Has Many Times the No.1 Seed NBA Team Been Knocked Out in the First Round of the Playoffs?

With the 2023 NBA Playoffs underway, the Western and Eastern Conference teams are working hard to qualify for the next round. 5 teams, however, have already qualified. Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns from the West and Philadelphia 76ers, New York Knicks, and Miami Heat from the East are onto the next round.

The No.1 seed Milwaukee Bucks of the Eastern Conference got eliminated yesterday by the No.7 seed Miami Heat. Miami won the first series by 4-1 advancing to the semi-finals. Jimmy Butler’s epic 42-point performance in Game 6 benefitted the Heats. Giannis Antetokounmpo, however, failed to deliver for the Bucks.

The @MiamiHEAT advance to the Eastern Conference Semifinals ‼️#NBAPlayoffs presented by Google Pixel pic.twitter.com/G4CIjcE41V

— NBA (@NBA) April 27, 2023

 

Besides this, there have been many good teams belonging to the No.1 seed getting eliminated by No. 8 teams. Some were quite surprising. Let’s take a look at it in detail. 

No.1 seed NBA teams were eliminated five times by the No.8 seeds in the Playoffs 

Since the 1983-84 season expansion to 16 teams in the NBA playoffs, the No.1 seed teams have been knocked out five times by the No.8 seed teams. The first was in 1994 when the No.8 seed Denver Nuggets eliminated the Seattle Supersonics taking a lead with 3-2. The Nuggets took the victory with 98-94 in Game 5.

Following this, the second victory for the No.8 seed came in 1999, when the Knicks knocked off the Miami Heat 3-2. The Knicks took the victory with 78-77 in Game 5. Besides this, Patrick Ewing averaged 14.6 points and 10.8 rebounds in the series. Qualifying for the NBA Finals, they, however, lost against the San Antonio Spurs.

Golden State Warriors were the third No.8 seed to win over the No.1 seed Dallas Mavericks in the 2007 playoffs. Winning the first round with a 4-2 lead, the Warriors won Game 6 by 111-86. Stephen Jackson scored 33 points in the game.

The fourth elimination for the No.1 seed was taken up by the No.8 seed Memphis Grizzlies over San Antonio Spurs in 2011. Memphis Grizzlies took the lead in the series by 4-2. Winning the last game, 99-91. Zach Randolph scored 31 points and 11 rebounds in the game.

No.8 seed Philadelphia 76ers became the fifth team to knock out No.1 seed Chicago Bulls with a lead of 4-2. In Game 6, the 76ers won by 79-78, with Andre Iguodala scoring 20 points.

On a positive note, the No.1 seeds from both the Eastern and Western Conference have won 67 of the 72 first-round series over the No.8 seeds. With 5 NBA teams already qualified for the next round of the 2023 playoffs, the anticipation for the other qualifying teams is growing among the fans out there.