On August 18th, 2020, something happened that has never happened before in basketball history. And no, it isn’t the location of the playoffs. On August 18th, the #8 seeds from the Western Conference and Eastern Conference both upset the #1 seeds in Game 1. While this has happened to an individual team, it has never happened to both conferences at the same time.
In the Eastern Conference, the Orlando Magic beat the Milwaukee Bucks, who had last year’s (and possibly this year’s) MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, 122-110. This is very surprising, considering the fact that last year as the #1 seed, the Bucks swept the Pistons in four games. The year before, the Wizards had to wait two games as the 8th seed before they could claim a W against that year’s #1 seed, the Toronto Raptors. In 2017, however, the 8th seeded Bulls won 2 games in a row against the top seeded Celtics; before the Celtics won the next four games. It never happened in both conferences though.
In the Western Conference, the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Los Angeles Lakers 100-93, despite Lebron James having a monster 23 point, 17 rebound, 16 assists performance. In 2019, the 8th seeded Clippers managed to steal 2 games from the top seeded Warriors before losing in 6, but they didn’t win game one. In 2018, the Houston Rockets beat the Timberwolves in the first round and one game one. In 2017, the Warriors won every single postseason game they played; except for one game in the Finals against the Cavaliers.
And as you go back and back and back, you realize that; this has never happened. Not in the 21st or the 20th century. 2020 is really a year for the history books, mostly for all the wrong reasons. Behind the scenes, records are being set in front of our very own eyes without even realizing it.
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