The 2007 NBA Playoffs was the postseason to the National Basketball
Association's 2006-2007 season.
There were four rounds of postseason action, all of them in a best-of-seven format, with teams seeded on a bracket. The team
with the better record wasn't necessarily the basis of seeding teams in the playoffs. Nevertheless, the team with the better
record in a match-up had home court advantage.
The 2007 NBA Champions were the San Antonio Spurs who won their fourth title in the
last nine years. The team defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 4-0 in the
2007 NBA Finals with the Spurs' Tony Parker being
named Finals MVP.
Format
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Consisting of 16 teams in two conferences, the playoffs
involve nearly two months of play in a best-of-seven, bracket format, with no reseeding.
Seeding
The playoffs are conducted in four rounds of best-of-seven series. The three division winners in each conference, along with
the five best non-division winners in each conference, qualify for the playoffs. The division winners and top second-place team
are seeded first through fourth based on record, with the remaining teams seeded fifth through eighth on record.
Up until 2006 year, the division winners earned the top three seeds in the conference; this was amended by the NBA on
August 2, 2006 to rectify the problem highlighted by controversy
in the 2006 playoffs.[1] Under this new system, the teams with the two best records in the conference cannot meet until the
conference finals, unlike last year, when the 63-win San Antonio Spurs and the 60-win
Dallas Mavericks met in the conference semifinals.
But this issue remained notable in the Western Conference semifinals of this year's playoffs, where the top two remaining
seeds (Phoenix and San Antonio) and two lowest remaining seeds (Utah and Golden State) played each other.
Home court advantage
In each series, the team with the better record (or which wins a tiebreaker, in the event that teams with identical records
are matched) holds home court advantage, meaning that the seventh game, if played, is
held in their home arena.
The first two games in each series are played in the home arena of the team with home court advantage. The third and fourth
games are played in the other arena. The fifth, sixth, and seventh games alternate between the two arenas. However, in the
NBA Finals, the team with home court advantage hosts Games 1, 2, 6 and 7, while the other
team hosts Games 3, 4 and 5.
Team bonuses
Teams receive funds to distribute among players and support staff from the league's playoff pool. For 2007 the distribution is
based on the following schedule[2] :
- Qualify for first round: $149,243 plus an amount based on their regular-season finish in their conferences.
- Advance to second round: $177,579.
- Advance to Conference Finals: $293,447.
- Lose Finals: $1,945,164.
- Win Finals: $2,542,637.
Playoff qualifying
Eastern Conference
The following teams clinched a playoff berth in the East:
- Detroit Pistons (53 wins, clinched Central division)
- Cleveland Cavaliers (50 wins)
- Toronto Raptors (47 wins, clinched Atlantic division)
- Miami Heat (44 wins, clinched Southeast division)
- Chicago Bulls (49 wins)
- New Jersey Nets (41 wins, 4-0 against Washington)
- Washington Wizards (41 wins, 0-4 against New Jersey)
- Orlando Magic (40 wins)
Western Conference
The following teams clinched a playoff berth in the West:
- Dallas Mavericks (67 wins, clinched Southwest division)
- Phoenix Suns (61 wins, clinched Pacific division)
- San Antonio Spurs (58 wins)
- Utah Jazz (51 wins, clinched Northwest division)
- Houston Rockets (52 wins)
- Denver Nuggets (45 wins)
- Los Angeles Lakers (42 wins, 4-0 against Golden State)
- Golden State Warriors (42 wins, 0-4 against the L.A. Lakers)
Bracket
This is the outlook for the 2007 NBA playoffs. Teams in italics have home court
advantage. Teams in bold advance to the next round. Numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's original
playoffs seeding in their respective conferences. Numbers to the right of each team indicate the number of games the team won in
that round.
Notes
- Houston and Chicago had home court advantage in the first round despite being lower seeds. Both teams had better regular
season records than their opponents, but did not have the best record of the non-division-champion playoff teams in their
respective conferences.
- San Antonio had home court advantage in the Finals since they had a better regular season record than Cleveland.
Eastern Conference
First Round
(1) Detroit Pistons vs. (8) Orlando Magic
The Orlando Magic's first playoff trip in 4 seasons was short lived as the top ranked
Detroit Pistons dispatched the upstart Magic in 4 games. The Pistons recorded their
first series sweep since sweeping Indiana in the first round of the 1990 NBA Playoffs.
The series was also the first time Orlando forward Grant Hill had
appeared in the postseason since leaving Detroit after the 1999-2000 NBA season.
(2) Cleveland Cavaliers vs. (7) Washington Wizards
A rematch of the previous year's first round series was spoiled when Wizards star Gilbert
Arenas and Caron Butler were both forced out of the playoffs due to injuries
received in the later parts of the regular season. Without Arenas and Butler, the Wizards found themselves unable to stop
LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers from
sweeping them out of the playoffs. It was Cleveland's first playoff sweep in franchise history.
(3) Toronto Raptors vs. (6) New Jersey Nets
The Nets won the first round of the 2007 NBA Playoffs in their sixth straight appearance in the NBA Playoffs. The series was
the only one in the Eastern Conference not to result in a sweep.
(4) Miami Heat vs. (5) Chicago Bulls
The Bulls won their first playoff series since the 1998 NBA Finals and the retirement
of Michael Jordan. Meanwhile, Miami became the first defending champion in NBA history
since 1957 to be swept in the First Round the following season.
In addition, Southeast Division champions Miami and other division qualifiers Washington and Orlando were swept (0–12) by
Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit respectively, all from the Central division (12–0).
Conference Semifinals
(1) Detroit Pistons vs. (5) Chicago Bulls
In a renewal of a rivalry from the late 80's and early '90s, the Chicago Bulls and the
Detroit Pistons faced off against each other, pitting former Piston Ben Wallace against his old teammates. The series began fairly one-sided as the Pistons took Games 1 and 2
in Detroit in blowout fashion, followed by another convincing victory in Game 3 in Chicago. In all three games, the Bulls looked
severely outmatched against the more experienced Pistons squad. Expectations were low for the Bulls since no NBA team has ever
won a seven-game series after being down 3-0 (it has only happened three times total in sports history, the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, the 1975 New York Islanders, and
the 2004 Boston Red Sox).
Despite the huge obstacle, the Bulls rallied to take Game 4 in a romp, and then proceeded to shock everyone with a blow-out
victory in Detroit in Game 5. Despite the renewed momentum, the Pistons' playoff experience ultimately won out as they closed out
the Bulls in Game 6. The Pistons advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals for the fifth straight year.
(2) Cleveland Cavaliers vs. (6) New Jersey Nets
The Cavaliers advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 1992, while the Nets have lost in the
Conference Semifinals in three out of the last four years.
New Jersey Nets point guard Jason Kidd averaged a
triple double the entire playoffs, scoring 14.6 points, grabbing 10.9 rebounds and dishing
out 10.9 assists per game.
Conference Finals: (1) Detroit Pistons vs. (2) Cleveland Cavaliers
In a rematch of last year's thrilling second round series, the Pistons and the Cavaliers matched up in perhaps one of the
closest contested series in NBA history, with the first five games being decided by 6 points or less. The spotlight of the series
fell on Cleveland's LeBron James. Despite gaining some momentum in the opening games of the
series against the experienced Pistons, key last second decisions by James led to Cleveland losses in Games 1 and 2 in Detroit,
by identical scores.
With media circles on his back for his complacency in these games (James had a playoff career low 10 points in Game 1), LeBron
came back to will the Cavs to close victories in Games 3 and 4 in Cleveland, evening the series at 2. The series shifted back to
Detroit for a Game 5 that proved to be one of the most memorable postseason games in recent NBA history. In a match that went
into double overtime, the Cavaliers stunned the Pistons on their home court, thanks to LeBron James' playoff career-high 48 point
performance. James scored the Cavaliers' final 25 points of the game, including all 18 points in overtime.
The Cavaliers exploded in Game 6 to close out the Pistons once and for all, and to clinch the franchise's first ever trip to
the NBA Finals. Rookie Daniel Gibson scored his career high 31 points including 5 three
pointers to lift the Cavs in the second half.
Western Conference
First Round
(1) Dallas Mavericks vs. (8) Golden State Warriors
The Warriors qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 1994, the second
longest such streak in league history. However, the Warriors were heavy underdogs against the Dallas Mavericks despite sweeping
the regular season series between the teams, as Dallas had one of the best records in NBA regular season history. Expectations of
a short series were immediately dashed by Golden State's Game 1 victory in Dallas, behind guard Baron Davis and his rather frantic style of play. The Mavericks came back to win Game 2 to tie the series at
a game apiece.
But when the series shifted to Oakland for the next two games, a new X-factor emerged for the Warriors: their home crowd at
the Oracle Arena. The electric crowd, which was the highest paid attendance crowd for an
NBA game in the history of that arena, gave the Warriors a huge lift as they blew out Dallas in Game 3, and edged out a close
victory in Game 4. As the series shifted back to Dallas, the top-ranked Mavericks found themselves one game from seeing their
record breaking season end prematurely. The Mavericks gave their all and were able to stave off elimination in Game 5, but had
nothing left in Game 6 in Oakland. The Warriors used a third-quarter 18–0 run, sparked by Stephen Jackson's 13 straight points en route to a franchise playoff record seven three-pointers, and an
unexpected collapse from MVP candidate Dirk Nowitzki (2-13 from the field with 8 points)
to finish Dallas and become the first #8 seed to win a best-of-seven series in the first round, and just the third overall in NBA
history, in one of the biggest upsets in NBA playoff history. The Warriors also won their first playoff series since 1991.
Both 2006 NBA Finalists (Dallas and Miami) were eliminated in the first round. This was the first time since 1956 that this
had happened.
(2) Phoenix Suns vs. (7) Los Angeles Lakers
Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers went up against the high powered Phoenix Suns in a rematch of last year's first round series, which saw the Lakers take a 3–1 lead before
the Suns took the series in 7. Unlike the previous series, the Suns had near complete control of the series, taking the series in
5 games. The Suns advanced to their third straight conference semifinals by eliminating the Lakers in the first round for the
second straight year. In Game 4, Phoenix point guard Steve Nash made a run at the record for
most assists in a playoff game, finishing one shy of the record 24 shared by Magic Johnson
of the Los Angeles Lakers and John Stockton of
the Utah Jazz.
(3) San Antonio Spurs vs. (6) Denver Nuggets
The Nuggets duo of Carmelo Anthony and Allen
Iverson got Denver off to a fast start, winning Game 1 and taking home-court advantage away from Tim Duncan and the Spurs. Despite the early letdown, the Spurs showed their championship mettle and bounced
back for a 97-88 win in Game 2. In the pivotal Game 3, the Nuggets built an eight-point first-quarter lead before
Manu Ginóbili's eight second-quarter points helped put San Antonio up 43-40 at halftime. A
back-and-forth contest turned in the final 2:24 of the third quarter: Michael Finley hit
two three-pointers, and Robert Horry later hit a three that gave the Spurs a 75-67 lead at
the end of the quarter. They hung on for a 96-91 win.
Denver started strong again in Game 4 and led by eight at halftime. But San Antonio stormed back after Anthony went to the
bench in the third quarter with his fourth foul. The Spurs held a one-point lead with 30 seconds left in the game when Horry,
playing for his seventh championship ring, hit a three from the right corner to help seal a 96-89 win. The stunned Nuggets could
not recover from the Game 4 letdown. Finley was the hero in Game 5, hitting a team-playoff-record eight threes for 26 points as
San Antonio won 93-78 to end the series, marking the Nuggets' fourth straight season where they lost in the first round in five
games. This is the second time in three seasons that the Nuggets lost the first-round series to the Spurs, after taking Game 1 in
San Antonio (the first also happened in five games).
(4) Utah Jazz vs. (5) Houston Rockets
The resurgent Utah Jazz, fresh off one of their best seasons since the John Stockton years, faced Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady and the Houston Rockets, who were seeking their
first playoff series victory in 10 years. Home court advantage proved to be the key as the series progressed, as both the Rockets
and the Jazz won closely contested matches in front of their home crowds.
As a result, the series had to go to a seventh and deciding game, which was played in Houston since the Rockets had the better
record and thereby earned home court advantage, despite the division-winning Jazz being the higher-seeded team. Nevertheless,
Utah overcame the Houston crowd and stunned the Rockets for the win on the road. The Jazz became only the second road team in
history to win Game 7 of a seven-game series in which the home team won each of the first six games. Houston's Tracy McGrady lost his sixth straight post-season series (out of 10 seasons) and has not been out of the
first round in his entire career.
After losing the series, the Rockets failed to reach a new contract agreement with their head coach Jeff Van Gundy, who was subsequently fired. [3]
Conference Semifinals
(4) Utah Jazz vs. (8) Golden State Warriors
