The 17 NBA Playoff Teams To Win A Game While Politely Waiting The Longest To Take The Lead
Jesse D. Garrabrant. Getty Images.We are officially on #1 draft pick for all time sports "Team of Destiny" watch with these Indiana Pacers. I don't know what else to say here. Who else comes to mind? The Giants beating the undefeated Patriots? The Miracle on Ice? The 2004 BoSox? If the Pacers actually pull this off, they got my vote for #1. Recency bias be damned. It's the Pacers. And sure - it's not like they were some play-in team with no business being in any way associated with post-season play. But given how historically superior the Cavaliers, Celtics, and Thunder were in so many aspects and the Pacers would have beat them two of those three gives them quite the case to be made.
Lot of ball left - but you can smell the magic in the air like the rain before a storm. It's palpable now. You could have said Milwaukee wasn't a complete team to explain that absurd comeback. Fine. I'd agree. You could say the Cavs were riddled with injuries. Sure. And the Knicks were beaten down by grueling series' and a coach that could make any Amazon warehouse manager watching the regular season think "Come on Thibs, give them a minute to rest, would ya?" But what the hell are you going to say about OKC? On paper one of the better teams in the history of the game.
You can't have three of the most improbable comebacks in NBA Playoffs history and not be an all-time team of destiny. Especially when this graphic isn't from one of those three games.
You're looking at exactly what you think you're looking at. The topography of Easter Island. That's the only thing that makes sense here. So let's get to my crazy stat lookup from this game to play off this. The 17 playoff teams who waited the longest to take the lead before winning the game. The chivalrous of the gentlemen. Those who give the full Fesic battle hospitality.
Why 17? I don't know - I wanted a random BuzzFeed like number. And that was enough to show how absurd the Pacers first lead of the game coming with .3 seconds left in the game really is. 44.7 seconds later than the latest on record prior to this game.
OKC now knows how it feels to be on both sides of something like this after coming in third from the bottom of this list just a month ago in Game 3 vs the Grizzlies. Pacers fans as well having it done to them by the Bulls in 2011. Can't quite say the same for Memphis though…
I do still think the Thunder are going to take this series, but this Pacers team has proven they absolutely belong at the big kid table. Even if the Thunder do everything better and are one of the most historic teams on paper. Maybe there's something else going on here. Jim Irsay's final tweet might be strumming some spiritual guitar strings up there.
I don't know, but I'm excited to find out. We officially have a battle between one of the best teams in the history of the game on paper vs the best ever in aura.