In baseball, they have come near (see 2005 San Diego Padres, 1973 NY Mets). Inside NFL, only two .500 teams are making the playoffs since 1991 (1991 NYJ, 2004 STL). Inside NBA, however, it has been typical to find teams having a losing record compete at the end of April and into May.

Below, a table from the variety of .500 win percentage teams, how many first round games they ve got won, along with the variety of series they ve got gone on to win.

First Round Playoff Stats Last Decade
Year Teams at .500 or under Total first round games won Series Won
1996 2 2 0
1997 3 2 0
1998 1 2 0
1999 1 1 0
2000 0 0 0
2001 1 1 0
2002 0 0 0
2003 0 0 0
2004 4 4 0
2005 0 0 0
2006 3
Courtesy: Basketball-Reference.com

Parody just hasn’t existed while in the NBA playoffs. These 15 teams within the last 10 years have aligned to win just 12 playoff games and have never advanced. In 2004, four teams while in the East had the shot and surely you are able to accomplish the upset? Truly a few vs. five could practice it.

The very last time a team having a losing record entered the playoffs and won a sequence was 1988. Then, the Seattle Supersonics boasted a 39-43 record as the 7-seed and made it all easy methods to the conference finals. They upset both Dallas and Houston, before being swept by Pat Riley’s L . a . Lakers. Since Seattle, a total of 31 teams have entered the playoffs having a record at or below .500. Which teams are 0-31 in playoff series.

So, how good of the chance do Milwaukee (40-42), Chicago (41-41) and Indiana (41-41) have this current year? I’m not likely to say “none,” because that’s why they play in the game-but let’s learn about these match-ups.

(1) Detroit vs. (8) Milwaukee
One-seeds haven’t lost since 1999. But there seemed to be a technicality that year: First, 1999 was the NBA lockout year, simply 50 regular season games were played. Second, three other teams had the same 33-17 record, but Miami won by a tiebreaker.

In a full 82-game season, rrt had been the 1994 Denver Nuggets who upset the top-seeded Supersonics to advance on the second round.

With Flip Saunders within the helm, we’ve seen the Pistons play looser offensively, but nevertheless maintaining impressive defense-leading the theifs to their full capacity regular season record ever (64-18). Don’t be worried about the nonsense concerning Ben Wallace not getting along with Flip: This team is focused on the subject of the playoffs.

Having said that, Milwaukee has their hands full. Let’s just evaluate player vs. player matchups.

Detroit Milwaukee Advantage

PG Billups Ford Detroit
SG Hamilton Redd Detroit
SF Prince Simmons Detroit
PF R. Wallace Bogut Detroit
C B. Wallace Magloire Detroit
Billups will substitute size for speed that will dominate Ford. Hamilton is usually a workhorse. Prince is without a doubt superior to Simmons. And I’ll just point out the event through the front court to suffice my argument to the Wallaces.

In addition, a common sort of success on the list of against Detroit was after they played Toni Kukoc within the three. Kukoc is already banged up all of which will miss the first game, so his health will be a definite factor.
Prediction: Pistons inside of a sweep

(2) Miami vs. (7) Chicago
Chicago will be the hottest from the East’s bottom-3, finishing 12-2 of their final 14 to slide in to the show. They had the same run while in the final month of the season not too long ago, winning 15 of the last 19 games. The Bulls’ only win about the Heat while in the regular season came back on April 15 when the Heat rested a lot of their stars.

Inside playoffs, it depends on defense simple fact the “Baby Bulls” are young, they are doing buckle down, leading the NBA to the second straight season in defensive field-goal percentage (.426).

Offensively, the Bulls’ patented “drive-and-kick” out game has given opposing teams difficulties. Ben Gordon ranks 2nd while in the Eastern Conference, hitting 43.9-percent from 3-point land, and point-guard Kirk Hinrich has shot 42.9-percent from behind the arc in his last five games.

But the Heat happen to be locked in to the No. 2 spot since basically January, I don’t see them having difficulty kicking into high gear. Regardless if the Bulls turned off Wade of their meetings this current year (12.3 ppg), heat have discovered the right way to win.

The Bulls don t have any answer for Shaq, who had 14 points and 6 rebounds within Twenty or so minutes of action on April 15.
Prediction: Heat in 5

(3) New Jersey vs. (6) Indiana

This will very well be the best shot for just a team within the .500 mark while in the regular season to win a sequence. The Nets originate from the weak Atlantic Division that sent hardly any other teams beside themselves on the playoffs. The 2 main teams have similar defensive work ethics, since they are 5th and 6th in points allowed, respectively, while in the NBA. The interesting point about this series will be the way they view one: New Jersey players have said the Pacers are the ideal transition and show off to take your time, while Indiana players have said that as well concerning the Nets! Wow, this should actually be an amazing series to look at!

Jermaine O’Neal looks to be healthy in to the playoffs, playing 30-plus minutes in his final 11 regular season games, but I don’t foresee him being the real difference. A real difference must range from defense side from the ball, especially, the cabability to stop Vince Carter.

Peja Stojakovic and Stephen Jackson must play top-notch to get the upset.

I own a feeling this series go seven. The Nets were 29-12 in the home, fourth-best home record while in the Eastern conference, so that’s the way in which I lean.
Prediction: Nets in 7

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