7 in 7

For the first time in NBA history, there will be 7 different champions in 7 years:

• 2019: Raptors

• 2020: Lakers

• 2021: Bucks

• 2022: Warriors

• 2023: Nuggets

• 2024: Thunder, Timberwolves, Knicks or Pacers

Besides the previous six years, the only other time there were six different champions in six years was 1975-1980 (Warriors, Celtics, Trail Blazers, Bullets, SuperSonics, Lakers).

New champions

The Timberwolves have never won an NBA title.

They have the shortest title drought among this year's conference finalists.

The Knicks haven't won a championship since 1973. The only championship in Thunder franchise history came in 1979, when they were still the Seattle SuperSonics. The Pacers, who joined the NBA in 1976, have never won a championship. By comparison, Minnesota – which launched as an expansion franchise in 1989 – has had a relatively brief wait for a title.

So, every conference-finalist this year is on at least a 35-season championship drought.

The only other time all four teams had been waiting at least 25 seasons for a championship: 2021. Every team was on at least a 49-year championship drought – Hawks (last title: 1958), Bucks (last title: 1971), Suns (never, established 1968) and Clippers (never, established 1970).

If Seattle gets a new expansion team, the Thunder will get retconned as being on just a 16-season title drought, as their SuperSonics history would get transferred back to Seattle (a la New Orleans and Charlotte). Even then, every conference finalist being on a 16-season title drought would still be the fifth-highest collective wait of all-time, with only 2021, 1999, 2015 and 1994 ranking higher.

New York Knicks

At least the Pacers, Timberwolves and Thunder are familiar with this level. Indiana and Minnesota made the conference finals last season. Oklahoma City has made it five times in the last 15 years.

The Knicks hadn't made it since 2000.

This ends the seventh-longest ever and third-longest active conference-finals drought at 24 straight seasons:

The longest active conference-finals droughts now belong to the Wizards (last: 1979), Charlotte (never, established 1988) and 76ers (last: 2001).

Upsets

The Pacers getting here required a mammoth upset.

The Knicks just pulled an even bigger upset.

By implied betting odds, New York had just a 15% chance of beating the Celtics – making this the seventh-biggest upset on record.

Biggest series upsets since 1988 (via Basketball-Reference):

New York

Perhaps even more miraculously, the Knicks did it at home.

By beating the Celtics in Game 6 at Madison Square Garden, New York got with its first closeout home win since 1999. That snapped the fourth-longest ever and longest active streak of years without a closeout home win:

• Cincinnati Royals/Kansas City/Sacramento Kings: 38 years (1964-2002)

• Buffalo Braves/San Diego/Los Angeles Clippers: 35 years (1971-2006)

• Fort Wayne/Detroit Pistons: 32 years (1956-1988)

• New York Knicks: 26 years (1999-2025)

Once the Knicks finally broke their five-game losing streak in closeout home games, New York fans took to the streets for quite the memorable celebration.

Now, Charlotte – which hasn't had a closeout home win since 2001 – has the longest such drought (even without counting the two seasons between the original Hornets moving and the franchise re-emerging as the Bobcats).

Celtics-Knicks Game 6

The Knicks were already beating Boston and on their way to a 3-1 series lead when Jayson Tatum got hurt in Game 4. Maybe the Celtics would have made a major comeback if Tatum were healthy. Their Game 5 win without him was impressive. But New York erased so much doubt by absolutely running Boston off the floor in Game 6, winning by 38.

It was stunning seeing the Celtics fall that way.

Some defending champions have missed the playoffs. Some have lost in the first round.

But none had gone out like that.

Boston's 38-point loss was the largest elimination loss ever by a defending champion and the second-largest in any playoff game by a defending champion.

Last year, the Nuggets lost Game 6 to the Timberwolves by 45 (before suffering an even more-devastating defeat, blowing a 20-point lead at home in Game 7).

Boston Celtics

The 2024 Celtics won a championship without:

• Their best player already having proven himself to be a champion

• Beating a team whose best player had already proven himself to be a champion

• Beating an excellent team

That put Boston alone in a class with the 1955 Syracuse Nationals.

Sure, in time, the Celtics' relatively easy path to the title will be forgotten. The banner will still hang.

But it was disappointing not to see Boston – which looked like an all-time great team! – challenged more in the playoffs, particularly because prior-year Celtics crumbled under that pressure. Those questions returned to the forefront this year, as Boston fell behind the Knicks even before Jayson Tatum got hurt.

Yet, the Celtics deserve full credit for remaining consistently excellent and giving themselves a chance year after year – particularly in this parity era.

Boston has made the playoffs the last 11 years, won a playoff series 8 of the last 9 years and won 57+ games each of the last three years.

I hacked together a formula based on prior champions to determine a team's title odds based on record. An outline (pro-rated to an 82-game season):

• 70 wins: 62% title odds

• 65 wins: 41% title odds

• 60 wins: 25% title odds

• 55 wins: 14% title odds

• 50 wins: 6% title odds

• 45 wins: 1% title odds

Mathematicians will surely dislike my methodology. Regular-season record is far from a perfect indicator of a team's playoff quality.

But this looks crudely right and tells a story of championship equity.

In the Tatum era, Boston leads the league with 1.2 expected championships (including this season). The Bucks (1.0) and Thunder (0.8) follow.

All championships require luck. That's why there's value in rolling the dice more often.

Some years, you might run into a LeBron team or a Heat team that punches way above its weight in the playoffs. Some years, you might go shockingly cold from deep then have your star player get hurt.

But one year, you might get an all-time easy path to a title and work your way through it.

As long as you keep giving yourself chances.

Cavaliers-Celtics

The Cavaliers and Celtics cleared the rest of the East by 10 games in the regular season.

Neither Cleveland nor Boston made the Eastern Conference finals.

Nothing like that has ever happened before. Not even close.

Seven of the other nine times two teams were that far ahead of the rest of their conference (or, prior, division), BOTH made the conference (or, prior, division) finals. Every time the top two teams were more than even five games ahead of the field, at least one made the conference (or, prior, division) finals.

For both the Cavs and Celtics to be home already is stunning.

Oklahoma City Thunder

The Thunder set a regular-season record, outscoring opponents by 12.87 points per game

Oklahoma City has been EVEN MORE DOMINANT in the playoffs (+12.91 per game).

The Thunder swept Memphis resoundingly in the first round, and though they went seven games against the Nuggets, that series was relatively lopsided, too:

Despite a seven-game series, the Thunder have the second-best margin through the first and second rounds in NBA history (+142).

In 2009, the Nuggets were +160 after beating New Orleans and Dallas 4-1 and 4-1 in the first two rounds.

Thunder-Nuggets/Timberwolves

Watch Nate and Danny review Thunder-Nuggets then preview Thunder-Timberwolves:

-Dan Feldman