The 1999 NBA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association’s 1998-99 season. The tournament concluded with the Western Conference champion San Antonio Spurs defeating the Eastern Conference champion New York Knicks 4 games to 1. Tim Duncan was named NBA Finals MVP. The 1999 Playoffs are memorable in that a #8 seed (the Knicks) made it to the Finals for the only time in history, and that it came after a lockout-shortened 50-game season. Overview The Philadelphia 76ers’ and Milwaukee Bucks returned to the playoffs since 1991 (coincidentally they faced each other in the opening round that year), and it was also the 76ers’ first appearance since drafting Allen Iverson with the #1 overall pick in 1996. Iverson later led the Sixers to the 2001 NBA Finals. After spending their first thirteen seasons in Sacramento in mediocrity, with no winning record and two playoff appearances in 1986 and 1996, the Kings franchise made the first of eight consecutive playoff appearances, which included a trip to the Western Conference Finals in 2002. The Bulls, despite being defending champions, missed the playoffs for the first time since 1984 (mostly due to the second retirement of Michael Jordan and the departures of Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman). They also became the first defending champion since the 1969–70 Boston Celtics to miss the playoffs. With their first round sweep of the Phoenix Suns, the Portland Trail Blazers won a playoff series for the first time since 1992, when they last made the NBA Finals. Game 4 of the Lakers–Rockets series was the final postseason appearance of Charles Barkley’s Hall of Fame career. It was also the final playoff game ever held at the Compaq Center. Game 5 of the Hawks–Pistons series is the last NBA playoff game played in a college basketball-specific arena (Georgia Tech's then-named Alexander Memorial Coliseum), and among the final NBA games played in a college basketball-specific arena. Many teams formerly played playoff games on college campuses, especially in the NBA's early days, but the increasing professionalization and ownership of arena times made the practice obsolete. Game 5 of the Heat–Knicks series was extremely notable for two reasons Allan Houston's series winning shot to win the game and the series. By doing so, the Knicks became only the second eighth seeded team (after the 1994 Denver Nuggets) to knock off a top seed in the playoffs. The Knicks