverson (L) of the Philadelphia 76ers and Kobe Bryant (R) of the Los Angeles Lakers (R) exchange words at the end of game two of the NBA Finals 08 June 2001 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Lakers won 98-89 to tie the seven-game series 1-1. AFP PHOTO/Jeff HAYNES (Photo by JEFF HAYNES / AFP) (Photo credit should read JEFF HAYNES/AFP via Getty Images) /
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Orlando Magic
NBA (Photo credit should read STAN HONDA/AFP via Getty Images) /

3. 2009 Orlando Magic

The Orlando Magic have had only a few key moments in their history, but their loss in the finals in 2009 to the Lakers is right up there. If they’d been able to win it would have ushered in today’s game more quickly because that roster was ahead of its time. From a popularity standpoint, they also had Dwight Howard, which sounds like a joke today but was true then.

It may have been LeBron or Kobe Bryant‘s league, but for more than a brief moment, Howard was right there with him. 2009 was his apex in terms of appeal, and he was also named Defensive Player of the Year that season too. Like the Warriors of 2016, this was a two-headed beast, that could swallow you whole on the defensive end and burn you alive with the ball in hand.

The reason we consider them so modern, despite continuously being overlooked and slandered, is because they had two forwards in Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu who played much more like guys in those positions do today. Lewis was a wiry character and was much more comfortable spreading the floor and knocking down 3-pointers than getting into the paint.

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He was their power forward. In 2009 for a guy in that position not to get inside and mix it up, it was almost unheard of. Like Chris Bosh before Chris Bosh was properly a thing for the Miami Heat. Then there was Turkoglu, who took on much of the ball-handling duties than a guy in his position typically did.

Injury to All-Star point guard Jameer Nelson earlier in that season forced the Magic to put the ball in Turkoglu’s hands more, but his playmaking ability was evident right away. Having these guys, as well as jack of all trades Mickael Pietrus and young sharpshooter J.J. Redick, to pair with Howard made the Magic so dangerous and tough to beat.

Much like the Pacers in 2000, the series is remembered as a formality (the Lakers won in five), but in reality, it was a little closer than that. Nelson clearly wasn’t 100 percent and in Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom, as well as Bryant, the Lakers represented probably the worst matchup in the league for them. It never got any better, but that team was really good.