Any team that wins an NBA championship had an incredible run, no doubt about it. Downtown parades should be marched and fans should celebrate every year.
But the league titleists the past 10 seasons weren't all equal. Simply put, some were better than others.
Here's one person's (obviously subjective) list of each of the just completed decade's NBA championship clubs ranked from worst to best:
10. — 2005-06 MIAMI HEAT
Regular season record: 52-30
Playoff record: 16-7
Summary: Miami, under veteran coach Pat Riley, finished with just the fifth best regular season record in the league. Most felt the NBA Finals would be a rematch of the previous season when the Spurs beat the Pistons. After all, Detroit and San Antonio had won 64 and 63 games, respectively, that season.
Instead, the Heat shocked Detroit 4-2 in the Eastern Conference Finals in Dwayne Wade's coming out party. Meanwhile, the Dallas Mavericks edged the Spurs in a bruising 7-game series out West.
The Mavs were the prohibitive favorite in the Finals — especially after winning the first two games of the series. But, with Wade leading the way and veteran center Shaquille O'Neal providing leadership, the Heat won four straight over Dallas to give them the most surprising NBA title of the decade.
9. — 2003-04 DETROIT PISTONS
Regular season record: 54-28
Playoff record: 16-7
Summary: Coached by Larry Brown, the Pistons had a solid, but unspectacular regular season. They finished seven games behind the Indiana Pacers in their own division, for instance.
But Detroit — with a stellar starting five of Richard Hamilton, Chuancey Billups, Rasheed Wallace, Tayshaun Prince and Ben Wallace — put together an outstanding playoff run. The two-time defending conference champion Nets pushed the Pistons to seven games in the second round, but Detroit won the final two games in that series to advance. Next up, the Pistons dispatched the Pacers in six, setting up an NBA Finals against a Lakers team filled with future Hall of Fame players. Karl Malone and Gary Payton had joined Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, giving L.A. a virtual All-Star team. It didn't matter, as Billups led the Pistons to a 4-1 series victory over the Lakers.
8. — 2004-05 SAN ANTONIO SPURS
Regular season record: 59-23
Playoff record: 16-7
Summary: The Spurs were battling the Phoenix Suns for the best record in the NBA through late March, when star forward Tim Duncan went down with a sprained ankle. Duncan would miss 14 regular season games and the Suns would pull away as the West's No. 1 seed.
But Duncan was back in time for the playoffs and the Spurs dominated the Suns in the Western Conference finals, winning in five games including three victories in Phoenix.
The Spurs faced the defending champion Pistons for the title in a series that went the distance. After both teams held serve at home in the first four games, the Spurs had a breakthrough in Game 5 at Detroit's Palace of Auburn Hills. Robert Horry lived up to his nickname "Big-shot Bob" by hitting the game-winning 3-pointer in overtime to give the Spurs a 96-95 victory. After losing Game 6 at home to make things interesting, Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker and the rest of the Spurs put the Pistons way in Game 7.
7. — 2002-03 SAN ANTONIO SPURS
Regular season record: 60-22
Playoff record: 16-8
Summary: After years of playing in the too-big-for-basketball Alamodome, the Spurs got a basketball building to call home before this memorable season for them. They also got some revenge on the Lakers in the playoffs — the team that had taken them out the previous two years — beating them 4-2 in the second round.
Tim Duncan was the MVP of the league for his steady play throughout the season, and the Spurs continued that in the playoffs. They won each of their four playoff series 4-2 — including the Finals against the New Jersey Nets. The playoff run was sort of a going away present to retiring big man David Robinson, who announced midseason that it would be his last. Robinson wasn't the force he had been earlier in his career, averaging just 8.5 points during the regular season. But the Hall of Fame center saved his best for last, scoring 13 points with 17 rebounds in the series-clinching win against New Jersey.
6. — 2001-02 LOS ANGELES LAKERS
Regular season record: 58-24
Playoff record: 15-4
Summary: The Lakers were the two-time defending champs looking for a "three-peat," but they seemed to be in cruise control during much of the regular season. In fact, L.A. was just the third seed in the West — behind both the Kings and the Spurs — when the playoffs began.
The Lakers turned it on in the playoffs to easily get through the first two rounds, including a 4-1 series win over San Antonio. But the conference finals were another matter. In a highly-entertaining series — one in which the Lakers' Robert Horry hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer for a one-point win in Game 5 — Sacramento had the home-court advantage in Game 7 and appeared to be heading to its first NBA final with a fourth-quarter lead. But the Lakers stormed back — again, with a little help from the referees — to shock the Arco Arena crowd. After the scare the Kings put into them, it was easy sailing for Shaq, Kobe and the boys. The Lakers swept the Nets in the Finals.
5. — 2000-01 LOS ANGELES LAKERS
Regular season record: 56-26
Playoff record: 15-1
Summary: The Lakers weren't the best team in the league during the regular season and they entered the playoffs as the No. 2 seed in the West behind the Spurs.
But that's when the defending champs got serious.
Led, once again by Shaquille O'Neal — who averaged 30.4 points and 15.4 rebounds — the Lakers had the best playoff run in league history, losing just one game. They swept all three series in the Western Conference — including a 4-0 pounding of the Spurs with the final two wins by an average of 34 points. Allen Iverson and the 76ers put up a little more resistance in the Finals, winning the opener in L.A. But the Lakers then won the next four, including all three games in Philly. That 15-1 playoff mark may never be bettered, especially now that the first round series have been increased to best-of-7 instead of best-of-5 and it takes 16 postseason wins to earn a title these days.
4. — 2006-07 SAN ANTONIO SPURS
Regular season record: 58-24
Playoff record: 16-4
Summary: Dallas won nine more regular season games than the Spurs, but got shocked by eighth-seeded Golden State in the first round of the playoffs. That's just what Tim Duncan and the Spurs needed to help them to one of the most dominating postseason runs of the decade.
San Antonio's only real test came in the second round when they faced Phoenix. The hard-fought series that featured suspensions bad blood was tied, 2-2, before the Spurs won Game 5 in Phoenix and Game 6 at home. San Antonio then beat the Jazz 4-1 and the swept the Cavs in the Finals for its third title in five seasons.
3. — 2008-09 LOS ANGELES LAKERS
Regular season record: 65-17
Playoff record: 16-7
Summary: Kobe Bryant already had three NBA titles on his resume, but this one was special to him because he did it without Shaq. Bryant, who had come up short the previous season against the Celtics in the Finals, got the job done this time with some major help by center/ forward Pau Gasol.
The road to the Finals actually wasn't as easy as many anticipated for the Lakers. They dropped one game in the first round to the Jazz, but then got into a real battle in the second round when the Houston Rockets took them to the brink. L.A. edged Houston by just one point in Game 7 before dispatching the Nuggets in six and the Magic in five to earn the title.
2. — 1999-2000 LOS ANGELES LAKERS
Regular season record: 67-15
Playoff record: 15-8 Summary: Phil Jackson's first championship team with the Lakers was led by Shaquille O'Neal in his prime. The big man averaged 29.7 points and 13.6 rebounds per game for a team that once won 19 consecutive regular season games at one point and came just three wins short of 70.
The '00 Lakers were less dominant in the playoffs, however, as both the Sacramento Kings in the first round and the Portland Trail Blazers in the conference finals pushed them to the maximum number of games.
In fact, the Blazers led Game 7 by 15 points in the fourth quarter before an impressive rally — and some Blazer fans would say, the referees — gave L.A. the narrow victory. The Lakers beat the Pacers in six for the title.
1. — 2007-08 BOSTON CELTICS
Regular season record: 66-16
Playoff record: 16-10
Summary: Boston had been horrible — to the tune of a 24-58 record — just one season before. But general manager Danny Ainge was able to make trades for All-Stars Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen during the offseason. While there were preseason concerns that the "Big Three" of Garnett, Allen and Paul Pierce would have a hard time co-existing since they had all been the focus on offense for their teams previously, they fit together perfectly.
Boston finished with the best regular season record in the league and then got battle tested in the playoffs with back-to-back series that went seven games against Atlanta and Cleveland. But the Celtics were at their best in the conference and league finals, beating both the Pistons and Lakers in six games. The title-clinching game was one for the ages, as Boston blasted Kobe and Co. by 39 points.
e-mail: lojo@desnews.com