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Only once in the history of the NBA playoffs had a No. 7 seed reached the conference finals. The same could be said for a No. 8 advancing all the way to the sport’s biggest stage, the NBA Finals.
This postseason has already seen the former happen (the No. 7 Lakers), and entering Sunday night, it was two wins away (the No. 8 Heat) from the latter occurring.
It speaks to the parity of a sport often criticized for being too top-heavy, the rare instance April and May are full of unpredictable results. But it also creates a problem for the league that isn’t going away: The NBA’s regular season has never mattered less.
Between load management and the lack of defense that is played, it is clear that games from October to April aren’t held in high regard or mean anything come springtime.
If the Heat continue their winning ways against the Celtics, they will join the 1998-99 Knicks as the only No. 8 seeds to reach the NBA Finals, and that Knicks run can at least be partially attributed to the lockout-shortened season that year. The Lakers, facing a sweep at the hands of the top-seeded Nuggets, are the second No. 7 seed to ever reach the conference finals, along with the 1986-87 SuperSonics.
The Lakers and Heat were both incredibly average during the regular season. The Lakers were 16th in NET rating, outscoring the opposition by 0.7 points per 100 possessions. The Heat, at minus-0.5, were 21st. They were both in the bottom third of the league in defensive rating and had losing records on the road. This was partly done by design. Heat star Jimmy Butler missed 18 games. Key reserve Kyle Lowry appeared in only 55 contests.
