NEWS: Did the Warriors Just Pull Off the Biggest Upset in Playoff History?

CULTURE: Did the Warriors Just Pull Off the Biggest Upset in Playoff History?

If its true that everyone loves an underdog, then it must be true that everyone (outside of Dallas, perhaps) loves the Golden State Warriors. If you don’t follow basketball, and I know most of you don’t, the Warriors just finished off the juggernaut Dallas Mavericks by winning the first round best-of-seven series 4 games to 2. The Warriors not only beat a team that finished 25 games ahead of them in the regular season standings, but they eviscerated them. Three of the games that Golden State won were by margins of 12 points or more. The series-clinching win, in front of a raucously ebullient crowd in Oakland last Thursday night, was by a 25 point margin… and it wasn’t as close as the score indicated.

I know what you’re thinking: Who cares? Underdog teams beat better teams all the time and it doesn’t make the SuicideGirls Newswire. This is true. However, an exception can be made in this case because of the magnitude of the accomplishment. The Warriors didn’t just pull off the biggest upset in basketball history. No, they just pulled off (perhaps) the biggest upset in all of American playoff sports history.

It’s a question that’s worth pursuing, but before we do let’s set some ground rules. First, no Olympics or other international competitions (because a victory in the Olympics is not an American team playing against another American team, and mostly because the Miracle On Ice would render this conversation moot.) Second, let’s limit it to team sports, so no Buster Douglas over Tyson or Hasim Rahman over Lewis.

ESPN.com just compiled a (rather incomplete) list of great playoff upsets to compare to the Warriors’ win. Included on that list are the 1994 Denver Nuggets first round win over the Seattle SuperSonics (the last time a #8 seed beat a #1 seed in the NBA playoffs), the LA Dodgers’ win over the Oakland A’s in the 1988 World Series, and the LA Kings’ victory over the powerful Edmonton Oilers in the 1982 NHL playoffs. Conspicuously absent from this list are the New York Jets upset of the Baltimore Colts in Superbowl III, NC State over Houston in the 1983 NCAA tournament, and the San Jose Sharks miracle win over the Detroit Red Wings in 1994.

So what are the underdog credentials that argue in favor of the Warriors-Mavs being the biggest upset in history?

Not only had the Warriors not won a playoff series in 16 years, they hadn’t even been to the playoffs in 13 years. Their recent history of ineptitude was reaching epic proportions. It was getting to the point where all of those “the (insert shitty team here) are the Clippers of (insert sport here)” jokes were being replaced with Warriors references. So the fact that this team, this franchise, was able to come out of nowhere (clinching a playoff spot on the last day of the season) and beat this Mavericks team (who dominated the league all season,) this thoroughly is simply staggering.

There’s more. The win differential of 25 games wasn’t just the biggest in NBA playoff history. It was the biggest in playoff history period. No team in baseball or hockey has ever beaten a team in the playoffs that they finished 25 games behind in the regular season. The closest that any pair of teams have come to that delta is the Nuggets-Sonics in 1995, who finished 22 games apart. The difference between that series and this one is that the Nuggets only had to beat the Sonics best three-out-of-five, not best four-out-of-seven. And while it’s an amazing feat to beat a great team three times in five games, it’s just mathematically more difficult to have to beat them four times.

Which leads me to my next point. Upsets in pro basketball are harder to pull off than in football, college basketball or soccer because the playoffs in those sports consist of playoff games rather than playoff series. Theoretically, any team can beat any team on any given day, but to beat them four times in a series is more difficult. In a series, the cream is supposed to rise to the top.

I would also argue that basketball upsets are harder than hockey or baseball upsets. In basketball, it is much easier for one or two players to dominate a game. Look at what Michael Jordan or Shaquille O’Neal or Bill Russell did over the course of their careers. Get a superstar, surround him with competent players, and you’re going to be very, very difficult to beat no matter what the other team throws at you. On the other hand, in hockey or baseball, upsets are more common. You catch a mediocre team with a hot goalie and all of the sudden they’re world beaters. A few guys in a lineup go cold with the bats and they can’t score runs against anyone. It happens all the time. Also, the lower scores in baseball and hockey mean that one goal or one run can mean a game. The same can’t be said for basketball. It’s the mathematical reality of the game.

Look, I’m not a huge Warriors fan. I’ve always rooted more for Detroit teams than I do East Bay teams. In fact, up until this year I sort of enjoyed seeing the Warriors falter so predictably every year because I got to make fun of my buddy OO7 for rooting for such a pathetic organization. But it’s hard for me to think of a bigger, better upset in the history of American team sports than this one all things considered.

So what say you, gentle readers? Biggest upset ever? I say yes. And I’ll also unashamedly jump on the bandwagon and say Go Golden State! I Believe*!

*That You Could Possibly Make It All The Way to the NBA Finals Wherein You Will Be Absolutely Destroyed By The Pistons.

yii-eeeeeeeeeeeeeee ! ! !

Nice article.

Where do you get the time?

I loved the (insert team name) are the Clippers of the (insert sport) part.

I had a $30 bet with a Clipper fan (I guess they do actually exist) on who would make it to the playoffs. Can't believe I almost lost that one. It only makes it better to rub it in to him on how well they are doing.

yeeeaaahh bay area represent

You're damn right that list is incomplete. Red Sox over the Yankees, '04 ALCS. 'Nuff said.

-TM

Well, no. While that was improbable, considering the deficit, it wasn't that much of an upset, as that term is generally defined. The Red Sox won 98 games that year, only three games less than the Yankees.

They won four in a row after being 0-3, which no team in baseball has done before or since. AND it put Yankees fans in their place.

What more could you want?

-TM

+ 3000millionbillion

I dunno, Red Socks Yankee's isn't nearly as mind staggering crazy. The Red Socks and the Yankees always play each other hard, and every year both are in contetion. To win after 0-3 is amazing, but for a team that haddn't been to the playoffs in 13 years, won 12! 12 road games all year, beating a team that had 67 wins, an mvp canidate if not the winner, and played in the finals the year before is nuts. And to not just win, but dominate. None of the wins where close and both of the losses were.

No one would have been terribly surprised if the Red Sox had won that series. The only thing that made this unique was them losing the first three games and winning the next four.

My only problem is that it was a first-round series. First-round series are to weed out the pretenders, and with the way the Mavericks played, had they won they wouldn't have gotten far anyway. The Red Sox/Yankees game was for the World Series, so it meant a hundred times more than a first-round playoff series. Besides, even in pro basketball no team has ever EVER come back from a three-game deficit.

Exactly. Certainly it qualifies as one of the greatest comebacks, but not upsets.

This hopefully will make it easier for the Suns to win the west now.

Both teams went 95-67. If you flip a coin three times and it comes up heads each time, is it an upset if tails comes up the next 4 times?

Biggest upset.

It is worth mentioning, though, that in the past upsets of this magnitude were less likely because playoff formats have expanded in the last two decades. Would have been kind of difficult to have such a disparity between the 1 seed and 4 seed.

Great upset, but it's also amazing just how thoroughly the Warriors destroyed the Mavs. It wasn't even close. No one saw it coming, even a diehard Warriors fan like your's truly. I had faith, but i wasn't expecting them to win more than one game in that series.

Blah. That's what I think about the NBA. I used to love it. But then I worked at the Staple Center my first year in LA. It became very apparent that the league was fixed.

Watching the NBA is like watching wrestling.

>

I wonder how many will get that.

the warriors and the mavericks? nice. it's nice to think of tom cruise getting his ass beat by someone of much lower celebrity pedigree.

hey, I also just noticed that the comments for this post are a sausage fest. I'm reminded of something indie rock pete said about three things that are not indie rock... one was major league baseball, another was obvious breast augmentation, and the other was the catholic church. let's just say NBA basketball is more or less interchangeable with MLB for the purposes of this argument... then I should say we're mucking up suicidegirls by talking sports.

kind of like going for a black kanasta instead of a red one. anyone? no? no kanasta players here? dammit.

I think the most interesting part of this upset is that the Mavs are only the second team in NBA history to win over 65 games (11 other teams have won 65+) and not make the finals. Side note: The Yankees V. Red Sox's series was for the ALSC, not the World Series. The Sox played the Cardinals in 04 and swept them.

I think you said that the Nuggets/Sonics upset in 1994 was the last time an 8 seed beat a 1 seed, but actually it happened with the Knicks over the Heat in 2000 (maybe it was 1999).

Personally, I think the Nuggets win over the Sonics was probably a bigger upset. The Nuggets were also down 2-0 in a best-of-five and rallied to win three straight and the series. Then they lost 3 straight to the Jazz before winning three straight to force game 7. But really, the Warriors were a team coming together at the right time and who had done well against Dallas even when not at full strength. That Denver Nuggets team was way outmatched by the Sonics.

But whatever. Bring on the Jazz, baby! GO WARRIORS!

Jerry says that the party's over.

Yup, it happened in 1999. It was a lockout shortened season (not that that matters). The #8 seed Knicks beat the #1 seeded Miami Heat. What's cool about that story is that the Knicks went on to reach the NBA Finals. They are the only 8th seed to do that. So i'm thinking the Warriors should take their cues from that club. Except for the losing in the Finals part, of course.

Personally, I think the Warriors upset is bigger than what the Knicks or Nuggets did. Mainly because it was a best-of-seven series. I'm guessing that one of the reasons they switched to a 7 game series is make sure the better team always wins. You're less likely to have a team get lucky and win a series based a just a few games. (If the folks over at Major League Baseball were smart, they'd do the same with their first round series'. But I digress. ). The Warriors weren't lucky. They thoroughly lashed the Mavs. They are a better team. Which is insane.

The Warriors finished with a 42-40 record and barely made the playoffs, but most people are forgetting that they have only been at full strength for the last month. Without the injuries, they probably would have finished with more wins. They're a better team than their record indicates.

I've been suffering with them since I was 8-years old, so this is pretty damn sweet