The Western Conference featured Portland as the top team in the conference with Denver, Phoenix, Seattle, Los Angeles and Milwaukee also making the playoffs. The Eastern Conference had Philadelphia as the top team Mike Dunleavy Jersey , with San Antonio, Washington, Cleveland, New York and Atlanta also representing the conference.
The first round of the of the playoffs featured the following matchups: Seattle vs. Los Angeles, Phoenix vs. Milwaukee Kirk Hinrich Red Jersey , Cleveland vs. New York and Washington vs. Atlanta.
While the Lakers were in the mix for the championship repeatedly in previous years, they were ousted in the first round by Seattle. Milwaukee was the lowest seed team in the conference, but they managed to sweep Phoenix in the opening round to advance to play against Denver. The New York Knicks upset Cleveland in the first round with a 2-0 sweep and Washington swept Atlanta to move on to play against the Spurs.
Portland and Seattle played with Portland as the favored team. While Portland was heavily favored, they were taken out fairly easily by Seattle. Seattle only gave up two games in the series and won the series in 6 games to move on to the Conference Finals. They would play against the winners of the Denver and Milwaukee game.
Despite being the lowest seeded team in the conference, Milwaukee gave Denver all they could handle in the series. They forced the series to go to 7 games before Denver finally managed to pull out a series victory over Milwaukee. By winning the series they would advance to play the Cinderella-story team from Seattle in the Conference Finals.
The Knicks were unable to hang with Philadelphia and they were swept in 4 games. Washington and San Antonio had a much closer series. San Antonio was the favored team in the series Kirk Hinrich Bulls Jersey , but they were unable to put Washington away. Washington ultimately won the series in 6 games to advance to play against Philadelphia in the Conference Finals.
Philadelphia looked like theyd win after their dominant series against New York, but they were unable to carry their momentum to the next round. Washington managed to pull off another upset as they won the series in 6 games over the 76ers to advance to the NBA Finals.
Seattle and Denver squared off in a solid series, but Seattle simply had too much going for them in this series. They surrendered two games to Denver, but they would ultimately win the series to move on to the NBA Finals against Washington. This would be one of the most exciting matchups in the finals of all time as neither team was expected to move on past the 2nd round.