Top 5 First Round Upsets in NBA History

By Guest Blogger Jesse Lamovsky

It’s early yet, but the stunning Game 1 victories by Chicago and Philadelphia over the favored Celtics and Magic bring to mind other unexpected outcomes in NBA postseason play, particularly in the first round. Here are the five biggest first-round upsets in NBA Playoff history, as chosen by me:

5.) 1989: Golden State (43-39) 3, Utah (51-31) 0
Don Nelson’s Warriors stumbled into the Playoffs on a six-game losing streak and had to open their first-round series with two games at the Salt Palace, where the Jazz were 34-7. But Golden State took both games in Utah and closed out the improbable sweep with a 120-106 Game 3 victory in Oakland, thanks in large part to Chris Mullin’s 35-point effort.

4.) 1987: Seattle (39-43) 3, Dallas (55-27) 1
Not only did the Mavericks own a 16-game edge over Seattle in the overall standings, they had also swept the five regular-season meetings between the teams by an average margin of nearly 21 points. When Dallas crushed the Sonics 151-129 in Game 1, it seemed like business as usual. Then Dale Ellis took over. The ex-Maverick scored 32 points and hit the game-winning free throws with two seconds left in Game 2 and followed with a 43-point, 14-rebound explosion as the Sonics took the series lead in their temporary home, the University of Washington’s 8,000-seat Edmundson Pavilion (the city of Seattle was so confident in its team’s playoff chances, it had rented out the Center Coliseum that week.). Seattle then finished off the stunned Mavericks with a 124-98 Game 4 rout.

3.) 1984: New Jersey (45-37) 3, Philadelphia (52-30) 2
The defending Champion 76ers weren’t supposed to have trouble with a Nets team that hadn’t won a single playoff game since entering the NBA in 1976. But led by the temporarily clean Michael Ray Richardson, Jersey shocked Philly twice in the Spectrum to take a 2-0 lead. The 76ers thought they were off the hook when they beat the Nets twice at the Meadowlands to force Game 5 back home: the normally diplomatic Julius Erving flatly stated that the Nets “aren’t going to win in Philadelphia.” But having already won there twice, the Nets would do it a third time, rallying from seven points down in the fourth quarter to eliminate the 76ers, 101-98. Philadelphia was the last defending Champion to lose in the first round before the Heat in 2007.

2.) 2007: Golden State (42-40) 4, Dallas (67-15) 2
The G-State franchise has a long history of postseason giant-slaying, but in this case, David knew exactly where to aim the slingshot. The Warriors had beaten Dallas in all three regular-season meetings, and Mavs coach Avery Johnson was so leery of the small lineup employed by his mentor Don Nelson that he changed his own rotation prior to Game 1. This startling concession to Golden State’s style was swiftly followed by the collapse of the Mavericks team. The Warriors stole Game 1 in Dallas, took a 3-1 series lead in front of a frenzied crowd at Oracle Arena, then after blowing a late lead in Game 5, sent the 67-win Mavericks home with a 111-86 Game 6 thrashing. In terms of the distance between the teams in the overall standings (25 games) it was the biggest upset in NBA playoff history. And Golden State made it look easy.

1.) 1994: Denver (42-40) 3, Seattle (63-19) 2
Going into this series, eighth seeds were 0-20 in the first round, and there was no reason to believe this one would break the mold, especially as the Sonics breezed to a 2-0 series lead with a pair of easy victories at a raucous Seattle Center. But the Nuggets woke up at home with a 110-93 Game 3 victory, and the unexpected counterpunch simultaneously emboldened Denver and unraveled Seattle. The Nuggets tied the series with an overtime win in Game 4 and were loose as a goose in the finale, while for the Sonics, according to George Karl, “the butterflies felt like rocks” They played tight, nervously frittering away an 11-point second-half lead, and when time ran out in overtime, Dikembe Mutumbo embracing the ball, the Nuggets were the first eighth seed to NBA Playoff history to advance.

Jesse Lamovsky is lifelong Cleveland sports fan and a sometimes sports writer. Learn more about Jesse and his writing at swerbsblurbs.com.