The two lowest seeds left in the NBA playoffs, a No. 7 in the Los Angeles Lakers and a No. 8 in the Miami Heat, are the teams in the driver’s seats right now.
Go figure.
There are two teams with 3-1 leads in the NBA conference semifinals, and few probably expected them to even still be playing right now. The Lakers have a 3-1 lead on defending champion and sixth-seeded Golden State in the Western Conference semifinals, while the Heat have a 3-1 lead on fifth-seeded New York in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Looking ahead — looking way ahead — there has never been a No. 7 seed in the NBA Finals, and only one No. 8 seed to play for the title.
In this playoff format, the only No. 7 seed to make the conference finals was Seattle in 1987 (losing to the Lakers) and the only No. 8 seed to get there was New York in 1999 (beating Indiana before falling to San Antonio in the finals).
WHAT'S NEXT?
There are two Game 5s on Tuesday: Phoenix at Denver and Philadelphia at Boston. Those series both tied at 2-2.
The schedules keep alternating over the next few days: Wednesday has Game 5s of New York-Miami and Lakers-Golden State, with the Knicks and Warriors needing a win at home to extend their seasons. On Thursday, it's Game 6s for Suns-Nuggets and 76ers-Celtics.
If the Knicks-Heat and Lakers-Warriors series need a Game 6, it'll be on Friday.
HOW TO WATCH
— The Tuesday and Wednesday doubleheaders are on TNT.
— Thursday's doubleheader is on ESPN.
— Team broadcasters will no longer air games. Everything after the first round is exclusive to national windows and not available for local telecasts.
— The NBA Finals on ABC begin June 1.
3-1 LEADS
Since the NBA went to this playoff format in 1984, there have now been — with the Heat and Lakers included — 203 teams have taken 3-1 leads in a best-of-seven series.
The first 201 went 192-9 in those matchups.
LeBron James’ teams are 17-0 in this situation, never even needing a Game 7 to win the series. And the Heat are 14-0 all-time when holding a 3-1 lead in a best-of-seven.
Nobody has erased a 3-1 lead since 2020 when Denver did it twice in the bubble. Nobody has done it in a non-bubble world since James and Cleveland did it against Golden State in the 2016 NBA Finals; the Warriors did it earlier that season as well, rallying from 3-1 down to Oklahoma City in the West finals.
The Lakers blew a 3-1 lead against Phoenix in Round 1 of the 2006 playoffs. There’s even been a 3-1 comeback in Heat-Knicks history, with Miami pulling off a rally in the 1997 East semifinals.
AWARD WINNERS
The All-Rookie Team — led by unanimous pick Paolo Banchero — was announced Monday afternoon and the All-Defensive Team gets announced Tuesday afternoon.
TNT will unveil the All-NBA Team on Wednesday night, and on Thursday at noon, the Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year will be revealed.
Philadelphia's Joel Embiid was announced as this season's MVP, and here's a list of the other major award-winners this season:
— Memphis’ Jaren Jackson Jr. won Defensive Player of the Year.
— De'Aaron Fox of Sacramento won the inaugural Clutch Player award.
— Sacramento's Mike Brown became the first unanimous Coach of the Year.
— Boston's Malcolm Brogdon won Sixth Man of the Year.
— Utah's Lauri Markkanen was the easy winner of Most Improved Player.
— Orlando's Paolo Banchero was a near-unanimous Rookie of the Year.
QUOTABLE
“Maybe they want it more. I don't know." — Knicks forward Julius Randle, after his team lost Game 4 to Miami to fall into a 3-1 hole in that East series.
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