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The 2008 NBA Playoffs was the postseason for the National Basketball
Association's 2007–08 season which ended with the
Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics defeating the Western
Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers 4–2.
There were four rounds of postseason action, all of them in a
best-of-seven format, with teams seeded on a bracket. The team with
the better record was not necessarily the basis of seeding teams in
the playoffs. Nevertheless, the team with the better record in a
match-up had home court advantage.
The theme songs for the Playoffs were "Nine Lives" by Def Leppard and Tim McGraw for the
Eastern Conference and "We Made
It" by Busta
Rhymes and Linkin
Park for the Western Conference.
The playoffs were noted for the return of the Atlanta Hawks into
postseason action after nine years of absence, taking the #1 seed
Boston Celtics
into a full seven games before bowing out. Also notable was the
race for the Western Conference home court advantage, eventually
won by the Los Angeles Lakers who emerged as the Western Conference
champions; the debut of the Chris Paul-led New Orleans
Hornets in the playoffs after Hurricane Katrina and their 7-game
series against defending champions San Antonio Spurs; and the Lakers'
and Celtics' revitalization of their franchises, most especially
after key trades during the pre-season and regular season. The
Celtics ended up playing in 26 postseason games (2 games short of a
full length postseason of 28), breaking the 25 game record of the
1994 New York Knicks by
one game for the record of most postseason games in a single season
played by a single NBA team. The Knicks, however, only played a
Best-of-5 First Round playoff series, and so had two fewer games to
accomplish that feat.
The two number one seeds, the Lakers and the Celtics, disputed
the NBA championship, reviving their old rivalry, last played
in the 1987
Finals. Also, it marked the first time since 2000 that both
top seeds from each Conference met in the Finals.
Format
The 2008 format was the same as 2007's format.
- The top 8 teams from each conference qualified for the
playoffs.
- The top 4 seeded teams were the three division winners and the
best division runner-up all ranked on the basis of their
standings.
- The bottom 4 seeded teams were seeded by basis of their
standings.
- All series were in a best-of-seven format with the Games 1–2, 5
and 7 on the home court of the team with the better record (not
necessarily higher seed).
- Exception: For the NBA
Finals, the team with the better record played Games 1–2 and
6–7 on their home court.
- Reseeding (as used in the Stanley Cup
Playoffs) was not in use: therefore, all playoff matchups were
predetermined via the teams' seedings.
Playoff
qualifying
Eastern
Conference
The following teams clinched a playoff berth in the East:
- Boston
Celtics (66–16, clinched Atlantic Division, and home court
advantage throughout the playoffs)
- Detroit
Pistons (59–23, clinched Central Division title)
- Orlando
Magic (52–30, clinched Southeast Division title)
- Cleveland Cavaliers (45–37)
- Washington Wizards (43–39)
- Toronto
Raptors (41–41)
- Philadelphia 76ers (40–42)
- Atlanta
Hawks (37–45)
Western
Conference
The following teams clinched a playoff berth in the West:
- Los
Angeles Lakers (57–25, clinched Pacific Division title, and
home court advantage for the Western Conference playoffs)
- New
Orleans Hornets (56–26, clinched Southwest Division title,
winning conference record tiebreaker over Spurs)
- San
Antonio Spurs (56–26)
- Utah Jazz (54–28,
clinched Northwest Division title)
- Houston
Rockets (55–27, winning conference record tiebreaker over
Suns)
- Phoenix Suns
(55–27)
- Dallas
Mavericks (51–31)
- Denver
Nuggets (50–32)
Bracket
This was the outlook for the 2008 NBA playoffs. Teams in
italics had home court
advantage. Teams in bold advanced to the next
round. Numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's
original playoffs seeding in their respective conferences. Numbers
to the right of each team indicate the number of games the team won
in that round. The division champions possess an asterisk (*).
This box: view • talk • edit
Eastern
Conference
First
Round
Both Game 1 and Game 2 were Celtic routs, keyed by great team
defense (Atlanta averaged 79 points in the first two games) and
balanced Celtic scoring (six players were in double figures in Game
1, five in Game 2). The most buzz was generated by Mike Bibby stating that
Celtic fans were bandwagoners after Game 1, prompting lusty boos
every time he touched the ball in Game 2.[1]
In Game 3, Atlanta showed its athleticism with an array of dunks
from Josh Smith (27
points) and a strong interior performance by the rookie Al Horford (17 points, 14
rebounds, 6 assists), who also jawed with Paul Pierce near the end of the game. There
would be more jawing in Game 4 between Zaza Pachulia and Kevin Garnett, but
the outcome was a surprise: Thanks to fourth quarter heroics by Joe Johnson and Smith, who
combined to score 32 of Atlanta's 34 4th quarter points, the
upstart Hawks rallied from a 10 point third quarter deficit in Game
4 to tie the series going back to Boston. Boston dominated Game 5,
but in Game 6, six Hawks players finished in double figures to edge
the Celtics to force a winner-take-all Game 7. The Hawks were no
match for the Celtics in Game 7, as the Celtics held them to 26
points in the 1st half. 3 minutes into the 2nd half, the series'
tensions finally boiled over when Marvin Williams was ejected for
committing a hard foul on Rajon Rondo. Then after that, Kevin Garnett
was noted for trucking Zaza Pachulia while going for a screen.
Misses down the stretch by Tayshaun Prince and Rasheed Wallace
kept the Pistons from beating the Sixers at their home floor as Andre Iguodala
grabbed clutch defensive rebounds to seize the home court
advantage. The Pistons responded with a blowout in Game 2. Game 3
was close at halftime, but Samuel Dalembert and Andre Miller helped
to break it open with strong overall performances. Detroit was
behind by 12 in Game 4 at halftime and in danger of falling behind
3–1 going back home, but three second-half 3s by Rasheed Wallace
and strong showings by Tayshaun Prince and Chauncey
Billups keyed an eighteen point 3rd quarter turnaround which
helped even the series. Detroit dominated Game 5 behind Billups's
14 points and 5 first quarter assists, jumping out to a fourteen
point lead and never looking back. Richard Hamilton keyed a
similar such start in Game 6, scoring 13 points, as the Pistons
took an eighteen point first quarter lead and eventually rolled
into the second round.
Scoring 25 points and grabbing 22 rebounds, Dwight Howard gave
the Magic their first playoffs win since 2003 as
they practically led the entire game.[2] Howard
would put up a 29–20 in Game 2, as Hedo Turkoglu scored
the final four go-ahead points to give the Magic a 2–0 lead. The
Raptors would respond with a strong Game 3 victory keyed by great
point guard play
from T. J. Ford and Jose Calderon. But Jameer Nelson, Rashard Lewis and
Keith Bogans keyed
strong three point shooting in Game 4 and overcame Chris Bosh's 39 points
and 15 rebounds to bring the Magic out of Toronto with a 3–1 lead.
Howard would finish off the series in Game 5 as impressively as he
started–21 points, 21 rebounds, 3 blocks.
LeBron James,
labeled as "overrated" by Wizards guard DeShawn Stevenson, scored 20 of his
32 points in the second half to help the Cavs draw first blood in
their third first round meeting in as many years.[3] The
Cavs and Wizards traded blowouts in Games 2 and 3, but Cleveland
took a 3–1 lead in the Verizon Center off of Delonte West's last
second three pointer. Washington stayed alive by winning Game 5
when Caron Butler
converted a running shot with only seconds left, capping off his 32
point performance. However, James would lead the Cavs to a
dominating Game 6 victory in Washington with a triple double (27
points, 13 rebounds, 13 assists); he also received crucial outside
shooting from Wally Szczerbiak and Daniel Gibson, who
combined for 48 points.
This series was marked by several harsh physical plays on LeBron
James, with Brendan Haywood, Stevenson, and Darius Songaila
picking up technical and flagrant fouls for hard contact on
James.
Conference
Semifinals
(1)
Boston Celtics vs. (4) Cleveland Cavaliers
Although the Celtics had a quick turnaround from their
unexpected seven-game series with Atlanta, they managed to hold off
the Cavs by winning the first two games in Boston. Kevin Garnett
scored 28 points and 8 rebounds and made the go-ahead shot in Game
1. LeBron James
would only shoot 8 for 42 from the field in the first two
games.
Cleveland would come back to win the next two games, Game 3, a
blowout where five Cavs scored in double figures, and Game 4 where
James would punctuate the victory with a dunk over Garnett. James's
shooting improved in the return to the Garden in Game 5, but
received minimal help from his teammates as Rajon Rondo, Garnett, and Paul Pierce all scored
over 20 points to push Boston
over the top. Game 6 was an ugly affair, with both teams shooting
under 40 percent, but a 32-12-6 performance by James was enough.
Boston, the best road team in the regular season, fell to 0–6 on
the road.
Game 7 would end in a duel between Pierce (41 points) and James
(45 points) that some compared to the great Bird-Dominique duel in
the Garden 20 years ago. But timely offensive rebounding (10 in
all), 18 second chance points, and a few key shots from the Celtic
veteran P.J. Brown helped push Boston into the Eastern Conference Finals.
(2) Detroit
Pistons vs. (3) Orlando Magic
The Detroit Pistons opened up with a rout in Game 1, as
Detroit's big men keyed in on Dwight Howard and forced him to playoff
lows 12 points and 8 rebounds, with five Pistons scoring in double
figures. After being quiet in Game 1, the Magic's 3 point shooting
picked up (11 for 26, Jameer Nelson making five for eight), but
could not overcome 19 turnovers and fell down in the series 2–0.
There would also be a controversial call at the end of the third
quarter where Chauncey Billups would make a 3 near
the end of the 3rd quarter when the clock froze and approximately
0.5 seconds remained, but TNT clocks would later reveal that
Billups could not have gotten the ball off in time.
The Magic would take a 24–6 lead at home in Game 3 and use a
38–17 4th quarter to blow out Detroit; they were paced by 33 points
by Rashard
Lewis. Billups would injure his right hamstring early in the
game and miss the remainder of the series, but they would not need
him for Game 4 as Richard Hamilton scored
32 points and the Pistons came from 15 back in the 3rd quarter. Tayshaun Prince
would make the go-ahead basket with 8.9 seconds left and Hedo Turkoglu missed a layup as time ran
out.
Billups's starting replacement, Rodney Stuckey, struggled in Game 4, but
came back with a strong Game 5. The Magic would outshoot the
Pistons 48 to 36 percent, would make 36 percent of their 3s
compared to 21 percent for Detroit, and outrebound them 46 to 38,
but turned the ball over 21 times while Detroit had only 3. Rip
Hamilton again led Detroit with 31 points, and Prince made the
crucial defensive play by blocking Turkoglu's layup in the waning
seconds. Detroit advanced to their sixth straight Eastern Conference Finals, the longest
Conference Finals streak since the Los Angeles Lakers went to eight
straight in the 80s.
Conference Finals: (1) Boston Celtics vs. (2) Detroit
Pistons
Detroit walked into the NBA Eastern Conference Finals for the
sixth straight season. Boston held off the Pistons in Game 1 on
79–88, but let Detroit rally a strong performance in Game 2 to win
it 103–97 (marking Boston's first home court loss in the
post-season). However, they let the Celtics win their first road
playoff game 94–80 in Game 3. Game 4 saw the Pistons win 94–75,
however they lost Game 5 106–102 despite a scoring run late in the
game. In Game 6, the Pistons strolled into the fourth quarter
leading 70–60, but a lack of focus, a poor game from Rasheed
Wallace, and a rally-destroying turnover by Tayshaun Prince
ultimately led to their demise, as the Pistons would end their
season losing 89–81. With that, the Celtics moved on to the NBA
Finals, and they would face the Los Angeles Lakers for the 11th
time.
Western
Conference
First
Round
In Pau Gasol's
playoff debut with the Lakers, he scored 36 points, 16 rebounds, 8
assists and 3 blocked shots as the Lakers beat the Nuggets in Game
1. Kobe Bryant gave
the fans a vintage performance in Game 2 by scoring 49 points and
adding 10 assists in a blowout at Staples Center. The Nuggets were
routed at home in Game 3, with Carmelo Anthony stating the team quit
in the second half. Game 4 was closer, but Bryant led the Lakers
with 14 points in the last five and a half minutes to close out the
Nuggets at the Pepsi
Center. It was the first time the Lakers advanced to the second
round since the 2003–04 NBA season.[4]
In his playoff debut, Chris Paul scored 35 points, dished out 10
assists, and stole the ball 4 times to lead the Hornets to a
comeback home win against the Mavericks.[5] He
would replicate that type of performance in Game 2 with 32 points
and 17 assists. Dallas would come out with a dominant Game 3
performance at home after inserting Jason Terry into the starting lineup, but
New Orleans would win the final two games of the series, keyed by
David West in Game 4 and Paul's
triple-double in Game 5.
Michael
Finley made a game-tying three in regulation, Tim Duncan scored 40
points, including a rare three-point field goal to force
a second overtime, and Manu Ginóbili
clinched victory with a drive to the basket to break the 115-all
deadlock with 1.8 seconds left to win a classic Game 1.[6] Tony Parker would then
pace the Spurs to their next two victories in the series, scoring
32 and 41 in Games 2 and 3 respectively. At the brink of
elimination, Phoenix responded with a strong Game 4. But costly
missed free throws by Shaquille O'Neal and key turnovers by
Steve Nash helped San
Antonio to prevail in Game 5, led again by Parker's 31 points.
Also notable was Gregg Popovich's use of the Hack-a-Shaq throughout
the series to disrupt the Suns offense when Shaquille
O'Neal was on the floor. O'Neal would shoot 64 free throws in
the five games, making 32 of them.
The Jazz had a balanced game from Andrei Kirilenko, Carlos Boozer and
Deron Williams
to steal the home
court advantage away from the Rockets.[7] A
similar such performance in Game 2 put Utah in a commanding 2–0
lead going back to Salt Lake City. Rafer Alston's return to the Houston
lineup after injury, along with Tracy McGrady's 27 points and Carl Landry's key block
of Deron Williams on the crucial possession helped Houston to steal
Game 3 on the road. Williams responded with a strong performance in
a Game 4 victory, plus got some help from Mehmet Okur with his offensive rebound off
of his two missed free throws. The Rockets controlled Game 5 to
stay alive, but despite getting 40 points, 10 rebounds, and 5
assists from McGrady in Game 6 and 15 pts from Luis Scola, the rest of
Houston's team shot 10 for 39 from the field and could not overcome
losing Alston to an ankle injury as the Jazz blew the game open
with a 27–11 3rd quarter.
Conference Semifinals
(1) Los
Angeles Lakers vs. (4) Utah Jazz
The Lakers took Game 1 in Staples Center, winning by 11 against
the Jazz. After being presented with the season's NBA MVP award in Game 2, Kobe Bryant led the
Lakers to victory with 34 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists.
However, as the series shifted back to Utah, the Jazz responded,
winning Games 3 and 4 behind the performances of Deron Williams
and Carlos
Boozer, who bounced back after two poor games in Los Angeles.
The Lakers came back with authority as they took Game 5 with
Bryant, Pau Gasol, and
Lamar Odom scoring 20
plus points each. The Jazz looked to force a Game 7 but the Lakers
did not trail and closed out the series in Game 6 with a 108–105
win at Utah, where the Jazz were 37–4 during the regular season.
Bryant led the team with 34 points as the Lakers advanced to the Western
Conference Finals, which they had not reached since 2004. This
was the first playoff meeting between the two teams since the 1998
Western Conference Finals.
(2)
New Orleans Hornets vs. (3) San Antonio Spurs
The Hornets, who earned the home-court advantage via winning the
Southwest division, were able to gain a quick 2–0 lead in the
series over the veteran Spurs. But when the series shifted to San
Antonio the Spurs regained their edge, returning the favor in games
3 and 4. Game 5 back in New Orleans shocked many as the Hornets
played off the home crowd to a 22 point rout. The home teams were
clearly dominating in this series as Game 6 was more of the same in
San Antonio. However, that all changed when a much anticipated Game
7 saw the Spurs erect a 15 point lead after 3 quarters, which
proved to be enough (even after the Hornets cut the deficit to 3
with 1:35 left) to send them to another Western Conference
Finals.
Conference Finals: (1) Los Angeles Lakers vs. (3) San Antonio
Spurs
The series pitted the two best teams in the Western Conference
over the last 10 years. Having the home court advantage, the Lakers
started out as a favorite and did not disappoint their home crowd
as they overcame a 20-point deficit in Game 1 and won behind Kobe Bryant's 27
points, 25 of which were scored in the second half. Game 2 was a
cruise for the Lakers as they made a 9–0 run before halftime, led
all game and built the lead to 30.
The Spurs easily took Game 3 at home with Manu Ginóbili
carrying the Spurs after two terrible games at L.A, making 5
3-pointers and finishing with 30 points; Tony Parker and Tim Duncan
added 42 more. In Game 4 the Lakers never trailed (the Spurs missed
several opportunities to take the lead) and led comfortably late,
but a furious run by the Spurs and several mistakes by the Lakers
(Bryant attempting a running fallaway with plenty of time on the
shot clock, Gasol missing two free throws) gave San Antonio a
chance to tie or win with seconds left. On a disputed no-call,
Derek Fisher jumped into Brent Barry's path, but no foul was called
and Barry missed a last second 3-pointer.
Heading home up 3–1 in the series, the Lakers trailed in the
first quarter by 17 but was able to cut the lead to six by
halftime. Again, Bryant stepped up by scoring 17 of his 39 points
in the fourth quarter, enabling the Lakers to surge ahead and seal
the series, helping them to reach the NBA finals for the 5th time
in 9 seasons and the first time in the post-Shaq era.
The Lakers were able to reach the NBA Finals again as the no. 1
seed. The last time this happened to the team was during the 2000 NBA
season, where they beat the Indiana Pacers 4–2. They also improved
to 4–0 against San Antonio in the Western Conference Finals. They
renewed their rivalry with the Boston Celtics as the two matched up for
the 11th time in the NBA Finals.
NBA Finals:
Boston Celtics vs. Los Angeles Lakers
Broadcast
notes
- The Playoffs began on Saturday April 19, with the Washington
Wizards facing the Cleveland Cavaliers on ESPN. ABC kicked off its
coverage with the Phoenix Suns facing the San Antonio
Spurs. TNT's
coverage began with a tripleheader on Sunday, April 20 in a game
between the Toronto Raptors and the Orlando Magic, with
the Denver
Nuggets playing the L.A. Lakers on ABC in between. NBA TV has been broadcasting
weeknight coverage of playoff games for at least the first
round.
- The Eastern Conference Finals were televised on ABC and ESPN, beginning Tuesday
May 20 at 8:30 pm EST. Game 3 is scheduled to be televised on
ABC—all other games are scheduled on ESPN.[8] The
last possible end date for the Eastern Conference Finals will be on
June 1, if the series goes to a seventh and deciding game.
- The Western Conference Finals were televised on TNT, beginning
Wednesday May 21 at 9 pm EST. The last possible end date for the
Western Conference Finals will be on June 2, if the series goes to
a seventh and deciding game.
- The NBA Finals
were televised on ABC, beginning Thursday June 5 at 9 pm EST. The
latest possible end date for the NBA Finals will be June 19, if the
Finals goes to a seventh and deciding game.
- ABC's lead
announcing team for the NBA Playoffs (and, by extension, the NBA Finals) was
play-by-play man Mike
Breen, joined by analysts Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy
along with sideline reporter Michele Tafoya. Mike Tirico, Hubie Brown and Lisa Salters were the second team
broadcasting on ABC. The latter, with the exception of Salters,
were the lead broadcast team for ESPN Radio's NBA coverage, with Jim Durham and Jack Ramsay the
secondary broadcast duo.
- ESPN's other
play-by-play announcers include Dave Pasch and Dan Shulman, along with analysts Rick Carlisle, Jon Barry and Doris Burke. Sideline
reporters include Heather Cox, Holly Rowe and Ric Bucher.
- TNT's lead
announcing teams for the NBA Playoffs were Marv Albert with Reggie Miller and Kevin Harlan with Doug Collins. Play-by-play announcers Dick Stockton and
Matt Devlin was also teamed
with Mike
Fratello and Los Angeles Clippers head coach Mike
Dunleavy on a rotating basis. Sideline reporters include Craig Sager, Cheryl Miller, Pam Oliver, David Aldridge,
Marty Snider, Dei Lynam, and Stephanie Ready.
Ratings
TNT's coverage of the 2008 NBA Playoffs was strong in audience
delivery, with the playoff averages showing year-over-year growth
among households (+15%), viewers (+14%), adults 18–34 (+25%),
adults 18–49 (+22%), adults 25–54 (+24%), men 18–34 (+30%), women
18–34 (+5%), men 18–49 (+23%) and men 25–54 (+22%). [1]
References
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