NBA: Most Memorable Playoff Runs

The 1994 Denver Nuggets. In their best-of-five first round series with the Seattle Supersonics the 8th seeded Nuggets predictably lost the first two games in very convincing fashion, with both games being decided by a double digits and featuring an average scoring margin of 17 points.

The Sonics looked like they were on their way to the easy first round series victory that everybody anticipated. Then Reggie Williams erupted for 31 points in game 3, keying a 120-91 Nuggets victory. Laphonso Ellis followed up with a career playoff high 27 points as the Nuggets took game 4 and suddenly the easy series the Sonics thought they had sewn up was in peril.

The Nuggets won a back and forth game 5 in overtime, leading to one of the most enduring images in NBA playoff history, as center Dikembe Mutombo lay on the ground squeezing the ball, refusing to relinquish the it even as he walked off the floor:

The Nuggets showed that their success was not a fluke in the second round, extending a solid Utah Jazz team to 7 games before dying at the hands of the John Stockton-Karl Malone pick and roll extravaganza.