Every NBA team’s greatest playoff moment
Not every NBA franchise has a title in their history, but every team has a playoff moment fans can hang their hats on.
It’s a fool’s errand to try and equate all 30 NBA franchises in terms of playoff success. After all, there are 12 teams that have never won a championship, while seven teams have never been to the Finals at all. Meanwhile, the Boston Celtics (17) and Los Angeles Lakers (16) have combined for 33 titles between the two teams in their history.
However, every franchise has been to the NBA Playoffs despite the varying degrees of success. As a result, there are moments in every team’s history when it comes to the postseason that fans can point to and remember fondly. These moments come in many different shapes, from entire playoff runs to a single series to one game all the way down to one play.
Much like how teams are not on a level playing field in terms of championships, all 30 organizations don’t have the same number of moments to choose from. Deciding which playoff moment for aforementioned Celtics and Lakers is their greatest is not an easy task. The same can be said of teams like the Chicago Bulls and San Antonio Spurs as well. For the Charlotte Hornets and many others, though, the list of great moments is much thinner.
No matter how thin the list, though, we’re going to dive into the history of all 30 teams to pinpoint that one last memory. These are every NBA team’s greatest playoff moment, presented in alphabetical order.
Note: All stats and box score data is via Basketball Reference.
Atlanta Hawks: First Eastern Conference Finals appearance (2015)
Save for the early-to-mid-2000s, the Atlanta Hawks have been a staple in the NBA Playoffs. They’ve long been a team able to do an ample amount in the regular season to experience postseason play, dating all the way back to their move from St. Louis to Atlanta in 1968. However, one thing that had eluded them throughout nearly 50 years had been anything more than marginal playoff success. Until the 2015 playoffs, the Hawks had never made it past the conference semifinals.
In the 2014-15 season, though, the Hawks were clearly boasting one of the best teams in franchise history, something they put on display in the regular season. Atlanta posted the second-best record in the league, behind the Golden State Warriors, as they won 60 games and clinched the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. Their first round series against the Brooklyn Nets was more difficult than it should’ve been, but the Hawks prevailed.
That set up a matchup in the semis against the Washington Wizards, and Hawks fans felt the tortured playoff history start to creep up again. Atlanta dropped Game 1 at home to the Wizards, though they came back to even it up in Game 2. But then Washington held serve at home in Game 3 and the Hawks again faced a series deficit and fans surely expected the worst.
On the back of a stout defensive effort led by DeMarre Carroll, though, the Hawks wouldn’t lose again in the series. They weren’t spectacular in Games 4-6 by any means, their largest margin of victory was just five points. However, they clawed to get past their East Semis demons and were finally able to get to the East Finals for the first time in franchise history.
They must’ve used all their fuel reserves to do so, though, because the Cleveland Cavaliers swept them in the Conference Finals. But it’s all about progression, and the Hawks finally did that after almost five decades of not being able to.