NBA Playoffs 2012: Win-Loss Records in Series-Deciding Playoff Games (1984-2011)
How many of the NBA first-round playoff series do you think will go the full seven games? Based on the last nine years (the NBA went to the seven-game first-round series format in 2003), there have only been 11 first-round series go seven games (11 of 72 series, 15.3 percent).
In fact, the 2011 playoffs were the first since 1984 (when the league went to the current 16-team playoff format) that none of the first-round playoff series went seven games.
Here’s a look at how many of the NBA playoff series have gone to a Game 7 since 1984.
First Round (since 2003): 11 of 72 series (15.3 percent)*
Conference Semifinals: 30 of the 112 series (26.8 percent)
Conference Finals: 12 of the 56 series (21.4 percent). Note: A Conference Finals series has not gone to a Game 7 since 2005!
NBA Finals: 5 of the 28 series (17.9 percent)
* From 1984-2002, the first-round series were five games. Of those 152 series, 52 (34.2 percent) went to a series-deciding Game 5. From 1984-2011, all series-deciding games (Game 5 or Game 7) happened in 63 of the 224 series (28.1 percent). Total up all of the above and we see that since 1984, 110 of the 420 NBA playoff series have gone to a deciding game (26.2 percent).
How well has your team done in a series-deciding Game 5 or Game 7 since 1984?
Team, W/L in Deciding Games, (Game 7 W/L, Game 5 W/L)
Golden State 1-0, 1.000 (0-0, 1-0)
Dallas 6-1 .857 (4-1, 2-0)
LA Lakers 8-2, .800 (7-1, 1-1)
Phoenix 6-3 .667 (3-2, 3-1)
Boston 10-5 .667 (8-4, 2-1)
Denver 3-2 .600 (0-1, 3-1)
Atlanta 7-5 .583 (2-2, 5-3)
New York 8-6 .571 (3-5, 5-1)
Chicago 4-3 .571 (2-3, 2-0)
Utah 9-7 .563 (2-2, 7-5)
Detroit 8-7 .533 (5-3, 3-4)
Houston 6-6 .500 (4-4, 2-2)
Milwaukee 5-5 .500 (2-3, 3-2)
San Antonio 3-3 .500 (2-2, 1-1)
New Jersey 2-2 .500 (0-1, 2-1)
Orlando 2-2 .500 (2-1, 0-1)
Minnesota 1-1 .500 (1-0, 0-1)
Toronto 1-1 .500 (0-0, 1-1)
Oklahoma City/Seattle 6-8 .429 (3-2, 3-6)
Philadelphia 3-4 .429 (1-1, 2-3)
Miami 3-6 .333 (2-3, 1-2)
Portland 2-4 .333 (1-2, 1-2)
Cleveland 2-5 .286 (1-2, 1-3)
Indiana 2-6 .250 (2-3, 0-3)
Sacramento 0-5 .000 (0-3, 0-2)
LA Clippers 0-4 .000 (0-2, 0-2)
New Orleans/Charlotte Hornets 0-3 .000 (0-3, 0-0)
Washington 0-2 (0-1, 0-1)
Memphis 0-1 .000 (0-1, 0-0)
Charlotte Bobcats 0-0 .000 (0-0, 0-0)
Did you know? The Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers have each have won four straight Game 7s.
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