Has An 8 Seed Team Ever Won The Nba – The No. 8 Miami Heat defeated the Milwaukee Bucks 128-126 in Game 5 on Wednesday to advance to the second round.

In doing so, they became the last No. 8 to lose to No.

Has An 8 Seed Team Ever Won The Nba

Despite injuries to Giannis Antetokounmpo and Tyler Herro, the Heat overcame adversity and were led by Jimmy Butler, who dropped 56 points in Game 4 at home. He then made history in Game 5 in Milwaukee by scoring 42 in overtime.

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Now, the Heat’s streak with the basketball spectrum wonders: How many times has the number 8 seed eliminated the number 1?

Before the Heat won in 2023, four of the 8 seeds had swept the No. 1 seed.

The eighth-seeded Knicks made an unexpected run in the 1999 playoffs by defeating the top-seeded Heat.

This continued in 2007 with 8 wins over the Warriors at No. 1 Mavericks and in 2011 with the victory of the No.

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In the 1997-98 season, the Knicks also went on an interesting run, but this time they didn’t just beat the No. 1 seed. 1 in the first round. The Knicks won the NBA Finals. After winning No. 1 Miami in the first round and No. 4 Atlanta in the second round, the Knicks advanced to the conference finals, where they defeated No. Although they lost in five games, the Knicks became the first No. 8 seed in history to advance to the NBA Finals.

In 2023, Miami will now play the number 5 seed Knicks in the second round to try to match that of the past.

But it’s not just the eighth seed that upsets the No. 1 seed. So far, five No. 7 seeds have made a mark and even upset a No. 2 seed. The Seattle SuperSonics defeated the Dallas Mavericks in the first round in 1986-87, and the last time was the 2009-2010 San Antonio Spurs, who defeated the Mavs in the first round. How many times has an eighth seed made it to the NBA Finals? Hot Join an exclusive club. In honor of the Miami Heat reaching the NBA Finals, we’re taking a look back at some of the seeded teams from the past to reach the Finals.

The Miami Heat swept the NBA in the 2023 NBA Playoffs. They lost their first playoff game against the Atlanta Hawks and almost lost another against the Chicago Bulls, which would have eliminated them from the playoffs altogether. They finished 8th in the Eastern Conference, but many expected them to be cannon fodder for the top seed Milwaukee Bucks.

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As we all know, that never happened. Jimmy Butler’s performance helped Miami beat Milwaukee in five games. The Heat’s run didn’t end there, as they swept the fifth-seeded New York Knicks in six games in the second round. Most recently, they defeated the second seed Boston Celtics in seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Heat played in the rain in the series against the Celtics, but held on for the NBA Finals. There they will meet the Western Conference first place Denver Nuggets.

The Heat joined the most important team in their incredible run, reaching the NBA Finals as the second number 8 seed. In honor of the event, we are taking a second look at what happened.

The No. 8 seed reached the NBA Finals in 1999, when the New York Knicks made a similarly impressive run to the postseason. There were only 50 games in that shortened season, and the Knicks finished just 27-23 in the playoffs. They only finished one game ahead of the Charlotte Hornets in the playoffs, but they made the playoffs and did a great job of it.

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New York’s first meeting in the first division in the Eastern Conference was, surprisingly, the Heat. The Heat defeated the Heat 78-77 in a tight Game 5, since the NBA used the best-of-five format in the first round until 2003. No team scored 100 points in a game in the entire series, which is a common theme throughout the game. This run.

The Knicks then faced the fourth-seeded Atlanta Hawks in the second round. The series has never been as close as New York’s four-game winning streak. Game 4 was an emphatic 79-66 Knicks victory at Madison Square Garden.

The Knicks then faced No. 2 seed Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals. Most of the games in the series were close, but New York won again in six games. The Knicks finished the series with a 90-82 win at home in game six.

However, in the NBA Finals, the Knicks met the San Antonio Spurs, the number one seed in the Western Conference. The Spurs were simply the better team, winning the series in five games for their first NBA title. The only game the Knicks won was Game 3, which they won 89-81.

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Patrick Ewing was still with the team, but the 36-year-old was no longer a superstar, scoring just 13 points per game during his career and missing the Finals series. Latrell Sprewell and Allen Houston led the Knicks in the postseason with 20.4 and 18.5 points, respectively. However, the team’s greatest strength was the defense, with the fourth-best all-time defensive rating of 97.5. It is also known that the current Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau was an assistant on this team.

The Heat are now following in their Knicks footsteps, but this time they will get the job done. But who was the lowest seed if not New York?

No seventh seed has ever reached the NBA Finals, but the Houston Rockets in 1981 and 1995 had two six seeds. While the 1981 team came up short against the Boston Celtics, the 1995 Rockets remain the lowest-seeded team to win the NBA title. Granted, the Rockets weren’t your typical No. 6 seed, winning the title last year, but that doesn’t take away from their incredible playoff run.

The Rockets started their run with two games in which they defeated number 3 Utah Jazz 3-2 and then defeated number 2 Phoenix Suns 4-3. They defeated the top seeded Spurs 4-2 in the Western Conference Finals and defeated the top seeded Orlando Magic in the NBA Finals. Hakeem Olajuwon won the Finals MVP, just like he did last year.

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Currently, the 1995 Rockets are the team with the fewest wins. However, the Heat have a chance to change that soon. The Heat are back in the Eastern Conference Finals for the third time in the last four years. Despite their back-to-back appearances in the NBA Final Four, this year’s lineup is definitely one for the record books as Miami enters the tournament as the No. 1 seed in the East.

Jimmy Butler and company are just the second #8 to reach the Eastern Conference Finals, joining the recently eliminated Knicks franchise. Could a team that didn’t win half of its games, lose its first play-off game and suffer multiple injuries en route to the NBA Finals?

First, the Heat matched up well with every team they faced. That was clear in Game 1 of their first game against the Bucks.

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In the second half, the Knicks couldn’t shoot enough from three points as they had several games where they shot 20 percent from deep. A big part of the Heat’s success is their ability to shut down the offense and defend the zone. It forced the ball out of the hands of the best players or forced the opposition to score less than 100.

In other years, size and speed were the X-factors when an 8-seed knocked off the league’s “best” team. For example, in 1994, when the No. 8 Denver Nuggets beat the No. 1 Seattle SuperSonics, Dikembe Mutombo averaged more individual blocks than Seattle did as a team. In 2007 and 2011, speed and youth allowed them to beat the Golden State Warriors and Memphis Grizzlies.