Between the two arena leagues, the NHL is usually the league that has the most parody. It's not uncommon to see a No. 8 seed beat a No. 1 seed in the first round. As a matter of fact, the defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings were an eighth seed in last year's playoffs. But the NBA might not be too far off in terms of parody.
The entire sports world was shocked to see the Miami Heat lose Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals to the Chicago Bulls 93-86. This is the same Chicago team that's uncertain about when point guard Derrick Rose will return and didn't have Luol Deng for Game 1. Meanwhile, the Golden State Warriors are riding Stephen Curry's stellar postseason play. He scored 44 points in Golden State's double-overtime heartbreaker to the San Antonio Spurs 129-127. Curry has 27.1 ppg this postseason and led the upstart Warriors to a first-round upset over the Denver Nuggets 4 games to 2.
Things are also looking up for the Memphis Grizzlies. Their semifinals opponent, the Oklahoma City Thunder, lost point guard Russell Westbrook to a torn meniscus in a first-round match-up against the Houston Rockets. But since the Westbrook injury, Kevin Durant has scored 35 points a game before the Game 2 loss on Tuesday. As for Memphis, they've been getting a healthy dosage of scoring this postseason. Marc Gasol is averaging 18.5 ppg during the 2012-2013 playoffs, including 24 points in Game 2 against the Thunder. PG Mike Conley scored 26 points in the Grizzlies' Game 2 victory and has been averaging 17.9 ppg this postseason.
But this isn't the first time that this sort of parody has happened. In fact, last year's NBA playoffs saw the No. 8 seed Philadelphia 76ers upset the No. 1 seed Chicago Bulls in the first round 4 games to 2. Of course, this was where Derrick Rose got knocked out of the playoffs and the entire .2012-2013 regular season with an ACL injury. They almost pulled off another upset against the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals, but they fell short in Game 7 by a score of 85-75.
Could we see a team like Memphis, Chicago, or Golden State in the NBA Finals this year? Well, nothing's ever a sure thing. But this year's NBA playoffs might be more compelling than you think.
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