NBA Playoffs: The conference finals might be finished in record time

The NBAconference finals might be finished faster than anyoneexpected.

Faster thanever, too.

There hasnever been a pair of 4-0 sweeps in the third round of the NBAplayoffs, but the Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat are in position tochange that. The Nuggets lead the Los Angeles Lakers 3-0 in theWestern Conference finals; the Heat lead the Boston Celtics 3-0 inthe Eastern Conference finals.

Denver canwrap up its series on Monday night in Los Angeles. Miami will aimto finish off a sweep on Tuesday, at home.

Since the NBAstarted calling this round the “conference finals” in 1971, thefewest games needed to decide the champions of the East and Westwas nine.

That happenedon four occasions — 1974 (Boston beat New York 4-1 in the East,Milwaukee beat Chicago 4-0 in the West), 1986 (Boston beatMilwaukee 4-0 in the East, Houston beat the Lakers 4-1 in theWest), 2015 (Cleveland beat Atlanta 4-0 in the East, Golden Statebeat Houston 4-1 in the West) and 2017 (Cleveland beat Boston 4-1in the East, Golden State beat San Antonio 4-0 in the West).

By the way,the maximum number of games — 14 — were needed for the conferencefinals in 1979 and 2018, when everything was decided in Game 7s. In1979, Washington beat San Antonio and Seattle beat Phoenix. In2018, Cleveland beat Boston and Golden State beat Houston.

WHAT'S NEXT?

Denver can secure a spotin the NBA Finals as early asMonday night, if the Nuggets beat the Lakers and finish off whatwould be a four-game sweep. Game 4 of the Celtics-Heat series is inMiami on Tuesday night.

If a Game 5of Nuggets-Lakers is necessary, it would be Wednesday in Denver.And if Game 5 of Celtics-Heat is necessary, it would be Thursday inBoston.

HOWTO WATCH

— The WesternConference finals are on ESPN.

— The EasternConference finals are on TNT.

— All gamesare scheduled to start at 8:30 p.m. Eastern.

— Teambroadcasters will no longer air games. Everything after the firstround is exclusive to national windows and not available for localtelecasts.

— The NBAFinals on ABC begin June 1. That will not change even if theconference finals end earlier than many might have anticipated.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

— Miami’s26-point win over Boston in Game 3 on Sunday night was the biggestwin by a No. 8 seed in NBA playoff history. The previous record wasa 25-point win by Golden State over Dallas in 2007.

— The Heatare one win from tying the record for wins by a No. 8 seed in asingle postseason. New York had 12 wins as a No. 8 seed in1999.

— Denver’swin in Game 3 of the West finals was the Nuggets’ 11th victory ofthis season’s NBA playoffs. That’s a club record; the Nuggets won10 playoff games in 2009.

— This is thefourth time LeBron James has faced a 3-0 series deficit. All threeof the previous such situations were in the NBA Finals, and camewhen he was with Cleveland — 2007 against San Antonio, 2017 againstGolden State and 2018 against the Warriors. The 2007 and 2018series became sweeps; Cleveland extended the 2017 one to fivegames.

QUOTABLE

“You need 16wins to win a championship, and we’ve got five more to go. TheLakers are in our way, and they’re going to do everything in theirpower to come back and fight. They’re not going to just lay downand let us beat them on their home floor.” — Denver’s Jamal Murray,on the Nuggets’ mindset going into Game 4 of the West finals.