Preface
The NBA playoffs are a place where miracles happen, and every year's playoffs will have the following good performances, such as last season's NBA playoffs, not only did the Heat eliminate the Bucks who were the first in the East as the eighth in the East, but also passed all the way in the playoffs and finally reached the finals. And in addition to the Black Eight, do you know how many times the NBA Black Seven has happened? Black Seven, in the NBA, means the No. 7 seed defeating the No. 2 seed in the first round of the playoffs. You must know that since the establishment of the NBA, there have only been 6 black seven in history, so let's take a look at who these 6 black seven teams are, in which season they played such a performance, and how far they have gone in the end.
6. Lakers (2022-2023 season)
The Lakers in the regular season last season before the trade deadline, they were completely relying on James to support the team alone, but fortunately, through the trade they traded for Russell, Vanderbilt, Beasley, and since then they seem to have changed teams, relying on the league's top defense, they rushed all the way to the play-offs from the bottom of the West, and finally successfully got the playoff spot in the seventh place in the West.
In the first round against the Grizzlies, there were not a few fans who were optimistic about the Lakers at that time, on the one hand, because they did have real strength that did not match the rankings, and on the other hand, some players on the Grizzlies' side were plagued by injuries, and Clark and Adams couldn't play. After the series started, the Lakers really took the initiative in the situation, but the resistance of the Grizzlies was also fierce, if it wasn't for G5 James's critical moment to draw the whistle, they would probably have to tie seven in that round of the series to determine the winner.
In the series, they will most likely have to play a tie-break to determine the winner.
After beating the Grizzlies, the second round against the defending champion Warriors was also very exciting, but the Lakers were still the dominant side, and after G1 got off to a good start, the rhythm of the series came to the area where the Lakers do best, and in the end they also managed to win the Western Conference finals with a score of 4-2. However, against the Nuggets, the Lakers were completely bad, even if James scored 30 points in the G4 half, but in the end he still did not escape the fate of being swept.
5. Spurs (2009-2010 season)
This year's West was also very volatile, the Spurs, who won 50-32 in the regular season, could only rank seventh in the West, and the Mavericks, who were second in the West at the time, were only 5 wins ahead of the Spurs, so this round of the series did not say from the beginning that one side had the absolute initiative. The Spurs and the Mavericks played very fiercely as soon as G1 of the series came up, and Nowitzki scored 36 points on 12-of-14 shooting in a single game in the face of the Spurs' tight defense, and the Mavericks also won the first game under his leadership.
However, after G1 played the Spurs, they suddenly broke out, they won three games in a row and directly got the match point, the most important thing is that even if G4 Duncan only scored 4 points on 1-of-9 shooting, the Spurs still won the game by scoring 29 points by George Hill. In the sixth game, the Spurs used their defense to limit the Mavericks to the half and scored only 34 points, although Nowitzki scored 15 points in the third quarter to help the team close some point difference, but in the end the Spurs still stabilized their position and finally won the series.
But it's a pity that after the Spurs won against the Mavericks, they didn't go far, and they were swept by the Suns in the second round.
4. Knicks (1997-1998 season)
This season, due to the season reimbursement of Ewing, the core of the interior, the Knicks fell directly from third in the East the previous year to seventh in the East, only with a 43-39 record. It just so happened that the Knicks were going to face the Heat who eliminated them in the 1997 playoffs in the first round because of the rankings, but this time they were missing Ewing, but the result was unexpected.
In the first four games, the two sides fought to a 2-2 draw, and the core players on both sides had excellent performances, and in the crucial fourth game, the Knicks equalized from behind, and the most critical thing was that the Knicks' Larry Johnson and Mourning clashed, and both were eventually suspended, which also caused the balance of victory to gradually tilt in favor of the Knicks. In the fifth game of the final victory, the Knicks broke out with all the players, Alan Houston scored 30 points, Oakley 18 points and 13 rebounds, Charlie Ward 7 points, 14 assists, 5 steals and 1 turnover, and Buck Williams 12 points and 14 rebounds.
However, the Knicks were still a little worse in the end, and their momentum dropped in the second round against the Pacers, and they finally lost to their opponents with a score of 1-4 to end the season.
3. Warriors (1990-1991 season)
This season's regular season Warriors led by Hardaway, Mullin, and Richmond played their best running shots, the trio averaged 72.5 points per game, and the team's average of 116.6 points per game was also their highest in the past 23 years, so their regular season record finally broke through in nine years, and finally finished seventh in the West with a record of 44 wins and 38 losses.
In the first round against the Spurs led by the Admirals, the Warriors used their running to make the opponent tired in the series, and the Spurs completely fell into the rhythm that the Warriors do best, although the first Spurs offense played an extraordinary performance and scored 130 points to win, but after their physical strength declined in the next three games, they could only watch the Warriors continue to run and score tirelessly on the court. Hardaway scored 32 points in the final game, and the Warriors had four players in double figures, and they also managed to complete the Black Seven.
Although the Warriors lost to the Lakers in the second round, being able to beat the Spurs was already unexpected for many people, so this season was still a success for them.
2. Warriors (1988-1989 season)
After a humiliating 20-62 season the year before, the Warriors have become significantly more competitive this year, finishing the regular season with 23 more wins than the previous season, and they have also managed to make the playoffs. In the first-round series against the Jazz, Mullin became the best player of the series, and under his leadership, the Warriors also managed to sweep the opponent with a score of 3-0.
Mullin averaged 32.7 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists per game while shooting 54.5% from the field throughout the series, but in addition to him, Richmond also performed well, averaging 25.7 points, 8.3 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game. In the most critical third game, the Warriors scored 20+ points, Mullin had 35 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, Richmond had 26 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists, and Tritigue who came off the bench became the X-factor, he scored 24 points.
However, the Warriors also failed to go far in the playoffs this year, losing to the Suns in the semifinals, but they also won a game against the second place in the West in the regular season to avoid being swept by their opponents.
1. Supersonic (1986-1987 season)
The SuperSonics in the regular season can be said to be very average, they have not even won more than 40 games, only 39 wins and 42 losses, but they have become the first team in history to play the Black Seven. In the first round of the series against the Mavericks, G1 allowed the superSonics to score 151 points as soon as they came up, but just when everyone thought they would be swept quickly, the supersonics' new signing, Dale Ellis, stepped up.
Ellis G2 scored 32 points, G3 scored 43 points and 14 rebounds for a big double-double, and with his help, the SuperSonics took the lead to win the match point, and G4 Ellis, Chambers, and McDaniel combined to score 81 points to send the opponent home.
In the second round against the Rockets, Ellis and Chambers are still in hot form, the two combined for 53.7 points, 15 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game, even if the Rockets leader Olajuwon also averaged 30.5 points, 12.7 rebounds and 3.8 blocks per game, but in the end they still became the stepping stone for the supersonic to write history.
After successfully reaching the Western Conference finals, facing the Los Angeles Lakers who were in full swing at the time, Chambers and Ellis finally cooled down, and finally faced the Lakers, and the SuperSonics had no chance to fight back, and were directly taken away by 4-0.