Monday Listed: Top 5 Teams In NBA History, Featuring Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers, L.A. Lakers, & Chicago Bulls

July 30 07

It’s a debate as old as the NBA. And it dominates playgrounds, water-coolers, barber shops, and discussion boards. Hoop heads always have opinions on the NBA’s greatest teams. And their opinions get more complicated each year when a new champion hoists the Larry O’Brien trophy.

Picking between dominant teams is like splitting hairs. You can’t go wrong. But you can always go in a different direction. So here’s another version of Monday Listed, where we drop the NBA’s five greatest teams of all-time.

As always, read the article and drop your five favorite all-time teams in the comment box below:

Honorable Mention: Detroit Pistons 1989-90, Houston Rockets 1994-1995, L.A. Lakers 1971-72, L.A. Lakers 2001-2002, Philadelphia 76ers 1982-1983.

#5) Boston Celtics, 1964-65.

Why they’re here: This Celtic squad overcame the retirement of point guard Bob Cousy to break their own record for most wins in a season. Bill Russell and Jon Havlicek formed a great duo, helping the green-and-white win their seventh NBA Title.

#4) Philadelphia 76ers, 1966-67.

Why they’re here: This Philly team featured Wilt and used Mr. 2.2-a-day to jump out to an impressive regular season. But the 76ers weren’t all Chamberlain and boasted other stars like Hal Greer, Chet Walker, and Billy Cunningham. They also beat the dominant team of the day, the Celtics, to win the NBA Title.

#3) Boston Celtics, 1985-86.

Why they’re here: Imagine having a starting front-court of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parrish. Then there was Bill Walton coming off the bench, while Danny Ainge and Dennis Johnson formed a lethal back court. These Celts went 40-1 at home and routed Houston to win the NBA Title.

#2) Los Angeles Lakers, 1986-87.

Why they’re here: Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, James Worthy, Byron Scott, and Michael Cooper. That’s a great starting five. And then there was coach Pat Riley with his slick hair and suits. This squad used their show-time glitz-and-glamor to beat a great Celtic team in the NBA Finals.

1) Chicago Bulls, 1995-96.

Why they’re here: They had the greatest player of all-time: Michael Jordan. They had the greatest supporting player of all-time: Scottie Pippen. They had a great rebounder and defender: Dennis Rodman. Not surprisingly, these Bulls set a regular season record with 72 wins and marched to an NBA Title.

Agree or disagree with HoopsVibe’s definition of greatness? Get at us in the comment box below with your thoughts.

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11 Comments: Monday Listed: Top 5 Teams In NBA History, Featuring Boston (...)

Posted by
Crazy_4_Celtics_67
on 04.15.2008

P.S. That was also a direct qoute from ESPN "Mike & Mike". They have forgotten more about sports then "we" will ever know. (With the exception of the Buddha Of Bristol....THE SCHWA $\1$ .

Posted by
Crazy_4_Celtics_67
on 04.15.2008

The 86 Celtics would wipe the floor with the 96 Bulls. .

Posted by
jake
on 09.23.2007

the 1986 celtics#1 they had the best starting 5 in the game not to mention the best 6th man bill walton and later on kevin gamble and just wanted to say god bless regi lewis and len bias, much to young and much to soon........jason .

Posted by
Nbafan45
on 08.1.2007

celtics and lakers were great teams....but none of them were #1 in both offense and defense in their respective years...the bulls were...and they won 72 wins with a much more talented group of teams 2 compete against...luc woulda handled jabbar just fine...let him do the sky hook all he wants..who did they have 2 guard on the chicago squad..oh yeah we found that out in the 91 finals! .

Posted by
Boogie Bake
on 07.31.2007

The Lakers 86-87 team in my opinion should be #1. Jordan was one of the greatest but I’m not sure if they could have knocked off that Celtics like the Lakers did. Oh yeah, who would have gaurded Karreem had the Bulls played the Lakers? Showtime put NBA basketball on the map and by the way do you think Scottie Pippen would have been able to D up Magic? I doubt it! .

Posted by
Lou Keys
on 07.30.2007

I would have moved up the 80’s Lakers and Celtics to #1 and #2 respectively. And slid the Bulls into the 3 spot. Why? Because, I can’t see them having the depth or the frontcourt strength to deal with those 80’s squads. .

Posted by
wal
on 07.30.2007

got the bulls at 1 to they were great i was born in 87 and neva quite starting watching games till like 92 but ive watched game footage of other games in different eras b4 the bulls so .

Posted by

on 07.30.2007

The chicago team could’nt have beat the 87 Lakers or 86 Celtics The bulls could’ve done nothing Parrish and Walton at center and Mchale at the 4 and D.J nine time alldefense 1st or second team and Larry.And the bulls played in era whith one or two great centers and thats it. .

Posted by

on 07.30.2007

i got the lakers 2001-2002 at # 5 .

Posted by
Bad-Boys 4 Life!
on 07.30.2007

1989-1990, you gotta take the Detroit Pistons. They’re teams in that run were so hardcore. This was during the time when alot of the all-time best players/teams were playing and they couldn’t fu*k with the Bad Boys. It’s ashame they couldn’t pull off a longer streak .

Posted by
HEEZ
on 07.30.2007

I would take the laker squad, But it’s very close with those two teams-so you couldnt go wrong. .

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Daily take on NBA Oly Sandor is an NBA analyst and sports journalist based out of Vancouver, Canada.After years of the free-lance game, Oly Sandor is bringing his unique brand of NBA analysis exclusively to (...) More

Monday Listed: Top 5 Teams In NBA History, Featuring Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers, L.A. Lakers, & Chicago Bulls

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