Here’s a rarity: All five teams from one division will go to the NBA Playoffs.
And they achieved it in a year in which the division champ almost didn’t get there.
All five teams from the Pacific Division — Sacramento, Phoenix, Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State and Los Angeles Lakers — have made the playoffs starting Saturday.
But Miami, the Southeast Division champion, almost missed out. The Heat got there Friday night by shutting out a 15-1 run to beat Chicago 102-91 in the final game in the Eastern Conference.
Had the Heat lost, it would have been the first time in NBA history that neither of the winners went to the playoffs.
On the other end of the spectrum, the entire division has only been accomplished two more times since the NBA went to a six-division, five-team-in-each format starting in the 2004-05 season.
The Central Division did it in 2006, and the Southwest Division pulled it off in 2015. The Northwest Division almost made it in 2018 when Denver missed the playoffs by a game. And the Atlantic Division had the opportunity to send all of its teams this year if Toronto were eliminated from the tournament.
Play to play
Championship Play provided a path for Miami, Minnesota, Los Angeles Lakers, and Atlanta to make the playoffs.
And now, they will try to switch from playing to continuing to play.
No team has managed that yet.
Granted, there have only been three previous editions of tournament play, but no team has made it out of the extra round between the regular season and the playoffs and earned an actual postseason series win.
In 2020, Portland (who beat Memphis in one game round inside the reboot bubble) lost 4-1 to the top seed Lakers.
In 2021, the Lakers (4-2 to Phoenix), Memphis (4-1 to Utah), Boston (4-1 to Brooklyn) and Washington (4-1 to Philadelphia) are eliminated in the first round.
And last year, Minnesota (4-2 to Memphis), New Orleans (4-2 to Phoenix), Atlanta (4-1 to Miami) and Brooklyn (4-0 to Boston) lost their opening series after qualifying through play. -in.
2 to 1
Golden State did something extraordinary last season. She finished second in the Pacific Division – and first in the NBA.
This is a dangerous departure from the norm.
From 2012 through 2021, every team that participates in the NBA Finals has done so after winning a division championship. The 2011 Dallas Mavericks were the most recent team to not win their division but to make it to the Finals. They won the title that season.
The Warriors did it last season, also winning the title.
League champions this season: Boston, Milwaukee, Miami, Denver, Sacramento and Memphis. History suggests that two of those six teams will be the wise choice of those who predict who will make it to the finals.
comeback season
The playoffs for a group of teams may not have been likely at the start of the season.
Philadelphia started 0-3, Sacramento was 0-4, Brooklyn was 1-5, Golden State was 3-7, Los Angeles Clippers were 2-4, Minnesota was 5-8, Miami was 7-11 – and L.A. The Lakers were 2-10, a poor start that few teams have been able to overcome.
The Lakers are only the 15th team in NBA history to start 0-5 and make the postseason. And only four teams are worse than 2-10 after 12 games and still go up. The New Orleans Pelicans started last season 1-11 and got there, as did the 1967-68 Chicago Bulls and 1984-1985 Cleveland Cavaliers.
But the undisputed kings of poor starts and playoffs anyway are the 1996-97 Phoenix Suns. They started 0-13, finished 40-42, took a 2-1 lead over top seed Seattle in the best-of-five opening round, and then fell in five games.
victories
Golden State teammates Klay Thompson and Draymond Green both appeared in 102 playoff victories.
This is tied for the top 25 of all time, and they could continue to climb the charts this spring.
They are currently two wins behind Danny Green. Three behind Dwyane Wade and Dennis Johnson. five behind Bill Russell, Robert Parish, and fellow Warriors teammate Andre Iguodala; and six behind No. 18 John Havlicek.
If the Warriors win another title and Thompson and Green appear on all 16 wins, they will each have 118 victories—one point less than Michael Jordan.
The Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James enters this playoff as the postseason career scoring leader, with 174. Phoenix’s Kevin Durant needs five players to reach 100, while Warriors guard Stephen Curry needs 93.
On the road
Going “on the road” in these qualifiers will be a relative term in some cases.
By driving distance, some are very close. Only 85 miles or so separate the arenas used by Golden State and Sacramento, and it’s about 100 miles between the arenas in Philadelphia and Brooklyn.
Phoenix and Los Angeles Clippers play 375 miles apart, while New York and Cleveland are 450 miles apart, which is no more than an hour by air. The rest of the games are a bit longer – it’s 850 or so miles between Minnesota and Denver, 1,100 between Boston and Atlanta, about 1,500 between Miami and Milwaukee and just over 1,800 between Memphis and the Los Angeles Lakers.
The waiting time is over
Sacramento’s last playoff game was on May 5, 2006. That was before 12 Kings coaches.
Look at some other numbers:
– The Kings played 1358 games in that period.
They used 184 different players.
They scored 142,294 points, with DeMarcus Cousins having the most in that period with 9,894 points.
– They went from 515 to 843.
– There will be 1,384 league playoff games between the last playoff game in Sacramento and by the time the Kings and Golden State report in Game 1 on Saturday. All of the other 29 teams had at least 11 playoff games in that span; Boston has the most with 201, and the Celtics and Miami have 108 Premier League wins each over that stretch.
inside the stands
If 16 playoff teams had their own league this season, counting only games against each other, the Boston Celtics would feel pretty confident now.
The Celtics have the best record against their playoff teammates this season, going 27-15. This one just beat Denver, who went 26-15 against playoff-bound teams during the regular season.
Boston’s average point differential against playoff-bound teams per game is also better than any other club in the postseason. The Celtics outscored playoff teams, on average, by 5.6 points per game.
Rest of the playoff playoff records against each other during the regular season: Milwaukee 26-16, Philadelphia 26-16, Minnesota 22-20, Memphis 21-20, New York 22-21, Miami 21-21, Phoenix 21-23, Sacramento 19-24, Golden State 19-24, Cleveland 18-23, Los Angeles Clippers 18-24, Brooklyn 18-24, Los Angeles Lakers 17-25, and Atlanta 16-26.
Road warriors threads
Golden State has won a road game in 27 consecutive playoff series, which is an NBA record and obviously a major reason why the Warriors have captured four of their last eight championships.
They will need to revive this magic of the road.
The Warriors — who don’t have a first-round home advantage against Sacramento, so they’ll need at least one win on the road to have a chance in this series — went 3-19 against away playoff teams this season.
The last time any playoff team was bad on the road during the regular season against the final playoff qualifier was 2004. Denver was 2-20 entering those playoffs in road games against fellow clubs that season, and Miami was 3-19.
Billiard
The total for the NBA’s postseason playoffs is up nearly $10 million from last year. This year, the 16 playoff teams will split $26,969,000.
Each team is guaranteed a minimum of $402,493 to make the playoffs. Payouts increase exponentially as teams progress, and the teams with the six best records in each conference get more money as well.
Milwaukee has already snatched $1,860,950 from the pool — $777,777 for the best record in the NBA and another $680,680 for the best record in the Eastern Conference. If the Bucks win the title, their pool share will rise to $7,907,335.
Last year’s total was $17,317,334.
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA And https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Join the conversation