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The best NBA teams to never win a championship

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The 57-win Clippers going home in the second round reminded us of how insanely hard it is to win a championship in a 30-team league. Even if you discount the inconsistent Pacers, at least two of the Heat, Spurs and Thunder will leave this season as losers, and that's something.

So on that note, let's remember some of the best teams (in somewhat recent memory) who never quite got over the championship hump, with a heartbreaking moment or two included.

Early 90's Knicks
The Knicks made the playoffs in 14 consecutive seasons from 1987-88 through 2000-01, even advancing past the first round for nine straight years from 1992 through 2000. But they did so without actually winning a championship during those golden years, with their missed opportunities in the early-to-mid 90's, especially, a sore spot for Knicks fans.

From 1991-92 until 1996-97, Patrick Ewing's Knicks won at least 50 games in five of six seasons and won at least 55 in four of those six, but they weren't able to topple the Bulls while Michael Jordan ruled the land. They then missed their opportunity with Jordan temporarily retired, too, losing a hard fought seven-game NBA Finals to the Rockets in 1994.

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Mid 90's Jazz
The Jazz famously made the postseason in 20 consecutive seasons from 1983-84 until 2002-03, made it to at least the Conference Finals in five of seven seasons from 1992 through 1998, and advanced to back-to-back NBA Finals in 1997 and 1998.

The only problem for Stockton, Malone, Sloan and company? A certain No. 23 kept standing in their way.

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Late 80's/Early 90's and Late 90's/Early 2000's Trail Blazers
You want streaks? Between winning the championship in their seventh season in 1976-77 and a playoff appearance in 2003, the Trail Blazers made the playoffs in 26 of 27 seasons, including 21 straight seasons from 1983-2003. But with their 1977 title a fading memory, two separate Blazers teams will always be known for their inability to win one.

Clyde Drexler and Terry Porter led Portland to three straight Western Conference Finals and two NBA Finals in three seasons between 1989 to 1992, winning 59, 63 and 57 games, respectively, before falling to the 'Bad Boys' Pistons and Jordan-led Bulls. 

A decade later, a Blazers team featuring Scottie Pippen, Arvydas Sabonis, Rasheed Wallace, Damon Stoudamire and Steve Smith went 94-38 over the 1998-99 and 1999-2000 seasons combined, and advanced to back-to-back West Finals without anything to show for it.

Most painful of all for Rip City fans? Blowing a 15-point fourth quarter lead in Game 7 of the 2000 West Final to the eventual champion Lakers.

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Mid 90's SuperSonics
This will be especially painful to remember for basketball fans in Seattle now, but the Sonics won at least 55 games in six straight seasons from 1992-93 through 1997-98, earning a top-two seed in each of those years and the No. 1 seed in four of the six.

Their list of heartbreak during that time included a seven-game West Final loss to the Suns in 1993, becoming the first No. 1-seed to lose to an eight-seed in 1994, another first round loss in 1995, a Finals loss to the Bulls in 1996 and a couple of disappointing second round defeats in '97 and '98.

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Mid 90's-Early 2000's Pacers
Between 1994 and 2004, Reggie Miller's Pacers managed to get to the East Final in six of 11 seasons. They lost seven-game thrillers to the Knicks in '94, the Magic in '95 and the Bulls in '98. They lost to the Lakers in six games in the 2000 Finals.

And then when they thought they had something special brewing again in the mid-2000's, a 61-win, top-seeded Pacers team fell to the eventual champion Pistons in the East Final in 2004, before seeing their championship window close the following season, against those very Pistons, with The Malice At the Palace.

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Early 2000's Kings
Under Rick Adelman, a Kings team that included Chris Webber, Peja Stojakovic, Vlade Divac, Doug Christie and Mike Bibby, among others, became one of the most entertaining NBA teams of the modern era. 

They were also pretty damn good, winning 55 games or more in four straight seasons between 2000-01 and 2003-04. Unfortunately, the Kings went just 27-21 in the playoffs during that time, failing to progress past the Western Conference Finals and only even getting that far once, in 2002.

The most painful loss of all for Sacramento was that 2002, seven-game West Final against Shaq, Phil and Kobe's Lakers, which ended in overtime (and that you can read all about in Jonathan Abrams' fabulous oral history of the series).

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Mid-Late 2000's Suns
The Suns of the early 90's had some heartbreak of their own, but at least they got to The Finals. From 2005-2010, the Suns had a two-time MVP in his prime, one of the most devastating offenses in NBA history, five 54-plus win seasons in six years, two 61-plus win seasons and three Conference Finals appearances. And yet, like the other teams on this list, they have nothing to show for that run of success.

If only Amar'e and Diaw had never left the bench...

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