Daily Archives: May 4th, 2012

2012 NBA Playoffs: Win-Loss Records in Series-Deciding Games (1984-2011)

Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ is a sports statistics blog published multiple times weekly focusing on stats that go beyond the numbers.

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How many of the NBA’s first-round playoff series do you think will go the full seven games? Based on the last nine years (the NBA went to seven-game first-round series formatĀ in 2003) there have only been 11 first-round series go seven games (11 of 72 series, 15.8 percent). In fact, the 2011 playoffs were the first since 1984 (when the league went to the current 16-teams-make-the-playoffs format) that none of the first-round playoff series went seven games.

Here’s a look at how many of the NBA playoff series have gone to a Game Seven since 1984:

First Round (since 2003): 11 of 72 series (15.8 percent)*

Conference Semifinals: 30 of the 112 series (26.8 percent)

Conference Finals: 12 of the 56 series (21.4 percent) Note: A Conference Finals series has not gone to a Game Seven since 2005!

NBA Finals: 5 of the 28 series (17.9 percent)

* From 1984-2002, the first-round series were five games. Of those 152 series, 52 (34.2 percent) went to a series-deciding Game Five. From 1984-2011, all series-deciding games (Game Five or Game Seven) happened in 63 of the 224 series, 28.1 percent. Total up all of the above and we see that since 1984, 110 of the 420 NBA playoff series has gone to a deciding-game (26.2 percent).

How well has your team done in series-deciding Game Five or Game Sevens since 1984?

Team, W/L in Deciding Games, (Game 7 W/L, Game 5 W/L)

Golden State 1-0, 1.000 (0-0, 1-0)

Dallas 6-1 .857 (4-1, 2-0)

L.A. Lakers 8-2, .800 (7-1, 1-1)

Phoenix 6-3 .667 (3-2, 3-1)

Boston 10-5 .667 (8-4, 2-1)

Denver 3-2 .600 (0-1, 3-1)

Atlanta 7-5 .583 (2-2, 5-3)

New York 8-6 .571 (3-5, 5-1)

Chicago 4-3 .571 (2-3, 2-0)

Utah 9-7 .563 (2-2, 7-5)

Detroit 8-7 .533 (5-3, 3-4)

Houston 6-6 .500 (4-4, 2-2)

Milwaukee 5-5 .500 (2-3, 3-2)

San Antonio 3-3 .500 (2-2, 1-1)

New Jersey 2-2 .500 (0-1, 2-1)

Orlando 2-2 .500 (2-1, 0-1)

Minnesota 1-1 .500 (1-0, 0-1)

Toronto 1-1 .500 (0-0, 1-1)

Oklahoma City/Seattle 6-8 .429 (3-2, 3-6)

Philadelphia 3-4 .429 (1-1, 2-3)

Miami 3-6 .333 (2-3, 1-2)

Portland 2-4 .333 (1-2, 1-2)

Cleveland 2-5 .286 (1-2, 1-3)

Indiana 2-6 .250 (2-3, 0-3)

Sacramento 0-5 .000 (0-3, 0-2)

L.A. Clippers 0-4 .000 (0-2, 0-2)

New Orleans/Charlotte Hornets 0-3 .000 (0-3, 0-0)

Washington 0-2 (0-1, 0-1)

Memphis 0-1 .000 (0-1, 0-0)

Charlotte Bobcats 0-0 .000 (0-0, 0-0)

Did you know? The Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers have each have won four straight Game Sevens.

Follow Jerry on Twitter @StatsonTapp

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