With these championship victories, Jackson surpassed Red Auerbach's record for most NBA titles of all time. Their great team-play and ball movement wasn’t enough to beat the powerhouse Lakers, but it was a great series nonetheless. This was the second of … Although the Lakers lost the first game by 34 points in the Memorial Day Massacre, they won 4 of the next 5 games, including Game 6 at the Boston Garden. The 1979 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship Game featured Magic Johnson's Michigan State University team facing off against Larry Bird's Indiana State University team. The Celtics quickly managed to secure their 13th championship, defeating the Suns 87–80 in Game 6. O'Neal won the finals MVP all three times. In the waning moments of Game 3, with the series tied, Jerry West hit a basket from 60 feet to tie the game, a shot which became one of the most famous ever. Wade was awarded the Finals MVP award. In the 1999 Playoffs, the Eastern Conference 8th seed, the New York Knicks, beat Miami (1 seed), Atlanta (4), and Indiana (2), to reach the NBA Finals where they lost to San Antonio. In the last 13 years a 5 seed hasn't even made it to the Conference Finals. 5 seeds out West have been decisively lopsided the last 10 years, with the No. [13] The Cavaliers traded away Kyrie Irving in the 2017 off-season and continued to change their roster throughout the season, while the Warriors largely remained intact. After the most unpredictable regular season in NBA history, the much more predictable Los Angeles Lakers came out on top. Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress. He played a key part in returning the NBA title to LA, the first time since 2010 and received his first ring as well. View entire discussion ( 38 comments) More posts from the nba … However, the Detroit Pistons, under coach Larry Brown, defeated the Lakers in 5 games. The game is considered one of the greatest playoff games in NBA history. Record: 47-35. Grade: Definitive proof the 2017 Warriors are the Greatest Team of All Time", "Raptors top Warriors for 1st title in team history", "The Finals are set: LeBron, Lakers will meet Butler, Heat", "LeBron James makes history, wins Finals MVP with 3 different franchises", "NBA : Golden State Warriors Finals appearances", "NBA.com: Líderes en la historia de las Finales (Estadísticas)", "NBA Career Finals Leaders and Records for Points", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=NBA_Finals&oldid=1010700422, Recurring sporting events established in 1947, Annual sporting events in the United States, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from December 2016, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Lost 4–2 in their last Finals appearance in 1993. Billed[by whom?] The Rockets made the Finals in 1981 and 1995, even winning in 1995, as No. Anthony Davis. The Lakers have defeated nine different NBA franchises in the NBA Finals and lost to five, both records. #3 New York 1968 #2 Boston def. They choked a 3-1 lead against the Nuggets and went home early. The Western Conference champion San Antonio Spurs took on the Eastern Conference champion New York Knicks for the title, with the Spurs holding home court advantage. The Eastern and Western conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The Lakers lost Game 5, but eventually won Game 6 to clinch the series, and a 2–1 win against the Celtics. Lost 2–4 in their last Finals appearance in 2020. The 2019-20 NBA season was suspended in March 2020 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and resumed on a shortened schedule in July 2020 inside the NBA's isolated "bubble" set-up at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida. How Many Times Has There Been a Sweep in the NBA Finals? The 1999 Knicks made it to the finals as a #8 seed, but they lost to the Spurs. 1 seed since the NBA expanded to a 16-team playoff format in … The Lakers took a 3–2 lead, but Kareem Abdul-Jabbar could not play in Game 6 due to injury. Includes a record of 9–11 while in Syracuse, and 15–18 while in Philadelphia. They’re the only No. In 1968, Boston overcame a 3–1 deficit against Philadelphia to once again arrive in the Finals. 5 seed stealing home-court advantage and ultimately winning the series nine times. They finished with a 35-39 record before being drawn into the play-in game against the Memphis Grizzlies. Lost 4–2 in their last Finals appearance in 2000. They were 2nd in passes made per game, 3rd in assists per game, 2nd in assist points created, only ranking behind the Nets who were swept in the First Round and the Lakers for the assists. The Bobcats became the second incarnation of the Charlotte Hornets, and retained the history and records of the Hornets organization from 1988 to 2002. Posted by Ben Sokolik | Oct 16, 2020 | NBA. [10] The Heat won Game 7, 95–88, to clinch the title. No. In the last 13 years a 4 seed has made it to the conference finals only 5 times. After finishing as #1 and #2 seeds, the Los Angeles teams, Lakers, and the Clippers were supposed to meet in the Conference Finals. They also attained a three-peat in Minneapolis from 1952 to 1954, and another in Los Angeles from 2000 to 2002. Kawhi Leonard was named Finals MVP, becoming the third-youngest Finals MVP after Duncan and Magic Johnson. In the following two seasons, the aging Celtics failed to reach the Finals, becoming overshadowed by the rise of the Detroit Pistons. NBA Did an 8th Seed ever win the finals? The first and only team based outside the United States to win an NBA title or reach the NBA Finals. Five of their appearances and both titles occurred against the Lakers. Lakers Playoff History Playoff Appearances 61 454-301 (.601) Includes a record of 9–9 while in Seattle, and 1–4 while in Oklahoma City. The Bulls won Game 4, 111–105, with Jordan scoring 55 points and tying Rick Barry for the second-most points in an NBA Finals game. After finishing 67–15 (the first team to win 67+ games in three straight seasons), they returned to the Finals with a 12–0 sweep of the West, the first team to do so since 2001. The Milwaukee Bucks emerged from Wednesday's lopsided loss to the Philadelphia 76ers with the No. In 2014, the original Hornets were renamed the Pelicans and obtained the records during their time in New Orleans and Oklahoma City from 2002 to 2013. #4 Seattle 1994 #2 Houston def. The majority of the 1990s was marked by the supremacy of the Chicago Bulls. Assuming you mean won the NBA championship, the answer would have to be No, no 8th seed has ever won the NBA championship. Two seasons after losing in the Finals, the Lakers won 33 straight games, the longest such streak in NBA history. Jimmy Butler stood toe-to-toe with LeBron James and bested him. Before everyone mentions the 1999 NY Knicks, it was a shorten season and albeit an outlier anyways. In 2007, Tony Parker was named MVP, becoming the first European-born player to win the award. They qualified for the playoffs as the fourth and final seed in the East, while the Lakers, who had added Chamberlain in the off-season to join stars Jerry West and Elgin Baylor, won the West and were prohibitive favorites to become champions for the first time since relocating to Los Angeles. Both losses in Detroit came in Game 7s. The series was played under a best-of-seven format, with the first team to collect four game victories winning the series. Only appearance in NBA Finals as the Rochester Royals. Although he did not lead the Bulls to the Finals for that season, he returned to pre-retirement form the next season while the team acquired perennial rebounding champion Dennis Rodman. But the eight seed Knicks made the NBA Finals in 1999 but lost to the Spurs in 5 games. All games played during the Finals have been against the Heat, and won 4–2 in their last Finals appearance in 2011. After this win, Jordan retired from basketball to pursue a career in baseball. Looking for a three-peat, the Heat reached the 2014 NBA Finals and faced the Spurs in a rematch of the 2013 Finals. James was named Finals MVP for the second straight year. The team from South Beach has a plethora of young talent like Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, Bam Adebayo, and Kendrick Nunn. 2–1 in Philadelphia and 4–4 in California. From 2000 to 2002, the Lakers, led by Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, won three straight NBA Championships. They lost both of their Finals appearances, winning just one game between the two series. End Result: 94-90 loss in Game 7 to the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals. In the 2016 off-season, the Warriors acquired Kevin Durant through free agency. Both losses in Detroit came in Game 7s. The Lakers managed to defend their title in the 1988 Finals, winning the series in 7 games against the Pistons. Upon losing their past three NBA Finals appearances, the 76ers decided that they needed one more piece to become champions, and enlisted Malone as their premier target. Previously, no two teams had appeared in more than two consecutive finals. Olajuwon dominated the series, and the Rockets swept the Magic in convincing fashion. Football Team vs. Bucs: Why the Football Team Will Upse... Ep. Led by future Hall of Famer George Mikan, the Lakers would win the third and final BAA championship in 1949 over the Red Auerbach coached Washington Capitals. The 1995 Rockets were the lowest see ever to win the NBA Finals. Since the first seed begins the playoffs playing against the eighth seed, the second seed plays the seventh seed, the third seed plays the sixth seed, and the fourth seed plays the fifth seed, having a higher seed means a team faces a weaker team in the first round. No other team in NBA History has done that. This team hosts the first two games and the other team hosts the next two games. The Lakers met the Celtics once again in 2010, trailing 3–2 before winning the last two at home, marking the first time in the history of the Celtics that they lost a Game 7 in the NBA Finals. Game 2 went into overtime, with the Trail Blazers outscoring the Bulls 18–7 in the final period to win the game, even with Drexler fouling out in the 4th quarter. final 3 hundred and sixty 5 days in basic terms like the Suns got here back to triumph over the Lakers, the comparable will ensue. Won 4–2 in their last Finals appearance in 1998. The 1995–96 Bulls finished the regular season 72–10, attaining, at the time, the best regular season record in NBA history. The Suns won Game 5, 108–98, sending the series back to Phoenix.