NBA: Biggest Playoff Upsets

[TheGreatYacht]

95' rockets were just the better team than the Magic led by a junior Shaq. 07' Mavs got stung by the warriors, which was insitunated by our record vs. the warriors in the 06-07 regular season, unpredictable but reasonable imho.

Same happened to the Spurs in 2011. We had a terrible record against Memphis so I wasn't too surprised when Memphis pulled the upset. I believe the Spurs got their asses kicked by Memphis twice during the last month of the regular season.

[Killakobe81]

Shaq and Kobe worked earlier. Payton vs. Phil wasn't too big of an issue. Kobe vs. Colorado was self-inflicted.

Nobody expected the Lakers to loose in that series.

And no, the Spurs should not have beaten the Lakers, they were a very flawed team that has huge trouble scoring. They were missing Jackson/05 Manu, and the simple act of packing the paint flummoxed them.

If it wasn't for 0.4, the Lakers would have still won Game 6 and 7.

SO MUCH WRONG, but I don't blame you ,you were not in L.A. but Phil and Gary had beef. GP hated the triangle. Payton threw a huge tantrum after you guys went off, the first two playoff games, Parker in particular , because he felt Shaq would not defend pnr properly but the Glove got the blame. You don't know much about that because the media focused on Shaqobe. It does not matter if it was self inflicted I knew we weren't winning a le the moment charges were filed. It was cemented when Kobe snitched and Shaq gave his preseason pressor and said he was there for his guys but named everyone else on the team and omitted Kobe. Making the Finals with all the dysfunction was the upset, not losing to the Pistons.

[lefty]

- 2002 Lakers vs Kings

Nobody has reacted to that

So I guess we are all in agreement

[Killakobe81]

Nobody has reacted to that

So I guess we are all in agreement

All I remember is ...

Horry ... For the win ...yes!!!

[lefty]

All I remember is ...

Horry ... For the win ...yes!!!

Horry
Spurs GOAT

[Killakobe81]

Horry
Spurs GOAT

Not for nothing Horry is a Goat role player. He hit big shots for every team he won a ring on. If they had q specialist spot in HOF he would be deserving. His hip check of Nash was just as clutch tbh.

[StrengthAndHonor]

If you're up 3 - 1 you're supposed to win the series, it was an upset from games 5 - 7. Lakers had it, they were going to beat the Suns as a 7 seed and go up against the Clippers in the 2nd round, it was sealed. Up 3 points and 6 seconds to go, the confetti was ready to go and then Tim Thomas happened. They choked on their home floor. That was the original 6



How quickly we forget... The same scenario as the 2013 Finals, Lakers fail to rebound Nash miss and Thomas gets a wide open 3...

Suns owned the Lakers at the height of Nash's career. Not an upset. The fact the Lakers completely turned the tables around in 2006 shows the brilliance of PJ tbh. In the regular season Kobe carried them to the playoffs, in the playoffs Jackson transformed Odom and Brown into NBA players.

[AchillesHeel]

Suns owned the Lakers at the height of Nash's career. Not an upset. The fact the Lakers completely turned the tables around in 2006 shows the brilliance of PJ tbh. In the regular season Kobe carried them to the playoffs, in the playoffs Jackson transformed Odom and Brown into NBA players.

And yet Odom and Brown screwed up on that play that turned the series back in Suns favor. Odom rebounds or Kwamay doesn't fall for the fake, they most likely win the series.

I don't care who you have on your team, if you manage to win 3 out of 4 games in a series, you're expected to win at least 1 game out of the final 3. They ed up. Kirby quit.

[mercos]

2004 Finals takes this easily. The other four upsets were not that surprising. Everyone knew Dallas would have trouble with Golden State. The Warriors won 3 out of 4 regular games against the Mavs, and despite all the talk about how the playoffs are different, they are still playing basketball. The 2011 Spurs-Grizzlies series was not surprising at all due to Manu's injury. Not even sure Rockets over Magic was an upset. The 1999 Heat-Knicks series involved some key suspensions IIRC that helped the Knicks win.

The 2004 Finals were a huge upset. Nobody gave the Pistons a chance. , they were calling the Spurs-Lakers match up in the second round the true NBA Finals.

[AchillesHeel]

2004 Finals takes this easily. The other four upsets were not that surprising. Everyone knew Dallas would have trouble with Golden State. The Warriors won 3 out of 4 regular games against the Mavs, and despite all the talk about how the playoffs are different, they are still playing basketball. The 2011 Spurs-Grizzlies series was not surprising at all due to Manu's injury. Not even sure Rockets over Magic was an upset. The 1999 Heat-Knicks series involved some key suspensions IIRC that helped the Knicks win.

The 2004 Finals were a huge upset. Nobody gave the Pistons a chance. , they were calling the Spurs-Lakers match up in the second round the true NBA Finals.

This. Nobody was taking the Pistons over 4 HOFs (prime Shaq, early prime Kirby, aged Glove and Mailman) with Phil Jackson at the helm. Lakers beat the defending champs in Spurs and had a decent season despite Kirby's rape case and locker room drama, they were still an elite team with the best big man and the best wing player in the league. They had a defensive specialist in Payton and a solid big man next to Shaq in Karl Malone and they failed.

However, 2006 in my eyes still remains one of the bigger upsets, how can a prime Kobe Bryant with prime Lamar Odom with Phil Jackson at the helm not win the series being up 3 - 1? Amare was injured and Suns were not as good as their record indicated yet the Lakers managed to choke on their home floor with 6 seconds to go, a failed rebound by Lamar Odom turned into a wide open 3 for Tim Thomas after Kwame fell for the fake... I mean CMON why do people keep forgetting this?

[StrengthAndHonor]

And yet Odom and Brown screwed up on that play that turned the series back in Suns favor. Odom rebounds or Kwamay doesn't fall for the fake, they most likely win the series.

I don't care who you have on your team, if you manage to win 3 out of 4 games in a series, you're expected to win at least 1 game out of the final 3. They ed up. Kirby quit.

I don't understand the logic in this. Phoenix was the better team all season long, the Lakers applied a few tricks and it worked in a few games but eventually the Suns overwhelming talent caught up to them, a team with 3 All Stars and won 60+ games should be the favorite especially against a team that barely made the playoffs. I think your definition of "upset" is off in this scenario. `

[AchillesHeel]

I don't understand the logic in this. Phoenix was the better team all season long, the Lakers applied a few tricks and it worked in a few games but eventually the Suns overwhelming talent caught up to them, a team with 3 All Stars and won 60+ games should be the favorite especially against a team that barely made the playoffs. I think your definition of "upset" is off in this scenario. `

Who cares who was the better team in the regular season, you're up 3 - 1 and have 3 tries at closing the series, you have as Laker fans say "GOAT" in his prime, GOAT coach and a decent starter/all-star caliber player and the opposing team is missing it's 2nd best player, a top 10 NBA player at that time in Amare Stoudamire, Suns were not 100% and they had idiot MDA as their coach and their defense was horrible, Suns had a lot of fire power but were missing their leading scorer for all of the series and Lakers were clearly the better team in the first 4 games, they dominated. Then they choked on their home floor with a 3pt lead, they gave up an offensive rebound and fell for the pump fake and gave up and open 3 and choked in 2OT, how is that not an upset? They were 6 seconds away from winning the series, just like the Spurs were in the Finals.

Upset - to defeat an opponent that is favored, Lakers were favored to win the series after the 4 first games, there already were ads of Lakers vs Clippers round 2 after Kirby's game 4 heroics. Lakers chokedPERIOD and it was an upset.

It wasn't an upset in terms of Lakers being the better seed and were obviously going to win it, it was an upset within an upset that almost happened. You're up 3 - 1 in a 7 game series, you wanna tell me that team's still the underdog going into Game 5? or even up 3 - 2 with Game 6 on their home floor? This is PRIME KOBE BRYANT, scored 81 points on his own on a bad defensive team (Suns were even worse), averaged 35 points per game that very same season, Phil Jackson was there, Lamar Odom was there, the squad was by no means as good as a 2 seed but they matched up well with the Suns because Lakers had a high volume scorer and Suns played no defense, Phil Jackson is 100x the coach MDA ever will be, all those things together favored the Lakers to win 1 game out of the remaining 3 games in that series having already won 1 game on the road and 2 at home...

Lakers were favored in Game 6 and chokedPERIOD.

[StrengthAndHonor]

Youre putting too much emphasis on "Prime Kobe Bryant" when he wasn't even the biggest factor for the Lakers in that series. Odom, Smush Parker's production and, Kwame Brown putting up respectable numbers were the keys to beating Phoenix. The Suns demonstrated that Kobe dropping 40, 50 points on them has no effect whatsoever, so lets take that Prime Kobe Bryant talk out of the way. He wasn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things. The Lakers choked, big time, but that's not an upset. An Upset would be a 45 win team beating the 1st seed and the reigning MVP of the league. I'm just putting it out there because of all the teams in league history out there, you picked the worst series. 2004 Lakers would be a definition of upset. Shaq, Kobe, Payton, Phil thrown like a rag doll in 5 games by Chauncey Billups and a bunch of role players. Now to me, that's an upset. But we all have opinions.

[ambchang]

SO MUCH WRONG, but I don't blame you ,you were not in L.A. but Phil and Gary had beef. GP hated the triangle. Payton threw a huge tantrum after you guys went off, the first two playoff games, Parker in particular , because he felt Shaq would not defend pnr properly but the Glove got the blame. You don't know much about that because the media focused on Shaqobe. It does not matter if it was self inflicted I knew we weren't winning a le the moment charges were filed. It was cemented when Kobe snitched and Shaq gave his preseason pressor and said he was there for his guys but named everyone else on the team and omitted Kobe. Making the Finals with all the dysfunction was the upset, not losing to the Pistons.

I trust you on that, and there has been rumours about how the two wouldn't get along because of the system, but you have to understand, Payton wasn't all that important at that point. If all things fail, there's still Fisher. He may have been a corpse at that point, but he knew the system and accepted his role.

The Lakers were dysfunctional, and everybody knew it for the last 2 years or so, but they still won championships. And as you mentioned, they STILL made the finals by beating a historically good Spurs defense (and equally bad offense) in the very tough west, so they must be good at something.

And as I said, nobody expected the Pistons to win that series (except Pistons fan and you). Everybody wanted the Pistons to win, but no one expected them to.

[Killakobe81]

I trust you on that, and there has been rumours about how the two wouldn't get along because of the system, but you have to understand, Payton wasn't all that important at that point. If all things fail, there's still Fisher. He may have been a corpse at that point, but he knew the system and accepted his role.

The Lakers were dysfunctional, and everybody knew it for the last 2 years or so, but they still won championships. And as you mentioned, they STILL made the finals by beating a historically good Spurs defense (and equally bad offense) in the very tough west, so they must be good at something.

And as I said, nobody expected the Pistons to win that series (except Pistons fan and you). Everybody wanted the Pistons to win, but no one expected them to.

I can't defend what everyone else thought, so I can admit in some ways I lose this debate. But I just don't see the gap in talent or actual play that marks a typical great upset. But doesn't bother me if you guys do I hate that team call them chokers, underachievers, whatever. But make sure KFC also gets blame. And sure GP was past his prime and Phil did go to Fisher at times which pissed off GP even more. Bad coaching, bad chemistry just a ty team. Only reason they made it that far Malone played a point forward style to make offense flow better and Shaqobe was near their primes, but Shaqobe were the main reason they lost no disrespect to the Pistons who did not get enough credit. Great team.

[ambchang]

I can't defend what everyone else thought, so I can admit in some ways I lose this debate. But I just don't see the gap in talent or actual play that marks a typical great upset. But doesn't bother me if you guys do I hate that team call them chokers, underachievers, whatever. But make sure KFC also gets blame. And sure GP was past his prime and Phil did go to Fisher at times which pissed off GP even more. Bad coaching, bad chemistry just a ty team. Only reason they made it that far Malone played a point forward style to make offense flow better and Shaqobe was near their primes, but Shaqobe were the main reason they lost no disrespect to the Pistons who did not get enough credit. Great team.

Pistons were most definitely a great team. If the Spurs somehow got past the Lakers that year, I don't think the Spurs can beat Pistons. A better version of the Spurs barely beat a weaker version of the Pistons the following year. In fact, I think the Spurs would have lost in 04 vs. the Pistons in pretty convincing fashion.

It's a combination of the Pistons being underrated and the Lakers being overrated that caused an upset, but it was an upset nonetheless.

Come to think of it, you are now saying teams win championships? What the is wrong with you?

[Killakobe81]

Pistons were most definitely a great team. If the Spurs somehow got past the Lakers that year, I don't think the Spurs can beat Pistons. A better version of the Spurs barely beat a weaker version of the Pistons the following year. In fact, I think the Spurs would have lost in 04 vs. the Pistons in pretty convincing fashion.

It's a combination of the Pistons being underrated and the Lakers being overrated that caused an upset, but it was an upset nonetheless.
Come to think of it, you are now saying teams win championships? What the is wrong with you?

Never said they did not. LeBron doesn't win without Bosh grabbing two huge offensive boards or sans Ray's three, but who is getting most if the accolades? (rightfully so) James. If you look at the narrative despite his great all around play this board, Twitter were calling him a choker right before he hit that 3 to cut lead to 2 iirc .... The stars get the credit when they win blame when they lose that is why they get paid big bucks, get endorsements and make HOF. The Horry, Paxsons, Kerr, Fisher types are essential too but they don't play with that kind if pressure. It's why you guys killed Manu for his missed ft, but gave KL a pass he is an Horry at this point not part of Big 3.

[ambchang]

Never said they did not. LeBron doesn't win without Bosh grabbing two huge offensive boards or sans Ray's three, but who is getting most if the accolades? (rightfully so) James. If you look at the narrative despite his great all around play this board, Twitter were calling him a choker right before he hit that 3 to cut lead to 2 iirc .... The stars get the credit when they win blame when they lose that is why they get paid big bucks, get endorsements and make HOF. The Horry, Paxsons, Kerr, Fisher types are essential too but they don't play with that kind if pressure. It's why you guys killed Manu for his missed ft, but gave KL a pass he is an Horry at this point not part of Big 3.

Twitter is stupid though, and getting credit and blame has nothing to do with the actual ability of a player though.

Speaking of which, why did Kobe not get the blame from the media of the collapses in 05 to 08, 11 to 13?

[Thread]

Speaking of which, why did Kobe not get the blame from the media of the collapses in 05 to 08, 11 to 13?

Same reason Duncan skated for the events of 4 weeks ago.

[ambchang]

Same reason Duncan skated for the events of 4 weeks ago.

Are you kidding, Duncan got the brunt of the backlash along with Pop.

[Thread]

Are you kidding, Duncan got the brunt of the backlash along with Pop.

Please. Bosh got that blunt and he won.

[ambchang]

Please. Bosh got that blunt and he won.

What the are you talking about?

Bosh sucked throughout the series, and he deserved the blunt.

Duncan played very well for a 37 year old, but missed a couple of shots, then he got tarred and feathered.

[Killakobe81]

He does. Kobe gets lots of . That is why he is not overrated . Don't get me wrong Kobe fanboys overrate him, haters underrate him. So he is probably rated properly on balance. Kobe is in that second tier of superstar below MJ, Magic Kareem. Alongside Shaq, Tim and LeBron (for now). I think he is near the top of that tier along with Tim but honestly those guys are all great no great disrespect if yall prefer Duncan or Shaq. I can see the Tim case as a stronger argument though.

[Killakobe81]

And LeBron may make all this moot.

[Thread]

And LeBron may make all this moot.

Bend over and show me that in' poot.