Tony Parker was named NBA Finals MVP, making him the second Spur after Tim Duncan and the first European–born player to receive the award.

Game 5 of the Pistons-Cavaliers series was extremely notable thanks to LeBron James scoring the Cavaliers’ final 25 points in a double-overtime thriller.

Tony Parker is the first European Player to win NBA Finals MVP, and the second member of the San Antonio Spurs to do so, the other being Tim Duncan.

This was the source of controversy in the 2006 NBA playoffs when the 63-win Spurs and 60-win Dallas Mavericks — the teams with the second-best and third-best records in the entire league—met in the conference semifinals.

A rematch of the previous year's first round series was spoiled when Wizards stars Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler were both forced out of the playoffs due to injuries received in the later parts of the regular season.

Expectations of a short series were immediately dashed by Golden State's Game 1 victory in Dallas, behind guard Baron Davis and his rather frantic style of play.

As the series shifted back to Dallas, the top-ranked Mavericks found themselves one game from seeing their record breaking season end prematurely.

The Warriors used a third-quarter 18–0 run, sparked by Stephen Jackson's 13 straight points en route to a franchise playoff record seven 3-pointers, and an unexpected collapse from MVP candidate Dirk Nowitzki (2–13 from the field with 8 points) to finish Dallas and become the first #8 seed to win a best-of-7 series in the first round, and just the third overall in NBA history, following the Denver Nuggets in 1994 and the New York Knicks en route to the 1999 NBA Finals.

This would not happen again until 2021 when the NBA Finalists from the previous season (L.A. Lakers and Miami Heat) were eliminated in the first round as lower-seeded teams.

The Nuggets duo of Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson got Denver off to a fast start, winning Game 1 and taking home-court advantage away from Tim Duncan and the Spurs.

In the pivotal Game 3, the Nuggets built an eight-point first-quarter lead before Manu Ginóbili's eight second-quarter points put San Antonio up 43–40 at halftime.

The Spurs held a one-point lead with 30 seconds left when Horry, playing for his seventh championship ring, hit a 3 from the right corner to help seal a 96–89 win.

As a result, the series had to go to a seventh and deciding game, which was played in Houston since the Rockets had the better record and thereby earned home court advantage, despite the division-winning Jazz being the higher-seeded team.

Houston's Tracy McGrady lost his sixth straight post-season series (out of 10 seasons) and has never played past the first round in his entire career.

After losing the series, the Rockets failed to reach a new contract agreement with their head coach Jeff Van Gundy, who was subsequently fired.

(It has only happened five times total in sports history, the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, 1975 New York Islanders, 2004 Boston Red Sox, 2010 Philadelphia Flyers and 2014 Los Angeles Kings.)

The Suns, trying to overcome their recent failures against Texas teams in the playoffs (the Spurs and the Mavericks both defeated them in the Conference Finals), willed themselves to a come-from-behind victory in Game 4 to tie the series at 2.

In the closing minute of Game 4, with the Suns up 3, Nash brought up the ball and was shoved into the press table by Robert Horry, creating a momentary ruckus, wherein Raja Bell received a technical.

As a result, the NBA suspended Stoudemire and Diaw for one game, while Horry received a two-game suspension for the flagrant foul and ejection.

Fresh off their stunning upset of the top-seeded Dallas Mavericks, the Golden State Warriors faced a very different team in Utah.

The Warriors continued the frantic style of play they exhibited against the Mavericks, but the Jazz, a more defensive-minded team, managed to shut them down to take Game 1.

But the Jazz were able to prevail, due to the inspired clutch play of guard Derek Fisher, who arrived at halftime after being with his family in New York City because of his daughter's emergency eye cancer surgery.

In a match that went into double overtime, the Cavaliers stunned the Pistons on their home court, thanks to LeBron James' playoff career-high 48-point performance.

Rookie Daniel Gibson scored a career-high 31 points, including five 3-pointers, to lift the Cavs in the second half behind a roaring home crowd.

When the Spurs' 19-point first-half lead dwindled to 95-87 late in the fourth quarter of Game 1, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginóbili came through with timely shots down the stretch.

When San Antonio's 22-point edge shrank to 83-76 late in Game 2, Bruce Bowen broke Utah's rhythm with a 3 from the left corner and another from the right to end the threat.

Utah pestered Duncan into early foul trouble and got baskets from players other than Williams and Boozer, who had combined for 57.7% of their team's points through the first two games.

11 of his 16 fourth-quarter points came at the foul line in an ugly overall team performance in which the Spurs made more free throws (30) than field goals (28).

The subsequent ejections of Utah head coach Jerry Sloan and Jazz guard Derek Fisher had a charged-up EnergySolutions Arena crowd raining debris onto the court in protest.

Not even another late-game arrival of Fisher (from New York again) could help the Jazz enough and the Spurs won a 109–84 series-clinching victory and an eventual date in the NBA Finals with the Cavaliers.