Today we continue in part 7 of a 10-part series at Once Upon a Dribble!

During the 2022 playoffs the NBA began awarding MVP awards to the best performing player of each conference finals: the Larry Bird Eastern Conference Finals Most Valuable Player Award and the Magic Johnson Western Conference Finals Most Valuable Player Award, named for the two players credited for building the league up to greater popularity in the 1980s.

This begs the question, with the award just being handed out for the first time last season, who are the deserving winners from the previous 50+ years of NBA history?

Find out today as Josh tackles the Eastern Conference in the 2000s!

2000: Indiana Pacers vs New York Knicks - Reggie Miller (01:41)

2001: Milwaukee Bucks vs Philadelphia 76ers - Dikembe Mutombo (06:10)

2002: Boston Celtics vs New Jersey Nets - Jason Kidd (13:31)

2003: Detroit Pistons vs New Jersey Nets - Jason Kidd (20:00)

2004: Detroit Pistons vs Indiana Pacers - Ben Wallace (24:08) 2005: Detroit Pistons vs Miami Heat - Richard Hamilton (26:16)

2006: Detroit Pistons vs Miami Heat - Dwyane Wade (32:24)

2007: Cleveland Cavaliers vs Detroit Pistons - LeBron James (37:26)

2008: Boston Celtics vs Detroit Pistons - Kevin Garnett (44:18)

2009: Cleveland Cavaliers vs Orlando Magic - Dwight Howard (49:41)

Every NBA team at some point in their history has hit a drought so to say. A drought from success that keeps them out of the postseason picture. It can be injuries, poor coaching, bad management, whiffed draft picks or a combination of it all.

In this segment Josh and Calvan look at EVERY NBA franchise and dissect their longest absence from NBA playoff basketball and ask the question, "what went wrong?"

Even the driest of droughts see rain once again and there is light at the end of every tunnel.

In part 2 of this 2 part series, Calvan tackles the Northwest, Southwest and Central divisions. In part 1 Josh covered the Atlantic, Pacific and Southeast.

Minnesota Timberwolves (01:00)

Denver Nuggets (03:04)

Utah/New Orleans Jazz (05:05) Portland Trail Blazers (06:59)

Oklahoma City Thunder (08:47)

Milwaukee Bucks (11:25)

Indiana Pacers (13:34)

Cleveland Cavaliers (15:33)

Detroit Pistons (17:47)

Chicago Bulls (20:16)

Dallas Mavericks (23:00)

San Antonio Spurs (25:03)

Refresher on the Phoenix Suns (27:11)

Memphis Grizzlies (29:18)

Houston Rockets (32:05)

Every NBA team at some point in their history has hit a drought so to say. A drought from success that keeps them out of the postseason picture. It can be injuries, poor coaching, bad management, whiffed draft picks or a combination of it all.

In this segment Josh and Calvan look at EVERY NBA franchise and dissect their longest absence from NBA playoff basketball and ask the question, "what went wrong?"

Even the driest of droughts see rain once again and there is light at the end of every tunnel.

In part 1 of this 2 part series, Josh tackles the Atlantic, Pacific and Southeast divisions. In part 2 Calvan will cover the Northwest, Central and Southwest.

Boston Celtics (01:55)

Philadelphia 76ers (04:29)

New York Knicks (06:11)

Toronto Raptors (08:10)

Brooklyn Nets (10:25)

Los Angeles Lakers (13:15)

Golden State Warriors (16:25)

Los Angeles Clippers (18:29)

Sacramento Kings (21:08)

Phoenix Suns (24:11)

Miami Heat (27:31)

Charlotte Hornets (29:36)

Washington Wizards (32:22)

Orlando Magic (35:51)

Atlanta Hawks (38:10)