When an 8th seed upset a top seed in the NBA playoffs

Atlanta Hawks

With a win Saturday against the top-seeded Indiana Pacers, the Atlanta Hawks could be the sixth team in NBA history to pull the unthinkable upset.

The Atlanta Hawks failed to close out the Indiana Pacers in Game 6 in Atlanta Thursday. With a win on Saturday, the Hawks could be sixth team since 1984 that an No. 8 seed topples a top seed in the NBA playoffs.

Down 2-0 in a best-of-five series, the Denver Nuggets - anchored by center Dikembe Mutombo - rebounded to win three straight games and upset the top-seeded Seattle Supersonics in 1994. This was the first time since the league instituted a 16-team playoff system in 1984 that an eighth seed did the unthinkable.

Bitter rivals met in the first round playoffs of the lockout-shortened, 50-game season in 1999. The New York Knicks put the top-seeded Miami Heat away on a last-second shot in deciding Game 5. The Knicks - without star Patrick Ewing - made the NBA finals and remain the only 8th seed to advance that far in the playoffs.

Led by Baron Davis (right), the 42-win Golden State Warriors dethroned the top-seeded Dallas Mavericks - led by league MVP Dirk Nowitzki in six games of the 2007 Western Conference opening round.

Without stars Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah, the lame Chicago Bulls fell to the Philadelphia 76ers in the opening round of the 2012 Eastern Conference playoffs. Neither team scored more than 80 points in three of the final four games of the six-game series.

Marc Gasol (left) led the Memphis Grizzlies to their first playoffs series win in the team's 16-year history when they derailed the 61-game winning San Antonio Spurs in six games in the opening round of the Western Conference playoffs in 2011.

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The Atlanta Hawks failed to close out the Indiana Pacers in Game 6 in Atlanta Thursday. With a win on Saturday, the Hawks could be sixth team since 1984 that an No. 8 seed topples a top seed in the NBA playoffs.

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