But occasionally, that will be a team that comes out of nowhere and put together a cupid of upsets to make a Cinderella run.
With that in mind, I have come up with the 10 greatest Cinderella runs in NBA playoff history, in my humble opinion:
10. 1989 Chicago Bulls
Two years before they begin their run of six titles in eight years, the Chicago Bulls made an unlikely run to the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Bulls finished the regular season with a 47-35 record which earned them the #6 seed in the Eastern Conference and a first-round match-up with the Cleveland Cavaliers, a team the Bulls had lost to six times during the 1989 season.
However, the Bulls forced the best-of-five series to go the full distance where Michael Jordan made "The Shot", a 18-foot jumper at the buzzer that gave the Bulls a 101-100 win and the series win.
After eliminating the New York Knicks in six games in the second round, the Bulls faced the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals and took a 2-1 series lead with Jordan hitting another game-winning jumper in the final seconds of Game 3.
But the Pistons came back to win the next three games to end the Bulls' incredible run.
9. 1994 Indiana Pacers
Going into the 1994 season, the Indiana Pacers were considered one of the league's premier franchises as they had only two winning seasons and never won a playoff seasons since they joined the NBA back in 1976 after being the top dog in the ABA where they won three league championships.
That all changed with their run in the 1994 playoffs as the Pacers put together their best postseason run since their days in the ABA.
The Pacers entered the playoffs with a 47-35 record and were the #5 seed as they faced off with the Orlando Magic and Shaquille O' Neal in their best-of-five first round series.
Indiana swept the Magic in three games to earn their first postseason series victory since joining the NBA and advance to the second round where they faced with the #1 seed Atlanta Hawks.
The Pacers knocked off the Hawks in six games to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals where they faced the New York Knicks, who were excepted to care of Indiana rather easily after finally defeating the Chicago Bulls in the playoffs.
It looked like it was going to be a short series as the Knicks won the first two games rather easily before the Pacers came back with wins in Games 3 & 4 in Indiana as the series shifted back to Madison Square Garden for Game 5 where Reggie Miller scored 25 points in the 4th quarter to give the Pacers a 3-2 series lead and a chance to earn their first trip to the NBA Finals with a win in Game 6 back in Indiana.
However, the Knicks would win Game 6, then hold off Indiana 94-90 in Game 7 to earn New York its first trip to the NBA Finals since 1973.
 |
| Reggie Miller shot 42% from behind the 3-point line during the Pacers' run in the 1994 playoffs. |
The 2020 NBA Playoffs were perhaps the most unique playoffs in NBA history as all of the games took place in arenas at Disney World with no fans because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Heat entered the playoffs as the #5 seed in the Eastern Conference with a 44-29 record as most experts believed the best Miami would do was get past the first round.
The Heat did get past the first round as they swept the #4 seed Indiana Pacers, then stunned the #1 seeded Milwaukee Bucks, who had finished with the best record in the league and had MVP Giannis Antekounompo, by knocking off the Bucks in five games to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they eliminated the Boston Celtics in six games to earn the franchise their sixth trip to the NBA Finals and first since 2014.
However, the Heat's run would come to an end at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers, who defeated the Heat in six games to win LA its 17th NBA championship.
 |
| Heat forward Jimmy Butler averaged 22.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 6 assists per game during the Heat's unlikely run to the 2020 NBA Finals. |
7. 1976 Phoenix Suns
Midway through the 1976 season, the Phoenix Suns did not look like a team that would be contending for the NBA title as they stood with a 18-27 record.
But lead by Paul Westphal and rookie of the year Alvan Adams, the Suns went 24-13 over the last 37 games of the season to finish with a 42-40 record and their second ever playoff berth.
Despite finishing just a game over .500, the Suns earned the #3 seed, which meant they did not have to play the best-of-three series and earned them a bye to the Western Conference Semifinals where they faced the 43-39 Seattle Supersonics.
The Suns eliminated the Sonics in six games to earn a trip to the Western Conference Finals, where they were heavy underdogs against the Golden State Warriors, the defending NBA champions and the team with the best record in 1976 with a 59-23 record.
With a double overtime win in Game 4 and Adams' game-winning basket in the final seconds of Game 6, the Suns forced a Game 7 back in Oakland.
There, the Suns defeated the Warriors 94-86 to earn Phoenix its first trip to the NBA Finals.
Just like the Western Finals, the Suns entered the NBA Finals as heavy underdogs as they faced the Boston Celtics, who had won the 1974 championship.
It looked like it was going to be a short series as the Celtics won the first two games at the Boston Garden only to see the Suns win the next two games at home, forcing a Game 5 back at the Boston Garden.
That is when the greatest game in NBA history happened as the Suns and the Celtics fought though three overtimes which saw the Celtics win 128-126 despite Gar Heard's buzzer beater at the end of the second overtime that became known as the "Shot Heard Round the World".
The Suns would lose Game 6 to lose the series but not before having giving the Phoenix fans an incredible season which earned the 1976 team the nickname the "Sunderellas".
6. 1981 Houston Rockets
The Houston Rockets were considered to be a mere afterthought as they entered the 1981 playoffs with a 40-42 record tied for the worst record among the 12 playoff teams, even though Houston had Moses Malone, the league's second leading scorer, 27.8 points per game and the league's leading rebounder with 14.8 boards per game.
The Rockets drew the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers, who had gone 54-28 during the regular season and had Magic Johnson back from injury(He missed 35 games during the regular season).
But the Rockets shocked the Lakers in the best-of-three series, winning Game 3 in Los Angeles to advance to the next round where they faced their in-state rivals, the San Antonio Spurs who were led by the "Iceman" George Gervin.
The Rockets knocked off the Spurs in seven games, as they won three of the four games played in San Antonio, to advance to the Western Conference Finals where they faced with the Kansas City(now Sacramento) Kings who had also finished the regular season with a 40-42 record.
The Rockets deposed of the Kings in five games to become only the second team in NBA history to make all the way to the NBA Finals with a losing record(the first was the 1959 Lakers who went 33-39 that season).
Houston faced Larry Bird and the 62-20 Boston Celtics in a hard-fought series where the Rockets actually got a win in the Boston Garden and held Bird to less than 10 points in three straight games, before ultimately losing the series to the Celtics in six games.
 |
| Moses Malone averaged 26.8 points and 14.5 rebounds per game during the Rockets' Cinderella run to the 1981 Finals. |
5. 1977 Portland Trail Blazers
The Blazers made their first playoff appearance a historic one as they won their first and only NBA championship.
Finishing with a 49-33 record, the Blazers finished 3rd in the Western Conference and had to play best-of-three series against the 44-38 Chicago Bulls.
The Blazers defeated the Bulls in three games, then knocked off the #2 seed Denver Nuggets in six games to advance the Western Conference Finals, where they faced the Los Angeles Lakers, the team with the best record in the NBA(53-29) and MVP Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
But the Blazers shockingly swept the Lakers to earn a trip to the NBA Finals, where they meet the Philadelphia 76ers, led by Julius Erving.
It looked like the Blazers's magical run was going to end without a title as Portland lost the first two games in Philadelphia, but the Blazers come roaring back by winning the next two games in Portland by a combined 54 points to even the series 2-2.
Then after winning Game 5 in Philadelphia, the Blazers clinched the NBA title in Game 6 behind Bill Walton's 20 points, 23 rebounds, 7 assists, and 8 blocks to defeat the 76ers 109-107, culminating "Blazermanina".
Towards the end of February 1978, the Washington Bullets were in danger of missing the playoffs as they stood with a 29-28 record.
However, the Bullets would go 15-10 over the last 25 games of the regular season to finish 44-38 and earn the #3 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Washington had to play a best-of-three series against the #6 seed Atlanta Hawks which the Bullets won in two games to advance the second round where the faced the #2 seed, the 52-30 San Antonio Spurs(yes, the Spurs were in the Eastern Conference in 1977).
The Bullets eliminated the Spurs in six games to earn a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals where they faced with Julius Erving and the defending Eastern Conference Champion Philadelphia 76ers, who had finished the season with a 55-27 record, second best in the NBA.
But the Bullets pulled off their second straight upset as they knocked off the Sixers in six games to advance to their third NBA Finals in eight years.
The Bullets faced the Seattle Supersonics in the Finals were both teams alternated wins with the Sonics winning the odd-numbered games(1,3,5) and the Bullets the even-numbered ones(2,4,6) as the series went to a Game 7 which was played in Seattle.
Despite not having the home court advantage and playing with shooting guard Kevin Grevey who was did not play because of a sprained wrist, the Bullets defeated the Sonics 105-99 to win their first and so far only NBA championship.
 |
| Elvin Hayes averaged 21.8 points, 13.3 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks per game during the Bullets' 1978 championship run. |
It's hard to think of the 1960s Celtics as a "Cinderella" team but that's exactly what they were heading into the 1969 playoffs.
Boston qualified as the 4th and final team in the Eastern Conference with a 48-34 record and were not excepted to get out of the tougher Eastern Conference with the three teams ahead of the Celtics are 50-game winners during the regular season.
However, the Celtics were able to defeat the 55-27 Philadelphia 76ers in five games, winning all three games in Philadelphia, then knocking off the 54-28 New York Knicks in six games in the Eastern Conference Finals to earn their 12th trip to the NBA Finals, where they would face off with the Los Angeles Lakers, a team Boston had defeated six times in the Finals.
But things were supposed to be different this time as the Lakers had acquired Wilt Chamberlain to go alongside Jerry West and Elgin Baylor as LA were heavy favorites against the Celtics.
It did look like the Lakers were finally going to break the Celtics jinx as they won the first two games of the series only to see Boston come back to win three of the next four games to force a Game 7 in Los Angeles.
Despite it being Game 7, the Lakers were still super confident that they would win the championship as balloons were suspended on the rafters of the Great Western Forum and flyers were placed in all of the seats detailing how the Lakers' celebration would go "when, not if, they would win the title".
Boston center and head coach Bill Russell got word of this and told West in pregame warmups "those f------ balloons are staying up there".
Russell's promise was kept as the Celtics were able to win the game 108-106, for the team's 11th title in 13 years in what turned out to be Russell's final game in the NBA.
2. 1999 New York Knicks
The New York Knicks made history with their Cinderella run in the 1999 Playoffs.
The Knicks finished the regular season with a 27-23 record(the 1999 NBA season was only 50 games because of a six-month lockout) and drew the Miami Heat in the first round.
The series wasn't decided until the final seconds of Game 5 when Allen Houston hit the game-winning jumper with 8 tenths of a second to give New York a 78-77 win and a trip to the second round where the Knicks swept the Atlanta Hawks.
In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Knicks faced the Indiana Pacers where their chances of advancing to the NBA Finals were put in jeopardy when center Patrick Ewing was lost for the rest of the playoffs after Game 2 with a partially torn Achilles tendon.
However, the Knicks would win Game 3, thanks to Larry Johnson's four-point play in the final seconds and then would win Games 5 & 6 to become the first #8 seed in NBA history to make it all the way to the NBA Finals.
The Knicks' magical run would not end with a NBA championship as they were defeated by the San Antonio Spurs in five games.
1. 1995 Houston Rockets
After winning the 1994 NBA title, the Houston Rockets had a roller coaster season in 1995 as they started the season 9-0 but went 17-18 after the All-Star break to finish the regular season with a 47-35 record and the #6 seed in the Western Conference.
Even though the team had acquired Clyde Drexler from Portland to pair up with his former "Phi Slama Jama" teammate Hakeem Olajuwon, the Rockets were not excepted to repeat as NBA champions.
In the first round, the Rockets faced the 60-22 Utah Jazz and fell behind in the best-of-five series 2-1, only to come back and win the last two games, including Game 5 in Salt Lake City by the score of 95-91, to advance to the second round where they would face off with 59-23 Phoenix Suns.
Again, the Rockets were on the brink of elimination as they trailed in the series 3-1 with Game 5 being played in Phoenix.
The Rockets avoided elimination by winning Game 5 in overtime to send the series back to Houston for Game 6 which the Rockets won, forcing a Game 7 in Phoenix where Mario Elie hit his famous "Kiss of Death" shot, a game-winning three-pointer with 7.1 seconds left to give Houston a 115-114 win and becoming the fifth team in NBA history to win a playoff series after being down 3 games to 1.
Houston then faced the San Antonio Spurs, the team with the league's best a 62-20 and MVP David Robinson in the Western Conference Finals.
Olajuwon dominated Robinson and the Spurs as he averaged 35.3 points, 12.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 4.2 blocks over Houston's six-game series win to earn the Rockets a second straight trip to the NBA Finals.
In the Finals, the Rockets meet the Orlando Magic, lead by center Shaquille O'Neal and guard Penny Hardaway, who were being considered by most NBA experts as the next great dynasty.
But the Rockets made quick work of the Magic as they swept the Magic to earn their second straight NBA title and becoming the lowest seed since the NBA expanded to 16 teams in 1984, to win the NBA championship.
No comments:
Post a Comment