This year’s NBA Conference semifinals will truly be unlike any other in league history.
It was indeed a historic spring for the NBA, as all four California teams qualified for the playoffs for the first time ever, and the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat made history with first-round series wins over the Memphis Grizzlies and Milwaukee Bucks, respectively. The Heat became only the sixth #8 seed to knock out the #1 seed since the postseason field expanded to 16 teams in 1984 and the first since the Philadelphia 76ers did so with the Chicago Bulls in 2012.
Miami clinched a 1-0 series lead over the fifth-seeded New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals with a road win on Sunday.
The top-seeded Denver Nuggets took on the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs and pulled off a Game 1 victory over the fourth-seeded Phoenix Suns on Saturday. The Suns earned a spot among the bottom eight teams after losing their first postseason game against the Los Angeles Clippers before going on to win four straight teams.
The second-seeded Boston Celtics were pushed into six games in the first round against the Atlanta Hawks, but advanced to the Eastern Conference Semifinals for the sixth time in the past seven years. They’ll start a best-of-seven series at home against the third-seeded Philadelphia 76ers (who swept the Brooklyn Nets in the first round) on Monday night, as the Sixers prepare to be without finalist Joel Embiid in MVP.
The sixth-seeded Golden State Warriors kept their dynasty alive for at least one more round thanks to a slick Game 7 performance by Stephen Curry on the road Sunday against the Sacramento Kings. Golden State and Los Angeles play Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinal series on Tuesday night.