In baseball, it has come close (see 2005 San Diego Padres, 1973 NY Mets). In the NFL, only two .500 teams have made the playoffs since 1991 (1991 NYJ, 2004 STL). In the NBA, however, it has been the norm to find teams with a losing record compete in late April and into May.
Below, a table of the number of .500 win percentage teams, the number of first round games they have won, and the number of series they have gone on to win.
First Round Playoff Stats Last 10 Years
Year Teams at .500 or under Total first round games won Series Won
1996 2 2 0
1997 3 2 0
1998 1 2 0
1999 1 1 0
2000 0 0 0
2001 1 1 0
2002 0 0 0
2003 0 0 0
2004 4 4 0
2005 0 0 0
2006 3
Courtesy: Basketball-Reference.com
Parody just hasn’t existed in the NBA playoffs. These 15 teams in the last 10 years have combined to win just 12 playoff games and have never advanced. In 2004, four teams in the East had the shot and surely one could pull off the upset? Not even the four vs. five could do it.
The last time a team with a losing record entered the playoffs and won a Series was 1988. Then, the Seattle Supersonics boasted a 39-43 record as the 7-seed and made it all the way to the conference finals. They upset both Dallas and Houston, before being swept by Pat Riley’s Los Angeles Lakers. Since Seattle, a total of 31 teams have entered the playoffs with a record at or below .500. And these teams are 0-31 in playoff series.
So, how good of a chance do Milwaukee (40-42), Chicago (41-41) and Indiana (41-41) have this year? I’m not going to say “none,” because that’s why they play the game