2006 NBA playoffs

This season was the last time that the Sacramento Kings made the playoffs until 2023. The Kings held the longest playoff drought in NBA playoff history at 16 years. The MLB’s Seattle Mariners qualified for the playoffs in 2022. The Kings held the title for the longest active playoff drought among the four major North American sports leagues until 2023.[1]

The Los Angeles Clippers made the playoffs for the first time since 1997, and advanced to the second round for the first time since 1976, when they were the Buffalo Braves. They came within one game of making the conference finals for the first time, but lost Game 7 to the Suns. Until 2020, this was the closest the Clippers came to making the conference finals.

The Phoenix Suns became the eighth team to win a playoff series despite trailing 3–1 with their first round victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. They lost to the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference finals.

The Denver Nuggets also appeared in the playoffs as the 3rd seed in the Western Conference despite a 44–38 record (due to winning their division). However, they lost to the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round, and forced the NBA to change how division winners are seeded starting the following season.

2006 was the playoff debut of LeBron James, who helped the Cleveland Cavaliers eke out 1–point OT victories over the Washington Wizards in Games 5 and 6 of their first-round series to advance. It was the Cavaliers first playoff appearance since 1998, and they earned their first playoff series win since 1993. The Cavaliers played against the two-time defending Eastern Conference champion Detroit Pistons in the next round. The Cavs were routed in Game 1. The Cavs lost Game 2 by 6. The Cavs won the next three matches in a row, and they were 1 game away from beating the Pistons. Detroit recovered and won the last 2, in order to take the series in 7. The Pistons and Cavaliers met in the next year’s Playoffs, and the Cavaliers won that series in six games. This was the last time that the Pistons beat the Cavaliers in a playoff series, as of 2023.

This season also marked the first time that two 60–win teams met before the conference finals, due to the seeding format. The San Antonio Spurs and the Dallas Mavericks played against each other in the Western Conference semifinals. The Mavericks won the series in seven games, marking the first time the Mavericks beat the Spurs in a playoff series.

This year’s NBA Finals also featured a number of firsts

• Both NBA Finalists made their first NBA Finals: The Dallas Mavericks and the Miami Heat, for the first time since 1971.
• Neither the Lakers nor the Spurs represented the Western Conference, for the first time since 1998.
• For the first time since 1998, the NBA Finals did not feature Tim Duncan or Kobe Bryant (although Kobe’s ex–teammate, Shaquille O’Neal, returned to the Finals for the fifth time in seven seasons)
• For the first time since 2001, neither the Nets or the Pistons represented the Eastern Conference (coincidentally, these two teams were eliminated by the Miami Heat en route to their first Finals appearance)
• The Mavericks became the first team since 1977 to lose the NBA Finals despite leading 2–0. They also became the first team in NBA History to win the first two games, build a double digit lead in game 3, lose game 3, and the rest of the series.
• The Miami Heat won their first NBA Championship despite losing the first two games, the third team in NBA History to do so.
  • Prior to Game 6, Pat Riley motivated his players to pack “one shirt, one suit, one tie.” His effort paid off, and the Heat won that game, giving Riley his fifth NBA Championship as a head coach. He also avenged his previous NBA Finals loss in 1994, when his New York Knicks lost to the Houston Rockets despite leading 3-2.

The 2006 NBA Playoffs also featured several lasts.

• Game 6 of the Spurs–Kings series was the last NBA Playoff game to be played at ARCO Arena.
• The last time a division winner was granted a top three seed in the NBA Playoffs.
• The Indiana Pacers’ last playoff appearance until 2011.
• The last time the Chicago Bulls lost a first–round series following their 1998 championship.
• The last time the Los Angeles Clippers won a playoff series until 2012 (and earned home court advantage until 2013).
• The last time Shaquille O’Neal played in the NBA Finals.

With the addition of the 30th NBA franchise, the Charlotte Bobcats, in 2005, the NBA realigned its divisions. Each conference had three divisions of five teams each, and at this point in time, the winner of each division was guaranteed a top-three playoff seed regardless of whether the team had one of the top-eight records in its conference. However, the division champion was not guaranteed home-court advantage; a division-leading team could be seeded second or third but face a lower seed (that did not win its division) with a better record, and the lower seed would have home-court advantage.

This was illustrated in the first round here when the 44-win Denver Nuggets won the Northwest Division and had the third seed, yet did not have home-court advantage against the sixth-seeded, 47-win Los Angeles Clippers. The Clippers had played the Memphis Grizzlies a week before the playoffs to determine the fifth and sixth seed. The loser of the game would face Denver, whereas the winner would face fourth-seeded Dallas, who had the second-best record in the conference. It was speculated that the Clippers lost on purpose to play Denver in the first round. Starting in the 2007 playoffs, being a division winner did not guarantee a top-3 playoff seed.

First and second-round games were televised on ABC, TNT, ESPN, ESPN2, and NBA TV in the United States and on TSN, The Score, and Raptors NBA TV in Canada; some games were also televised on local or regional TV networks. The Eastern Conference finals aired exclusively on ABC, and the Western Conference finals aired exclusively on TNT; TSN and The Score split coverage of the conference finals. The NBA Finals aired exclusively on ABC in the U.S. and on TSN in Canada.

All times are in Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4)