The San Antonio Spurs needed both the Grizzlies or the Suns to lose on the penultimate day of the 2019-20 season to keep their chances of participating in the play-in series alive.
Memphis beat Milwaukee and Phoenix completed an 8-0 run in the NBA bubble over Dallas to officially disqualify them from the playoffs after being there for 22 straight years.
| Most Consecutive Seasons With Playoffs Appearances in NBA History | |||||||||
| Rank | Team | Seasons | Years | Win-loss records / percentage | Lost in | Titles | |||
| Seasons | % | Playoffs | % | NBA | won | ||||
| finals | |||||||||
| 1 | San Antonio Spurs | 22 | 1998-2019 | 1228-528 | 0.699 | 170-114 | 0.599 | 1 | 5 |
| Philadelphia 76ers | 22 | 1950-1971 | 979-683 | 0.589 | 82-81 | 0.503 | 2 | 2 | |
| 3 | Portland Trail Blazers | 21 | 1983-2003 | 1020-670 | 0.604 | 72-88 | 0.45 | 2 | – |
| 4 | Utah Jazz | 20 | 1984-2003 | 1011-597 | -0.629 | 94-99 | 0.487 | 2 | – |
| 5 | Boston Celtics | 19 | 1951-1969 | 957-480 | 0.666 | 118-76 | 0.608 | 1 | 11 |
#1 (tied) San Antonio Spurs 1998-2019, 22 seasons
For the first time since April 1997, the NBA will not have the Spurs in the post-season. This makes their run officially tied with the Philadelphia 76ers’ for the longest in NBA history.
The 76ers, then originally known as the Syracuse Nationals before moving to Philadelphia, qualified for the playoffs from 1950 through 1971.
This year’s failure to qualify is just the fifth time the Spurs have missed the playoffs since joining the NBA in 1976.
David Robinson was hobbled by back and foot injuries and an aging Dominique Wilkins was on the roster the last time the Spurs missed the playoffs in 1997 where the team finished with a 20-62 record.
This led to Greg Popovich naming himself as head coach and luck of the draw gave the team the first overall pick they used on Tim Duncan.
That became the turning point as the team bagged five titles in the following 22 seasons. They reached the NBA finals a total of six times and lost in the Western Conference finals four other season.
Aside from Duncan and Robinson, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Kawhi Leonard, Bruce Bowen and Robert Horry were the key personnel for their success,
All in all, the Spurs won 170 playoff games in that span, all under Popovich’s watch.
Popovich had actually done a nice job in positioning the team to extend the streak considerably as he found a gem in Leonard
Popovich had the right scouting eye as he initiated a trade for Leonard, who was selected 15th in the 2011 NBA draft by the Indiana Pacers for George Hill.
Leonard was then coming off the bench early in the season but was permanently promoted to the starter spot when Richard Jefferson was traded to the Golden State Warriors for Stephen Jackson, who served as his backup.
At season’s end, Leonard placed fourth in Rookie of the Year voting. He was one of the leaders of the team that went to the finals next season where they lost to the Miami Heat in seven games on Ray Allen’s clutch trey.
The playoff success of the team continued as Leonard led the Spurs to pocket the 2013-14 title and the Finals MVP and held fort when Duncan retired in 2016.
Unfortunately, things couldn’t work out well for Leonard and the franchise as Leonard’s injury plagued 2017-18 season marked his Spurs last playing days before being traded to the Toronto Raptors in the offseason for DeMar DeRozan.
That signaled the end of the Spurs playoff dominance as DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge could hold serve for only one more season before bombing out this year.
See more stories:
#1 (tied) Syracuse Nationals 1950-1963/Philadelphia 76ers 1964-1971, 22 seasons
This original team in the NBA used to own solely the longest playoff streak.
The Nationals made the Finals in the first year of existence. The trio of Dolph Schayes, Hal Greer, and Wilt Chamberlain were the stars of this run
Schayes towed the Nationals a title in 1955, then Greer and Chamberlain followed that with another one for the 76ers in 1967. The 7ers tallied 68 wins that year, a record that stood until 1972.
The primary reason why this team had not seen more team success was they unfortunately had to deal with another team in this list, the Bill Russell-led Celtics in the 60’s. It was only the 1967 season that saw the 76ers had success against this team.
#2 Portland Trail Blazers 1983-2003, 21 seasons
Clyde Drexler was the star of this run. He lead the Blazers to two appearances during the span but his were ambushed by Jordan’s Bulls and the Bad Boy Pistons in the finals.
The Blazers were the least successful team in the list, While they were consistently barging into the post season, they couldn’t go deep.
They were ousted very early in the playoffs: a whopping 14 times in the first round , 66% of their appearances , and twice in the conference semis.
In the other three appearances in the streak, they lost in the the Conference Finals each time.
The lack of a clutch shotmaker and go-to-guy who can get points under duress could be attributed to this failure.
While their franchise players composed of Drexler, Terry Porter, Rasheed Wallace, and Damon Stoudemire are not to be scoffed at, none of them had the qualities to carry the team over the hump like the other contenders in this list had.
See more basketball heroes:
#3 Utah Jazz 1984-2003, 20 seasons
The John Stockton-Karl Malone duo and Jerry Sloan’s pick and roll scheme are the main faces of this run.
The Jazz went on a 15-win improvement with Adrian Dantley at the helm in first year they made the Playoffs.
The off season of second year saw them drafted Stockton to stack up their bench and Malone before the start of the third.
By the fifth year, this arguably best franchise combo are at the forefront of the Jazz’s amazing run, spiked with five Conference Finals trips and two Finals appearances.
However, they also run into Jordan’s Bulls who were at the height of their powers during the final chase for the crown. The best they can reach was forcing Game 6 both times.
In addition, they lost another chance to make it in the finals by losing heartbreaking tight games during the 1996 Conference Finals that went full seven games.
The Jazz, like the Blazers, couldn’t find some sort of consistency when the tough gets going. They were a victim of round one eliminations nine times, including an upset during the 1995 Playoffs despite winning 60 games, and in the conference semis six times.
In a fitting way, the attribution of the Jazz’s success in this streak to Stockton and Malone was confirmed when it came to an end after Stockton retired and Malone left via free agency.
#4 Boston Celtics 1951-1969, 19 seasons
This dominance is attributed to the player-coach/executive combo of Bill Russell and Red Auerbach.
While this is the only streak in the top five that failed to reach 20 seasons, it was also the most successful.
Bob Cousy led the early part of this streak although the team failed to get a title. The Celtics kept coming up short of a Finals trip, losing in the East Division Finals thrice, during the first six years of the streak.
The team then struck gold when Russell was selected 2nd in the 1956 draft through Auerbach’s machinations. Russell’s addition was no doubt the turning point for the franchise’s team success as the Celtics capped their playoff run with 11 championships in 13 seasons.
While Russell was rightfully the main reason for this amazing streak, these Celtics squads were the best examples of achieving success through true teamwork with NBA greats like Cousy, Sam Jones, John Havlicek, and Tom Heinsohn handing invaluable contributions from the roles they were assigned with.
Just like the Jazz, this streak came to an end when Russell retired from both playing and coaching after the 1969 season.
By: ARMANDO BOLISLIS
You might also like:
