Claim: Paul Pierce played basketball for the Boston Celtics.

The 2007 -- 08 NBA season was the 62nd season of the National Basketball Association . The 1,230-game regular season -LRB- 82 games for each of the 30 teams -RRB- began on Tuesday , October 30 , 2007 , and ended on Wednesday , April 16 , 2008 . The 2008 NBA Playoffs started on Saturday , April 19 , 2008 and ran until Tuesday , June 17 when the Boston Celtics defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 131 -- 92 to win the 2008 NBA Finals , four games to two . The 2007 NBA draft was held on June 28 , 2007 and Greg Oden was selected first overall by the Portland Trail Blazers . However , he missed the entire season due to knee surgery .   This season was notable for being one of the most competitive Western Conference playoff races in NBA history . Up until April 4 , 2008 , not a single Western Conference team had secured a playoff spot , and the 8th-seeded team was a mere 6.5 games behind the 1st seed . Additionally , the quality of the teams ensured that the Golden State Warriors finished with the highest winning percentage of any non-playoff team in NBA history since the switch to the eight-team playoff format , beating out the 2000 -- 2001 Houston Rockets . The all-time record is held by the 1971 -- 1972 Phoenix Suns -LRB- 49 -- 33 -RRB- , which was during the four-team playoff era .