The 2023 NBA is coming to an end, and the Heat and Nuggets will chase the O'Brien Cup on the ultimate stage. As a result, there are only 5 teams left that have not played in the Finals so far in NBA history.
The Nuggets joined the NBA in 1976 and have made the playoffs in 28 seasons, 11 divisional finals, and four divisional finals before this season, but have never swept their opponents, and the first sweep this season is the Lakers, who eliminated the defending champion Warriors. It is worth mentioning that the Nuggets have been eliminated in the previous 4 divisional finals in history, and 3 of them have been against the Lakers.
After sweeping their opponents for the first time in team history, the Nuggets ushered in the first Finals in team history, against the biggest dark horse in the league this season, the Heat. The Heat narrowly missed the playoffs this season by losing G1 in the playoffs, but they staged a "black eight miracle" in the first round of the playoffs to eliminate the Bucks, who had the league's first record in the regular season and five more games than the Nuggets, who were the first in the West, and eliminated the Knicks in the second round can only be regarded as a routine operation, and eliminating the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals is a seemingly impossible task. In this way, the Heat will step onto the stage of the Finals for the seventh time, surpassing the Bulls and Spurs in team history to tie with the Pistons for sixth place all-time.
The Nuggets only reached the Finals for the first time in 47 years, but they are not the worst, and the Clippers, who joined the NBA in 1970, have never tasted the Finals in 53 years. Many people thought that the coming shots of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George would create a brilliant moment in Clippers history, but the Clippers have only won a total of 1 playoff game in the last two seasons.
The Timberwolves, who joined the NBA in 1989, have only broken through the first round in one of their 34 seasons so far, which was the most glorious moment in the history of reaching the Western Conference Finals in 2004, and were eliminated by the F4-led Lakers, and it is not surprising that this "millennium fish belly" has never stood on the stage of the Finals.
There are two teams in NBA history that have never played in the divisional finals, and certainly not in the Finals, namely the Hornets and Pelicans. Since 1988, the Hornets have reached the playoffs 10 times in 33 seasons, advancing four times but falling in the divisional semifinals; Since 2002, the Pelicans have reached the playoffs eight times in 21 seasons, only to break through the first round twice but were eliminated from the divisional semifinals, and this season with Zion, Ingram and Mike Collum the Pelicans have not even made a playoff ticket.
The last team to never play in the Finals was the Grizzlies. Although the Grizzlies achieved the second-best regular season record in the West this season, they were played by the Lakers in the first round, making Morant's "West Unrivaled" a laughing stock. Since 1995, the Grizzlies have made the playoffs 13 times in 28 seasons, breaking through the first round four times, and only once in 2013 when they reached the divisional finals only to be swept out by the Spurs.
After the Nuggets reached the Finals, only 5 of the 30 NBA teams never made it to the Finals, who do you think will have experienced the Finals earlier? I'm bullish on grizzlies.