No NBA championship team since the strike-shortened season in 1999 made it harder on themselves in the postseason than the 2008 Boston Celtics, who played 26 of the maximum 28 games en route to the title. On the opposite scale — such as this year’s Orlando Magic — here are the teams that have fared best in the postseason series that they’ve won. Not all of them went on to capture a championship:
10. 2008 LA. Lakers, lost in NBA Finals
With Pau Gasol newly on board, the Lakers went 12-3 (.800) in the Western Conference playoffs, rolling through the quitting Nuggets (shocking, we know), 4-0, and the Spurs, 4-1, while dropping a pair of games to Utah in the conference semifinals.
9. 2004 Detroit Pistons, won NBA title
It took a seven-game series against the Nets to put the Pistons on the brink of elimination, but it kicked their suffocating defense to another level, as they gave up more than 87 points only once over 11 games in the Eastern Conference finals and NBA finals. Finished the postseason 16-7 (.696).
8. 2009 Denver Nuggets, lost in West finals
One year after getting swept in the first round by the Lakers, hometown hero Chauncey Billups helped Denver crush the Hornets and Mavericks by consecutive 4-1 margins to force a rematch. Had they won Game 1 in Los Angeles, Kobe very well might not own a fourth title.
7. 2005 Miami Heat, lost in East finals
Powered by Shaq Diesel and nitro-infused Dwyane Wade reaching new heights in just his second season, the Heat finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference, and duly swept both the Nets and the surprising Wizards. But a perfect 8-0 postseason was eventually undone when Wade suffered a rib injury in Game 5 of the conference finals, and the Heat’s title prospects went cold.
6. 2009 Cleveland Cavaliers, lost in East finals
LeBron James won his first NBA MVP, led the Cavs to the best record in the NBA (66-16) and earned the franchise’s first Central Division title in 33 years. Cleveland racked up eight easy victories to open the playoffs, sweeping the Pistons and Hawks by 16.8 points per game, but oops, couldn’t match up with Orlando’s Dwight Howard and Hedo Turkoglu.
5. 2002 Sacramento Kings, lost in West finals
Conspiracy theories will forever haunt the Kings, who behind Mike Bibby and Chris Webber, were the most dominant team in the regular season and the top seed in the Western Conference. After losing just once in the first two rounds of the playoffs, Sacramento came up short in a tightly fought and hotly disputed series against the Lakers that was at the center of the scandal involving former referee Tim Donaghy.
4. 2002 L.A. Lakers, won NBA title
Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal lost just one playoff games before the famous intrastate rivalry, and afterward they coasted to an easy sweep of Jason Kidd and the Nets to complete the NBA’s first three-peat since Michael Jordan did it for the second time with the Bulls.
3. 2007 San Antonio Spurs, won NBA title
The Spurs uglied up the postseason in every manner possible and gave little ground, losing a total of four times in four postseason series. Two came in the contentious Western Conference semifinal series between the Spurs and the Suns, including a key loss the game after Robert Horry shoved Steve Nash into the scorer’s table in Game 4.
2. 2003 New Jersey Nets, lost in NBA Finals
Consecutive 4-0 sweeps of the Celtics and Pistons in the Eastern Conference semis and finals had the Nets coasting, but Jason Kidd and Kenyon Martin couldn’t get the job done in the NBA Finals, and neither player has been as far in the postseason since.
1. 2001 L.A. Lakers , won NBA title
The Lakers entered the NBA Finals with a 19-game winning streak — including 11 straight in the playoffs — before a Game 1 hiccup, in overtime no less, against Allen Iverson and the 76ers. But after winning Game 2 at home, Kobe stuck it to his hometown with three road victories that clinched the title and the best postseason record (15-1) in NBA history.
