(Hornets fans cleared out during their 58-point loss. Photo by Bill Haber, AP)

4/27/1984 - Isiah threatens, but King reigns

Trailing in the final game of their first round, best-of-five series against the New York Knicks, the Detroit Pistons come back to force overtime thanks to a stellar spurt by point guard Isiah Thomas. With his team down 106-98 with 1:57 to go, Thomas scored the Pistons' last 16 points in regulation and did it in the span of 94 seconds.

"Thomas' effort in the fourth quarter was a staggering punch to us," said Knicks coach Hubie Brown.

Knicks guard Rory Sparrow remarked, "It was as if God placed his hand on Isiah and said, 'You shall play basketball and you shall play it great.'"

However, it was the Knicks who got the last laugh. Thomas scored five points in overtime, giving him 35 for the game, but he and Pistons center Bill Laimbeer fouled out midway through the period and the Knicks were able to coast. The final score was 127-123 New York, and though Thomas had been incredible over the course of two minutes, the real story was with Knicks forward Bernard King, who had played incredible throughout the series.

King had the greatest five-game round of all time, averaging a record 42.6 points per game and notching four consecutive 40-point games, including a 44-point performance in the fifth and final game. It was thanks to his incredible round that -- at that time -- King had the highest playoff scoring average in NBA history at 31.2 per game. "He is the greatest scoring machine I've ever seen," said Red Holzman, the former coach of the New York Knicks.

In the second round, the Knicks went up against the eventual-champion Boston Celtics, forcing them to seven games before falling in the finale, 121-104. Thomas eventually won a pair of championships with Detroit and ended his career as one of the greatest to ever play the game. King was one of the best scorers of the 1980's, even averaging 32.9 points game in 1985, but he never won a title and became rather forgotten for it. He averaged 22.5 a game in his 15-year career and is currently not a Hall of Famer.

4/27/2009 - Hornets lose BIG to Nuggets

Game 4 of the 2009 series between the #2 Denver Nuggets and #7 New Orleans Hornets proved that sports are, at times, completely unpredictable. The Hornets, having narrowly won Game 3 by two points, were looking to equal up the series at two games apiece. So what was the outcome? Denver decimated the Hornets, 121-63.

It was the largest home loss in NBA history, and it tied the largest playoff loss in history (in 1956, the Minneapolis Lakers beat the St. Louis Hawks 133-75). Who could have imagined that a 49-win team would lose so badly to a 54-win team on their home court? They were actually favored to win the game, and as Tony Kornheiser pointed out, if you found a bookie who gave you New Orleans and 57, you still would've lost.

"Every coach talks about playing a playoff game, every possession having value, every possession having intensity to it," said Nuggets coach George Karl. "I thought my team, probably in my career, I’ve never seen a team probably do that on every possession -- do what they were supposed to do and play the game the right way -- as much as they did tonight."

In Game 5, the Hornets came out with pride and kept it close for the first 30 minutes. Denver then turned it on and smashed them in the fourth quarter. When it was all said and done, the Hornets lost their four games by a combined 113 points, and head coach Byron Scott, who was the coach of the year the season earlier, knew that he had a lot of work to do in the offseason.