Lowest seeds to reach the NBA final

When the NBA playoffs continue, we have already seen many upsets. Only one team from the two best seed lines left and there is still a No. 6 seed on the hunt, which tries to only become third to third to reach the NBA final.

Playoff basketball just hits differently.

But although we had no shortage of upset this year, we had no chance of seeing something like the historical runs that we will collapse. So we will look back two teams that put together some incredible playoff runs.

These two teams remain the only two No. 8 seeds that reach the NBA final in history.

The New York Knicks from 1998 to 1999 had a remarkable (and unlikely) playoff run, one of the most surprising in NBA history.

New York was the first seed No. 8 to reach the NBA final after only four games over 0.500 ended the shortened regular season.

Head coach Jeff van Gundy navigated the season with a squad who didn't have much experience because the team had brought Latrell Sprewell and Marcus Camby with them just a year earlier. The apparent lack of chemistry often raised his head throughout the regular season, so that nobody had expected anything from the Knicks when the post -season came.

In the first round, New York was against Miami with seed No. 1, a team that knicked the Knicks well after they were met in the playoffs in the last two seasons. In a crucial game 5, the Knicks -Guard Allan Houston met a runner who had hit the edge and back board before fell 0.8 seconds in front of the net to finally drive New York. It was only the second time in the NBA story that a seed No. 8 had defeated a number 1 in a playoff series.

The Knicks got the Hawks in the second round, a series with much less drama. New York's defense (led by Camby) suffocated and the Hawks were swept 4-0. In the final of the Eastern Conference, the Knicks met the heavily damn Indiana Pacers.

Knick Patrick Ewing injured his Achilles during the second game. With the series with one victory per piece, it didn't look good for New York. But a four-point game by Larry Johnson in game three delivered a massive spark. The Knicks would win the games 3, 5 and 6 to get to the NBA final.

The run ended here. New York scored the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA final and was quickly sent in five games. After the injury to Ewing, the Knicks had little answer to Tim Duncan and David Robinson's duo.

Duncan in particular was astonishing in the series. He achieved an average of 27.4 points and 14 rebounds on the way to the final MVP.

Almost 25 years later, another seed No. 8 shocked the basketball world and made it to the NBA final.

The Miami heat 2022-23, led by the unreal grit and leadership of Jimmy Butler and the coaching of Erik Spoelstra, overcame the long opportunities and consolidated their place in the NBA tradition as one of the best outsider of all time.

To put it nice, the regular season of heat was overwhelming. The team ended 44–38 and won the number 7 in the Eastern Conference. However, they would lose in the play-in game against the Atlanta Hawks. The heat gathered to defeat Chicago in her second game and to secure No. 8.

Nevertheless, there were very few expectations of this Miami team that had to deal with inconsistency and a below -average crime throughout the season.

In the first round, Miami stood the Milwaukee Bucks. The goats were the best team in the regular season and were among the favorites to win a championship. The heat only needed five games to pack them thanks to an incredible basketball from Butler. Butler scored at least 30 points in all four Miami victories, including a 56-point outbreak in game 4.

With a lot of momentum, the heat entered a matchup in the second round with the New York Knicks. Miami leaned to his defense and won the series in six games and reached the final of the Eastern Conference.

In the ECF, Miami took over a breathtaking 3-0 lead against No. 2 Saatgut Boston Celtics. Boston ultimately went on his own run, won three in a row and forced a game 7. Butler was again awarded in the crucial game and led all the scorers with 28 points, but it was really a breakout performance by Caleb Martin.

Martin played the game of his life and scored 26 points when shooting 69% and helped the heat to advance the NBA final.

Similar to the Knicks in front of them, the heat in the NBA final was exceeded and lost in five games against the Denver Nuggets. Three of their four losses were at least 11 points.

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