Biggest first-round upsets in NBA history

After sneaking in to the playoffs with a record of 40-42, the Houston Rockets shocked the basketball world by defeating the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the 1981 playoffs. The sixth-seed Rockets upset Magic Johnson’s Lakers in three games (at the time, first-round matchups were best out of three games), led by star Moses Malone, who averaged 31.3 PPG for the series. The Rockets made it all the way to the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Boston Celtics in six games.

Led by Moses Malone and Julius Erving, the 1984 Philadelphia 76ers looked like a team destined for a deep postseason run. It didn’t happen. The three-seed 76ers were upset by the sixth-seeded New Jersey Nets in five games. The Sixers lost all three home games they played to the Nets in that series.

As the second seed in the Western Conference, the 1987 Dallas Mavericks appeared to be the one team most capable of challenging the Los Angeles Lakers for a spot in the NBA Finals. After winning Game 1 of the series their first-round matchup against the Seattle Supersonics 151-129, the Mavs then proceeded to fall apart. Led by Dale Elis and Xavier McDaniel, the Sonics rattled off three straight wins to win the series in four games.

It was (and may still be) the greatest first-round upset in NBA history. After falling behind 2-0 to the Seattle Supersonics, the Denver Nuggets became the first eight seed in NBA history to defeat a No. 1 seed in the first round. In the decisive Game 5, the Nuggets found an unlikely hero in backup guard Robert Pack, who scored 23 points off the bench to help the Nuggets pull off an upset for the ages.

After finishing the regular season with a record of 60-22, the Utah Jazz looked like a team poised to make it to its first ever NBA Finals. Unfortunately for the Jazz, Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler and the Houston Rockets stood in its way. After a somewhat disappointing regular season, the sixth-seeded Rockets flipped a switch and began playing championship basketball. After the Rockets upset the Jazz in five games, they went on to win the NBA Finals.

Perhaps remembered best for the fight that occurred between Alonzo Mourning and Larry Johnson in Game 4 of the series, many seem to forget that the seventh-seeded Knicks pulled off a tremendous upset by defeating the Miami Heat in five games that year. The physical series set the stage for an intense playoff rivalry between the two teams that would last for the next several years.

In a rematch of the year before, the Knicks and Heat found themselves as first-round opponents once again — only this time, the Knicks were an eight seed, and the Heat was the No. 1 seed in the East. You can probably see where this is going. Down by one point with just seconds remaining in Game 5, Knicks guard Allan Houston made an improbable running jumper from the free throw line to give the Knicks a 78-77 lead with less than one second remaining. The Knicks held on and pulled one over again on the Heat.

A five seed defeating a four seed in a first-round playoff matchup might not seem like a huge upset, but when you examine the rosters of the 2000 Phoenix Suns and San Antonio Spurs, it becomes clear that it was one. Despite having two of the greatest players in NBA history on their roster in Tim Duncan and David Robinson, the Spurs lost to Jason Kidd’s Suns in just four games.

What made the 2001 Charlotte Hornets' first-round upset of the Miami Heat so shocking wasn’t that it happened, but rather how it happened. The sixth-seeded Hornets, led by Jamal Mashburn and Baron Davis, swept the Heat in three games, winning each game by a point differential of 22.3 points. It was a series that was just never close.

The Dallas Mavericks' 2001 first-round upset of the Utah Jazz represented a changing of the guard in the NBA. After losing the first two games of the series in Utah, the Mavs stormed back to win the series in five games, as a young German-born power forward by the name of Dirk Nowitzki outplayed legendary Jazz power forward Karl Malone time and time again in crunch time.

Despite winning their division and earning the three seed in the Western Conference, the 2006 Denver Nuggets floundered in their first-round playoff matchup against the Los Angeles Clippers. Up against a team that felt like it has losing in its DNA, budding superstar Carmelo Anthony and his Nuggets just couldn’t figure out the Clips. The Clippers needed just five games to upset the Nuggets.

The 2007 Dallas Mavericks won a league-high 67 games and were captained by that year's NBA MVP, Dirk Nowitzki. Yet, when the Mavs squared off against the eight-seeded Golden State Warriors in the first round, they fell apart. Playing an up-tempo style of basketball implemented by former Mavs coach Don Nelson, the Warriors upset the Mavs in six games. It was only the third time in NBA history an eight seed upset a one seed.

Heading into the 2009 playoffs, it was expected that the third-seeded San Antonio Spurs would have the edge in their first-round playoff matchup versus the sixth-seeded Dallas Mavericks. Instead, the Mavs dismantled the Spurs in just five games, holding Tim Duncan and his Spurs to just 90.4 points per game scored on average.

The 2012 Chicago Bulls, led by NBA MVP Derrick Rose, looked like surefire NBA Finals contenders. Then, leading by 12 points with just over a minute left in Game 1, Rose tore his ACL. This gave the eight-seed 76ers an opening on which they capitalized. The 76ers, with Andre Iguodala and Jrue Holiday leading the charge, played stout defense, made timely shots and needed just six games to upset the Bulls.

Although the 2014 Brooklyn Nets had a ton of star power with Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Deron Williams and Joe Johnson, a disappointing regular season in a rather weak Eastern Conference had them finish as a six seed. Facing off against the Atlantic Division champion Toronto Raptors, it was Pierce who willed the Nets to a tremendous first-round upset in seven games. The defining moment of the series came in Game 7, when Pierce blocked a running shot in the lane from Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry in the waning seconds to seal the deal for the Nets.