Now that we have reached the second round of the NBA Playoffs, I'm starting to pay attention. I have long felt that WAY too many teams go to the NBA Playoffs.
There are 30 teams and 16 make the playoffs. Thus, I've long ignored the regular season. Additionally, the only real purpose of the first round of the playoffs is to eliminate the eight teams that shouldn't have been there in the first place.
Ignoring conference and just ranking the >.500 teams by final record:
- #1, 65-17, Houston Rockets, West #1 seed, beat Minnesota 4-1.
- #2, 59-23, Toronto Raptors, East #1 seed, beat Washington 4-2.
- #3, 58-24, Golden State Warriors, West #2 seed, beat San Antonio 4-1.
- #4, 55-27, Boston Celtics, East #2 seed, beat Milwaukee 4-3.
- #5, 52-30, Philadelphia 76ers, East #3 seed, beat Miami 4-1.
- #6, 50-32, Cleveland Cavaliers, East #4 seed, beat Indiana 4-3.
- #7, 49-33, Portland Trail Blazers, West #3 seed, swept by New Orleans 4-0.
- #8-11 tie, 48-34, Indiana Pacers, East #5 seed, lost to Cleveland 4-3.
- #8-11 tie, 48-34, Oklahoma City Thunder, West #4 seed, lost to Utah 4-2.
- #8-11 tie, 48-34, Utah Jazz, West #5 seed, beat Oklahoma City 4-2.
- #8-11 tie, 48-34, New Orleans Pelicans, West #6 seed, swept New Orleans 4-0.
- #12-13 tie, 47-35, San Antonio Spurs, West #7 seed, lost to Golden State 4-1.
- #12-13 tie, 47-35, Minnesota Timberwolves, West #8 seed, lost to Houston, 4-1.
- #14, 46-36, Denver Nuggets, West first team out
- #15-16 tie, 44-38, Miami Heat, East #6 seed, lost to Philadelphia 4-1.
- #15-16 tie, 44-38, Milwaukee Bucks, East #7 seed, lost to Boston 4-3.
- #17, 43-39, Washington Wizards, East #8 seed, lost to Toronto 4-2.
- #18, 42-40, LA Clippers, West second team out
The other 12 teams were sub .500.
In the history of the NBA there have only been four #8 over #1 upsets. Three of the four #8 seeds to upset a #1 lost in the next round. The only exception is the 1999 Knicks who went to the finals but that was in a strike-shortened year.
This year:
- Both #1 seeds won their opening round, 4-1 and 4-2.
- Both #2 seeds won their opening round, 4-1 and 4-3.
- One #3 seed won, 4-1. The other got swept but they were only one game better than their #6 seed opponent due to a logjam of seven Western Conference teams all finishing within three games of each other at 49-33, 48-34, 47-35, and 46-36.
- One #4 seed won, 4-3. The other got swept by a team they were tied with in the standings.
Bottom line, the top six teams in the NBA all advanced to the second round while the other two teams to advance were both 48-34 so only two games down on #6. If you missed the entire NBA regular season and first round of the playoffs, as usual, you barely missed anything. Now that we have reached the Conference Semi-Finals it has finally gotten interesting at least in the East:
- West #1 Houston (65-17) and West #6 New Orleans (48-34) were separated by 17 tames.
- West #2 Golden State (58-24) and West #6 New Orleans (48-34) were separated by 10 games.
- East #1 Toronto (59-23) and East #4 Cleveland (50-32) were separated by nine games.
- East #2 Boston (55-27) and East #3 Philadelphia (52-30) were separated by three games.
There still isn't much drama in the West where Houston and Golden State are pretty much prohibitive favorites but in the East things are more interesting. Toronto finished nine games ahead of Cleveland in the regular season but the Cavaliers have defeated the Raptors in the playoffs in each of the past three seasons so there is hope in Cleveland and question as to whether the Raptors can pull it off elsewhere. The Boston/Philly series seems pretty evenly matched with Boston a favorite but not by ridiculous odds.
