Daily Archives: June 17th, 2013

Can Miami Heat win title with back-to-back Game Seven series victories?


Logo of the NBA Finals.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If the Miami Heat is going to repeat as NBA champs, they will need to win two straight at home over San Antonio. Not an impossible task, but a formidable one for sure.

If the Heat win Games Six and Seven, they will become only the third team in NBA history to win the title with a Game Seven win in the both the conference finals and the finals series. The other two?

* The 1962 Boston Celtics: The Celtics won the 1961-61 NBA crown by defeating Philadelphia in seven games in the division finals and then winning Game Seven of the NBA Finals over the Lakers.

* The 1988 Los Angeles Lakers: The Lakers of ’88 are the only team in NBA history to win the championship after winning three straight Game Sevens. The Lakers beat Utah in seven games in the conference semis, won Game Seven over Dallas in the conference finals, and then won the deciding seventh game in the NBA Finals over Detroit.

In 1984, the NBA went to a playoff system whereby 16 teams made the playoffs. Since then, no team has gone the entire playoffs in a season undefeated. The closest was in 2001 when the Lakers lost only one playoff game in their championship run.

The 2008 Boston Celtics hold the distinction of being the champion since 1984 that lost the most playoff games in a title season. The ’08 Celtics lost 10 games in that playoff season.

Following are the teams that lost six or more games in the playoffs in the year they won the title (1984-2012).

Playoff losses (season), team/year

10: Boston, 2008

9: Los Angeles Lakers, 1988

8: Boston, 1984; Houston, 1994; Los Angeles Lakers, 2000, San Antonio, 2003

7: Chicago, 1992; Houston, 1995; Detroit, 2004; San Antonio, 2005; Miami, 2006; Los Angeles Lakers, 2009; Los Angeles Lakers, 2010; Miami, 2012

6: Chicago, 1998

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99 Stats Until Kickoff: (#19) Rivers and Romo join 25,000-yard club


(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

From May 30 and every day until September 5… the start of the 2013 NFL season… Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ will publish “99 Stats Until Kickoff” a daily dose of NFL stats that will get you ready for the 2013 NFL season.)

San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers on September 30 at Kansas City, reached a couple of milestones in his career.

First, Rivers became the 63rd QB in NFL history to amass 25,000 or more yards passing. Since he accumulated those 25,000-plus yards with only the Chargers, Rivers also became the 37th QB in NFL history to pass for 25,000 or more yards with one franchise.

In addition, Rivers became the third Charger QB to reach the 25,000-yards passing milestone with the club, joining Dan Fouts and John Hadl. The trio of Rivers, Fouts and Hadl make the Chargers only the third franchise in the league to have three QBs reach the 25,000-mark in passing yards with their franchise (joining the Patriots and 49ers).

Another QB, Dallas’ Tony Romo also joined the 25,000 yard passing club in 2012, making him the 64th member of that club and, because he accumulated those yards with only the Cowboys, the 38th QB to pass for 25,000 yards with one franchise.

Following are the NFL franchises that have had the most QBs throw for 25,000 or more yards for their team.

Number of QBs with 25,000-plus passing yards, Team, quarterbacks

3: New England (Tom Brady, Steve Grogan, Drew Bledsoe); San Diego (Dan Fouts, John Hadl, Philip Rivers); San Francisco (Joe Montana, Steve Young, John Brodie)

2: Buffalo (Jim Kelly, Joe Ferguson); Cincinnati (Ken Anderson, Boomer Esiason); Dallas (Troy Aikman, Tony Romo); Indianapolis (Peyton Manning, Johnny Unitas); Miami (Dan Marino, Bob Griese); New York Giants (Phil Simms, Eli Manning); Philadelphia (Donovan McNabb, Ron Jaworski); Pittsburgh (Terry Bradshaw, Ben Roethlisberger); Seattle (Dave Krieg, Matt Hasselbeck); Tennessee (Warren Moon, Steve McNair).

1: Arizona (Jim Hart); Denver (John Elway); Green Bay (Brett Favre); Jacksonville (Mark Brunell); Kansas City (Len Dawson); Minnesota (Fran Tarkenton); New Orleans (Drew Brees); New York Jets (Joe Namath); Washington (Joe Theismann).

0: Atlanta, Baltimore, Carolina, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Houston, Oakland, St. Louis, Tampa Bay.

As mentioned above, Rivers and Romo became the 37th and 38th QBs to throw for 25,000-plus yards for one franchise. There are an additional 26 quarterbacks who have accumulated 25,000 or more passing yards in their career, but have done it with two or more teams and have not (or did not) reach the 25,000-mark with one team. Those 26 quarterbacks are:

George Blanda, Chris Chandler, Kerry Collins, Randall Cunningham, Steve DeBerg, Jim Everett, Roman Gabriel, Rich Gannon, Jeff Garcia, Jeff George, Trent Green, Jim Harbaugh, Brad Johnson, Sonny Jurgensen, Jon Kitna, Bobby Layne, Craig Morton, Ken O’Brien, Carson Palmer, Jake Plummer, Jim Plunkett, Norm Snead, Kenny Stabler, Vinny Testaverde, Y.A. Tittle, Kurt Warner.

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