Inside the Numbers: Some notes going into the NBA playoffs
Apr 17, 2026, 11:42 PM
Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker (1) gets fouled by Portland Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija (8) during the second half of an NBA play-in tournament basketball game, Tuesday, April 14, 2026, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
A winning season usually gets you to the NBA playoffs. Not this year.
There were a record-tying three teams — Charlotte at 44-38, Miami at 43-39 and the Los Angeles Clippers at 42-40 — that finished over .500 this season but failed to qualify for the playoffs.
The only other years when that happened were 1971 and 2022.
In NBA history, teams with records over the .500 mark have gone to the playoffs just over 95% of the time. For teams going at least 43-39 (or the equivalent in shorter seasons), that in-the-playoffs rate was 97.3%, until this season.
Miami now has finished over .500 in 25 of its 38 seasons. Of the first 24 Heat teams with winning records, 100% wound up going to the playoffs.
“My first year as a head coach, we won 43 games and we were the fifth seed,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We were the 10th seed this year with 43.”
If the playoff teams were their own 16-team league, counting only their games against one another in the standings, the top overall seed in these playoffs would be Detroit.
The Pistons went 30-12 against the other playoff clubs, just ahead of Oklahoma City (31-14) and San Antonio (29-14).
The Thunder had the biggest point differential in games against other playoff teams (8.4 per game), while the Thunder and the Spurs both had the most double-digit wins (18 apiece).
The playoff pool for this season is the most in NBA history, with $35,740,226 to be divided up among the 16 teams.
As the team with the NBA’s best record, the Oklahoma City Thunder are already assured $2,161,408 from that pool. If the Thunder win the NBA title, they will claim more than one-third of the pool — $12,805,503.
Teams get shares for finishing with a top-six record in their conference, plus for making the playoffs and the size of the shares increase for advancing to later rounds. There’s about a $5 million difference between winning and losing the NBA Finals.
Atlanta is in the playoffs for the 50th time, the Hawks becoming the fourth franchise to hit that total.
The other three? The Los Angeles Lakers (66), Boston (63) and Philadelphia (55).
It’ll be at least four more years before the 50-playoff-appearance club grows. New York has made 46 appearances, including this year’s.
James Harden has yet to win an NBA championship. But at least he gets into the playoffs — every single year.
That’s right: 17 years in the league, 17 playoff trips for Harden.
He and the Cleveland Cavaliers will take on the Toronto Raptors in Round 1 of the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Cavs will be the sixth team that Harden appears with in the postseason, after stints with Oklahoma City, Houston, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, the Los Angeles Clippers and now Cleveland.
Harden enters the series with the Raptors 14th on the league’s career playoff scoring list, two points behind No. 13 Larry Bird. He’s 59 points behind No. 12 Dwyane Wade, and if the Cavs make any sort of deep run would figure to have a chance to reach the top 10 in playoff scoring sometime this spring.
Houston had three players (Amen Thompson, Kevin Durant and Jabari Smith Jr.) finish among the top five in minutes played during the regular season. Thompson was first, Durant second, Smith fifth.
— It was the first time that a team had three of the top five in minutes played.
— It was the fourth time in the last decade that teammates finished first and second on that list. New York’s Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart finished in those spots last year, the Knicks’ Julius Randle and RJ Barrett did in 2020-21 and Minnesota’s Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns did in 2016-17.
— Durant played more minutes this season than he has in any season since 2013-14.
Some stat milestones that could await in these playoffs:
— Houston’s Kevin Durant is 15 points shy of 5,000 for his playoff career. He’ll be the seventh player to hit that number.
— The Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James — who already holds league records for playoff games, games won, games lost, points scored, field goals made, field goals attempted and steals, among other things — needs seven more steals to get to 500. Nobody else even has 400.
— If New York gets to the Eastern Conference finals, Mike Brown (who has 50 playoff wins) would pass Tyronn Lue (57) and move into the top 20 all-time for coaching playoff victories.
When the Denver Nuggets play, you’re going to see a lot of points.
How many points? Well, probably more than what oddsmakers tell you to expect.
Denver’s games went over the Vegas over-under total — the number of total points expected in the game from both teams — 63.4% of the time this season. That’s the second-highest rate in the last 12 seasons, topped only by Indiana’s games going over the total 65.3% of the time in the 2020-21 season.
Other betting nuggets from this season:
— Among the 16 playoff teams, Boston (59.8%) covered more often than any other team, followed by San Antonio (57.3%). Charlotte covered in 61% of its games but missed the playoffs.
— Speaking of the Celtics, only 36.6% of their games went over the total. That’s the lowest rate in the NBA in at least 12 years.
— Oklahoma City was favored in 78 of its 82 games, as would probably be expected.
It’s been a long time since Pistons fans can say this: Game 1 is at home.
The opener of the Detroit-Orlando series on Sunday will be the first time the Pistons open any playoff series on their home floor since 2008 — an Eastern Conference semifinal matchup, also against the Magic.
Detroit wound up winning in five games before falling to Boston in that season’s East finals.
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