NBA's Most Dominant Playoff Runs

SI Staff | May 15, 2014

NBA's Most Dominant Playoff Runs /

NBA's Most Dominant Playoff Runs

2000-01 Los Angeles Lakers

The two-time defending NBA champion Miami Heat have lost only one game in the 2014 playoffs, which keeps them in the running to join this distinguished list of the best postseason runs in NBA history based on winning percentage. The 2000-01 Lakers, led by Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, top the list after dropping only one game en route to their second of three straight titles. The Lakers' only playoff loss that season came in overtime against the 76ers in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

1982-83 Philadelphia 76ers

The Sixers nearly delivered on Moses Malone's famous "fo, fo, fo" prediction, sandwiching sweeps of the Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals and the Lakers in the NBA Finals with a five-game victory against the Bucks in the conference finals. This Philadelphia team was so good that it was 57-9 in mid-March, before splitting its final 16 regular-season games to finish 65-17.

1998-99 San Antonio Spurs

San Antonio won the first of four titles in the Tim Duncan era to cap a lockout-shortened season. The Spurs needed only five games in the Finals to dispatch the Knicks, the first No. 8 seed to reach the championship round, who faced San Antonio without an injured Patrick Ewing.

1990-91 Chicago Bulls

Michael Jordan and the Bulls launched the first of their two three-peats by rolling through the Knicks, Sixers, Pistons and Lakers in the playoffs. Jordan averaged 31.1 points (on 52.4 percent shooting), 6.4 rebounds and 8.4 assists in the postseason.

1988-89 Detroit Pistons

After a 63-19 regular season, the Bad Boys lost twice to the Bulls in the Eastern Conference finals and that's it. They showed no mercy in a Finals sweep of the Lakers, who lost Byron Scott before the series and played without Magic Johnson for part of it. Detroit repeated as champion the following season.

1981-82 Los Angeles Lakers

magic-johnson.1982.jpg — Manny Millan/SI

The Lakers' second title in three years was not without turmoil: Pat Riley replaced Paul Westhead as coach after a 7-4 start, a move that met with Magic Johnson's approval. Johnson & Co. didn't drop a game in dismissing Phoenix and San Antonio in the Western Conference playoffs before handling the Sixers in six in the Finals. This 57-25 group was the only one of the Lakers' five title-winning teams in the 1980s that did not win at least 60 regular-season games.

1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson teamed to bring the franchise its only title. The Bucks averaged an NBA-high 118.4 points per game that season, when they went 66-16 and had winning streaks of 10, 16 and 20 games.

1995-96 Chicago Bulls

On the heels of a record-setting 72-10 regular season, the Bulls cruised through the playoffs with one loss (in overtime) to the Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals and two losses (after taking a 3-0 lead) to the SuperSonics in the Finals. This marked the first title in their second three-peat.

1986-87 Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers didn't play many close playoff games during their romp to another title, but one they did play stands out in NBA history: Magic Johnson's sky hook gave Los Angeles a 107-106 victory against Boston in Game 4 of the Finals, putting the Lakers ahead 3-1 and setting up their clinching win back home in Game 6.

1985-86 Boston Celtics

The third and final title of the Larry Bird era included a franchise-record 67 regular-season victories and a third consecutive MVP for Bird, who got plenty of help from Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Dennis Johnson, Danny Ainge and first-year Celtic Bill Walton.

1949-50 Minneapolis Lakers

George Mikan led Minneapolis to five titles in a six-year period (including one in the BAA) from 1949-54, and this was the best of those teams in terms of regular-season record (51-17) and postseason dominance.

Published May 15, 2014

SI STAFF