The Play-Offs of the NBA advance with the start of the conference semifinals scheduled for this week. Phoenix, Dallas, Memphis, Golden State, Miami, Philadelphia, Milwaukee and Boston fight for a ring which is more valued. The only ones of the contenders who have never won a Larry O’Brien trophy are a Phoenix Suns who extended their curse last season to three endings losses and some Memphis Grizzlies that have as best result a final of the Western Conference at the hands of Marc Gasol. The rest of the team have touched the glory at some point in the 75 years that the NBA celebrates this season.
The Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers are the most successful franchises with 17 overall NBA wins each. The proud greens won championships at will in the ’60s and were competitive in the ’70s and ’80s with multiple rings. In 1986 they began a drought that lasted until 2008, winning their first and only ring in the 21st century in that final. All the advantage that they acquired in the years of white and black has been reduced by some Lakers who began the comeback in the 80s at the hands of Magic Johnson. With the entrance of the new century, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant were in charge of closing the distance until in 2020 -in a ring with an asterisk with the pandemic bubble- LeBron James matched the yellows with his eternal rival.
In third position we also find two franchises sharing glory with six rings each. It’s about Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls who dominated the 90s with an iron fist and the Golden State WarriorsWe would say that the San Francisco Bay Area have been the most dominant team of the 21st century, but we would be missing the truth with the San Antonio Spurs who, in the Tim Duncan era, won up to five titles in a span of 15 seasons.
After them there is a step of two rings to reach three wins for the Detroit Pistons. The ‘Bad Boys’ won two titles at the end of the 80s and then one at the beginning of the century returning to be the executioners of the Lakers. The defense was his hallmark in each triumph. In this same ranking we find the Miami Heat, who achieved three rings with Dwyane Wade as a common denominator in all of them. The Philadelphia Sixers are also in this division having won their titles in 1955, 1967 and 1983.
In teams with two rings we find some New York Knicks who triumphed with two titles in the early 1970s and since then they have not raised their heads. Houston also achieved them consecutively in the mid-90s when Michael Jordan went to play baseball, the opportunity being taken by the legendary Hakeem Olajuwon. This list is closed by the current champions of the Milwaukee Bucks, who in 1971 took advantage of the presence of an unknown Lew Alcindor who would later become the leading scorer of all time or what is the same Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
The largest group, of course, is that of franchises with a single ring. Most are what is known as a ‘one hit wonder’ this case being represented by teams like LeBron’s Cavaliers in 2016, Kawhi Leonard’s Raptors in 2019, the Sacramento Kings in 1951 or the Atlanta Hawks in 1958. Surely none of them will have an easy time competing for a ring soon. The problem is that there are many others who are neither here nor expected, such as the cases of the Los Angeles Clippers, Orlando Magic or Charlotte Hornets.