NBA

The 5 Most Competitive Sweeps in NBA Playoff History

Brett Oswalt  —  @bRo14thekid May 31st, 2017
In 2007, Tim Duncan's Spurs made quick work of LeBron's Cavs, but it wasn't easy.

Get the brooms out!

That's a phrase we hear during playoff time, when Team A is about to send Team B off to Cancun via a sweep. But are all sweeps created equal?

Nope.

Some sweeps are full of blowouts galore (read: the 2016-17 Golden State Warriors path through the West), while others are just as gripping as a seven-gamer. In terms of gauging the competitiveness of a sweep, margin of victory, average margin of victory, and net rating (points minus opponent points per 100 possessions) are oftentimes better barometers than wins and losses.

The five playoff series we'll discuss here were of the nail-biting, knee-twitching, heart-pounding nature -- classics in their own sweepy way. Starting with the matchup yielding the highest average margin of victory and highest net rating (therefore breaking ties), these five alleged blowouts were anything but.

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