Memphis Grizzlies on verge of an historic NBA upset

my apologies 13 years

Yep forgot the heat making it the 4th time and the 3rd time in 12 years. So hardly historic

You're forgetting the Knicks beating the Heat in '99.

1984: The playoffs were expanded from 12 teams to 16 teams. All teams now participated in the first round, which was extended to a best-of-five series. That gave us the current playoff seeded system as we know it, all be it an original 5 game first round format. 1984-2011 = 27 years But yes you're right the Sonics Nuggets series happened in the 90s - 1994 to be precise - but as you can see, this was the 10th year of a 16 team playoff competition Research, done.

I’d do a little more research Liam. If we take 7 game first round series they started in 2003, not 1984, so this is only the 9th year not 27th. So it is 2/18 or 1 in 9. I repeat hardly something that can be considered historic. Now you should have known that the 27 years didn’t add up because the Soncis / nuggets series happened in the mutumbo/kemp/payton era so either it was the mid 90s…or they were playing pro ball at the ages of 18, 15 and 16 respectively.

You watch Duncan and Parker walk to the sides for the timeouts, and they look tired, heads down. And the bench does not have the calibre of previous benches.

Well if we take the current 7 game playoff system as the beginning of playoff basketball, even though they've been around since 1947, it's something that's only happened twice in 27 years. thats 54 1vs8 seed series, only two wins. surely that has to be considered a big upset. it's not secret the spurs struggled down the stretch, but even with the downturn in form, they still won 15 more games than the grizz. there were people saying that the grizz would challenge the spurs, but no one suggested they could knock off the spurs, but I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.

I know it’s the second time since it went to seven but it’s still the third time happened in the playoffs. All of the “experts” in the stats smack down picked the series to go 6 or 7 games meaning that experts ranked it the third closest series at the outset. i.e. 5 of the series were considered more lopsided than this. One of the apparently more lopsided series has also gone against the unanimous prediction (Orlando / Atlanta). And yep who would have picked it on Valentines Day, back then it would have been a huge upset. But since February came to a close the Spurs put up 10-11 including two losses to Memphis. Memphis’ record? 13-8 including a suspected tanking. This should not be considered a big upset let alone a historic one.

It'd would be the second time it's happened in a seven-game playoff series. Completely agree that the Grizz match up well with the Spurs, but honestly, who would have been saying that during the season when the Spurs were on the charge to the best record in the West. They're tanking also only took them from a 7th seed to 8th, so it's not like they tanked massively. Considering it would be something that has only happened once - or twice if you include Nuggets vs Sonics - it's a huge upset.

i still think the memphis grizzlies are going ok. They've only been a franchise for about a decade, since Vancouver grizzlies relocated to memphis. in the western conference, a side to look out for is Oklahoma City thunder. There the side that could challenge the la lakers for that conference. Dallas Mavs not far behind.

I’m not as positive on the Grizzlies future I think they’ve made horrible contract decisions over the past 18 months that are going to absolutely kill the franchise’s ability to grow. I think this is your team for better or worse now and you’ll only lose assets from here on out as long as Hiesley continues to be an “active” owner. Put it this way - if I'm selling a house I'm sending Hiesley an invite with the promise of an open bar and an all you can eat seafood buffet becuase you know if he's interested he'll jsut keep bidding agaisnt himself

Mushi, you are absolutely right. To be honest, I was wishing that they tanked like they did, and I knew we had a chance to beat the Spurs. The Grizzlies match up great against them, especially with defensive specialists like Tony Allen and Shane Battier. I am still nervous that the Grizz might lose 4 straight, silly as it sounds, but it could happen easily. The Grizzlies will be a force to be reckoned with in a few years if we can resign the right guys and improve a little every year.

It will be the third time - Sonics v Nuggets and Mavs v Warriors. I’m not sure it really ranks as a historic upset. It seemed like the griz tanked to get into that slot because they matched up better with the Spurs so they aren’t a “true” 8th seed. Also even with the tanking their margin per game over the last 20 games of the year was better than the Spurs. Don’t get me wrong the spurs were still favourites but this isn’t an upset for the ages. Hornets - if they get past the Lake show, will be a bigger upset