Here’s a rarity: All five teams from one division are going to the NBA playoffs.
All five teams from the Pacific Division — Sacramento, Phoenix, the Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State and the Los Angeles Lakers — have made the playoffs, which start Saturday.
The Central Division did it in 2006, and the Southwest Division pulled it off in 2015. It almost happened in the Northwest Division in 2018 when Denver missed the playoffs by a game. And the Atlantic Division had a chance to send all its teams this year if Toronto gotten out of the play-in tournament.The play-in tournament provided a path for Miami, Minnesota, the Los Angeles Lakers and Atlanta to make the playoffs.
Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors high fives teammates before the game against the Portland Trail Blazers at Moda Center on April 09, 2023 in Portland, Oregon. From 2012 through 2021, every team to make the NBA Finals did so after winning a division championship. The 2011 Dallas Mavericks had been the most recent team not to win its division but make the finals; they won the title that season.This season’s division champions: Boston, Milwaukee, Miami, Denver, Sacramento and Memphis.
But the undisputed bad-start-and-made-playoffs-anyway kings are the 1996-97 Phoenix Suns. They started 0-13, wound up finishing 40-42, held a 2-1 series lead over top-seeded Seattle in the best-of-five opening round, then fell in five games.Golden State teammates Klay Thompson and Draymond Green have both appeared in 102 playoff victories.f
— There will have been 1,384 playoff games in the league between Sacramento’s last playoff game and by the time the Kings and Golden State tip off in Game 1 on Saturday. All 29 other teams played at least 11 playoff games in that span; Boston has the most with 201, and the Celtics and Miami have a league-high 108 playoff wins apiece over that stretch.
Boston's average point differential against playoff-bound teams per game is also better than any other postseason club. The Celtics outscored playoff teams, on average, by 5.6 points per game.
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