The 2024 NBA Finals were a complete dud. This is by no means disrespect to the champion Boston Celtics, who simply did what they had to do to put down the Dallas Mavericks in five games. But between between the blowouts and the long layovers between games zapping the buzz around the series, this will go down as one of the more forgettable Finals of all time.
It’s only fitting that a lackluster championship series culminated what was overall a lackluster postseason in general. As Covers.com‘s Joe Osborne pointed out, eight series in the 2024 NBA Playoffs finished in five games or less. There were some highlights like the Nuggets–Timberwolves tussle in the second round and the Knicks were fun before they fell apart with injuries. But everything from the conference finals onwards was a huge letdown as the most high-stakes series turned out to be uncompetitive.
But were this year’s playoffs the worst we’ve seen in recent memory? Well, let’s determine this by looking at recent postseasons in NBA history and use three factors.
1. The number of series lasting five games or less, which constitutes as a blowout.
2. The number of series that ended in outright sweeps
3. The number of series that went to a Game 7.
Of course, each postseason is influenced by the context of that individual year, but we’ll stick with these three factors as a baseline. We’ll start at 2003, when the NBA went to a best-of-seven format for all four rounds in the postseason.
NBA Playoffs since 2003
| Year | Series lasting five games or less | Outright Sweeps | Game 7s |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Series lasting five games or less | Outright Sweeps | Game 7s |
| 2003 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| 2004 | 8 | 3 | 3 |
| 2005 | 7 | 3 | 4 |
| 2006 | 4 | 1 | 4 |
| 2007 | 8 | 4 | 1 |
| 2008 | 6 | 1 | 3 |
| 2009 | 7 | 2 | 4 |
| 2010 | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| 2011 | 8 | 2 | 1 |
| 2012 | 7 | 3 | 4 |
| 2013 | 5 | 3 | 3 |
| 2014 | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| 2015 | 7 | 4 | 2 |
| 2016 | 6 | 3 | 5 |
| 2017 | 8 | 5 | 2 |
| 2018 | 9 | 3 | 4 |
| 2019 | 8 | 3 | 3 |
| 2020* | 8 | 3 | 4 |
| 2021* | 6 | 2 | 3 |
| 2022 | 5 | 1 | 3 |
| 2023 | 7 | 2 | 3 |
| 2024 | 8 | 3 | 2 |
*2020 and 2021 NBA Finals concluded seasons altered by COVID-19
2024 does indeed go straight towards the bottom of the list as one of the worst postseasons in recent memory…but it’s not the worst. That title belongs to 2017.
2017 was the first year of the “oh great, the 73-win Warriors added Kevin Durant” era and they torched everyone in their path. All of their series were blowouts as the only game they lost that entire spring/summer was Game 4 of the NBA Finals against the Cavaliers. That postseason bracket was overwhelmed by the inevitability of Warriors-Cavs happening for a third year in a row and both teams combined for just one loss prior to the championship series. A competitive Finals could’ve somewhat salvaged this snoozefest of a postseason, but that wasn’t in the cards.
2007 was also an atrocious postseason overall as it was littered with blowouts and featured just one seven-game series. However, it did have memorable moments like the “We Believe” Warriors upsetting the Mavs in the first round, Robert Horry’s hip check on Steve Nash altering the Spurs-Suns series, and LeBron James going nuclear against the Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals. Tthose moments distracted from a postseason chalk full of lopsided series and it ended with the Spurs running an overmatched Cavaliers team off the floor in a Finals sweep.
2018 had the same exact “let’s just fast forward to Warriors-Cavs” element like the year prior and that postseason had a record nine blowout series in this sample. But it did feature four Game 7s, including both conference finals. In the East, the first Jayson Tatum/Jaylen Brown Celtics team took LeBron and the Cavs to the limit. In the West, the Rockets took the Warriors to the brink only to miss 27 straight threes in Game 7. That set up the fourth straight year of Warriors-Cavs and it ended up being a total dud, as Golden State swept Cleveland in an unceremonious end to LeBron’s second stint with his home franchise.
2011 on paper without context could also be viewed as a bad postseason, as it featured eight blowout series that ended in five games or less. The second-round tilt between the “Grit and Grind” Grizzlies and the upstart Thunder was the only one that went the full seven games. However, you have to remember that this is the beginning of the “Big 3” era of the Heat and their status as arguably the most polarizing team in NBA history made the entire postseason must watch. The Mavs humbling them in the NBA Finals stands as one of the most memorable moments in NBA history and saves 2011 from being in the worst neighborhood.
An honorable mention goes to the 2004 playoffs, an extremely top-heavy bracket where seven of the eight first-round series were decided in five games or less. However, the second round and conference finals were competitive and while the NBA Finals lasted only five games, it is memorialized for the Pistons upsetting the Lakers and ending the Kobe-Shaq era in LA.