10 Best NBA Teams That Didn't Win a Title
So, it’s Cleveland-Golden State again. As a fan of the game, I’m ecstatic. As a fan of the NBA, I’m ecstatic. Golden State dug deep and showed why it’s the reigning champion, coming back from 15 down in Houston to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Cleveland dug deep and showed why it’s been to four straight Finals, overcoming a rocky regular season and powerful challenge from the (injury-depleted) Boston Celtics. The two best teams in the league have earned their place in the NBA Finals.
Basketball is young, but its history is rich and inspiring. Hoops might someday soon rival soccer as the world’s most popular sport (see: Asia). The game can also be depressing if you’re rooting for the losing team, especially when some of these losing teams are so darned good. Thirteen NBA franchises have never won a league championship. But that list would have been expected. Instead, we offer you 10 teams that, in the moment (or decade) had a great shot at winning it all, but couldn’t close the deal.
10. Houston Rockets (2013-current). I had to do it. With a record of 271-139 since the 2013-14 season, the Rockets have the best teams in the NBA for five seasons. Mike D’Antoni’s run-and-gun offense, and killer defense, combined with James Harden’s Jordan-esque points output, gave the Rockets the 1-seed in the ruthlessly competitive Western Conference after a 65-win season this year. They haven’t been able to get past Golden State, though. The Warriors have bounced Houston from the playoffs in three of the last five years, including twice in the conference finals. Ouch.
9. Denver Nuggets (1982-89). The 1980s were dominated by the Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, but a number of great teams could have won a title if the ball had only bounced that way instead of the other. The ‘80s Denver Nuggets are just one such team. Led by a “Big 3” of their own, composed of Alex English, Dan Issel, and Kiki Vandeweghe (a UCLA product), the Nuggets featured a high-powered offense and two seasons with more than 50 wins. Doug Moe’s teams never seemed to find their rhythm in the postseason, but that didn’t stop opponents and their fans from grinding their teeth and biting their nails when the Nuggets came to town.
Dallas Mavericks (1982-90). The Mavs have had two good squads and many terrible ones since being founded in 1980. One of the good squads won a championship in 2011 (you know the team), but back in the mid- to late '80s Dallas had an exciting, up-tempo team that could run circles around the Lakers. Led by Rolando Blackman, Mark Aguirre at the 3-spot, Brad Davis, Jay Vincent, and Derek Harper, the Mavericks of the 1980s were built to introduce basketball to the city of Dallas. The Mavs were good enough to come out on top of a competitive Midwest Division in 1986-87, but Showtime was too powerful, and Dallas, loaded as it was with high draft picks, couldn't gel when the playoffs rolled around.
7. Cleveland Cavaliers (1988-96). Prior to the King James Era, the Cavaliers last enjoyed hoops success in the 1990s, when neighboring city Chicago dominated the basketball landscape. The Cavs, led by the likes of Brad Daugherty, Mark Price, Larry Nance, Ron Harper, and Steve Kerr (yes, that Steve Kerr), could never get past the Chicago Bulls and its dynastic stranglehold over the NBA. Cleveland’s pre-LeBron Era was marked by two 50-plus win seasons and crushing losses to lower-seeded Chicago.
6. Portland Trail Blazers (1983-95). Portland featured one of the best teams in the world of basketball during this time, with Clyde “the Glide” Drexler scoring points and locking down opponents, and Terry Porter running one of the most efficient offenses in league history at the time, it was only the combined power of two dynasties - the Lakers and the Bulls - that prevented the Blazers from attaining a championship. Portland’s second loss to Bulls in the Finals led to the dismantling of one of the NBA’s favorite teams. Drexler left, Geoff Petrie quit after coach Rick Adelman was fired, and one-by-one the other core players of the Rip City Rhapsodists retired or were traded away. The Trail Blazers have the unenvious distinction of losing to both the Detroit Pistons and the Bulls in the Finals.
5. Atlanta Hawks (1983-89). Another great team that could never get past the Pistons or the Bulls was the Dominique Wilkins-led Atlanta Hawks. Atlanta could never get past the Celtics either. (The 1980s was a tough time to be a great team in the NBA.) The Human Highlight Reel and his entourage had several 50-plus win seasons and played some of the most entertaining basketball of the era, and this at a time when Showtime and Larry Legend were performing at peak levels. In an era when the Western Conference dominates the scene, it’s sometimes crazy to remember that the Eastern Conference was the baddest of the bad. A 50-win organization like Atlanta couldn’t even get to the Finals to play the Lakers, because it had to go through the likes of Chicago, Detroit, and Boston. Yikes!
4. New York Knicks (1987-98). The list of great teams in the ‘80s and ‘90s keeps on coming! The New York Knicks, led by Georgetown’s Patrick Ewing, was a team that just couldn’t get over the Detroit-Chicago hump (Reggie Miller’s Indiana Pacers were another reason for New York’s dry run in championships). John Starks, Mark Jackson, Charles Oakley, and Hubert Davis were some of the Knicks’ memorable players to surround Ewing, and Pat Riley and Don Nelson both coached New York’s finest to 50- or sometimes 60-plus win seasons. And they still couldn't quite win it all. Even when Jordan retired to play baseball for a couple of years, the Knicks found a way to lose. Some teams are just so good that they seem destined to fail, and the Ewing-era Knicks was one of those teams.
3. Milwaukee Bucks (1979-90). Finally, a team that didn’t meet its end at the hands of Michael Jordan or Larry Bird! In fact, the Milwaukee Bucks sent Jordan packing in the playoffs his rookie year. The Bucks also bid adieu to Dr. J in his final NBA game (a playoff victory for Milwaukee), and swept the powerful Celtics from the playoffs in 1983 (the first team to do so in the seven-game era, a stat that stood until 2003). The Milwaukee Bucks of the 1980s were tough. They got sent home by the Hawks, 76ers, Celtics, Pistons, and Bulls, but of all the teams in the Eastern Conference during the Boston-Detroit-Chicago era, the Bucks were the best of them that couldn't win. What’s up Sid the Squid!
2. Utah Jazz (1985-2003). The best team to ever play against Michael Jordan’s Bulls had to be the Stockton-to-Malone Utah Jazz. Led by the most underrated coach in basketball history, Jerry Sloan (who never won a Coach of the Year award), the Jazz clashed with Jordan’s Bulls twice in the late '90s, coming oh-so-close to beating the champs on numerous occasions. Jeff Hornacek, Greg Ostertag, and Byron Russell were fun to watch (well, maybe not Ostertag) alongside the dynamic pick-and-roll duo of John Stockton-to-Karl Malone. The Bulls-Jazz series might be the most underrated Finals in NBA history.
1. Sacramento Kings (2001-04). The short-lived “Greatest Show on Court” was robbed of its glory by the Lakers and their phenomenal ability to get to the free throw line in fourth quarters. Chris Webber, Mike Bibby, Vlade Divac, Doug Christie, Peja Stojakovic, Bobby Jackson, Geoff Petrie, and Rick Adelman deserved better than what the NBA gave them. The Sacramento Kings of 2001-04 were the best ever NBA team to not win a title.
Enjoy this years Finals!
