BEST OF THE BEST IN NBA HISTORY

The NBA season is coming down to the final week. Throughout its history, excitement has been the key to success for the league. Just about every game, every year the games like no other sport show individual talents go head to head.

Here are the 3 best teams in history in my opinion.

MICHAEL JORDAN

1995-96 Chicago Bulls-72 – 10 (.878)

How do you beat a team that has Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Ron Harper, Luc Longley, Toni Kukoc and Steve Kerr? Throw in coach Phil Jackson and you have the best ever. It was a team that was highlighted by the return of Michael Jordan from a 17-month retirement, the shattering of the record for wins in a season and post-season.

The Chicago Bulls won 18 games in a row at one stretch. The Bulls became the first team in NBA history to win 70 games and finished at 72-10 in a season. They led the league in scoring at 105.2 ppg, third in defense at 92.9 ppg for a unheard of +12.2 point differential.

Losing only two home games all season, they won more road games, 33, than any team in NBA history! In the playoffs they lost just one game en route to the NBA Finals, sweeping Miami, beating New York in five and sweeping an Orlando team weakened by an injury to Horace Grant. In the NBA Finals they raced to a 3-0 lead over the Seattle SuperSonics, dropped a pair of games in Seattle and then used their stifling defense to close out the series with an 87-75 win in Game 6.

JERRY WEST

1971-71 L.A. Lakers 69 - 13 (.841)

Gail Goodrich, Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, Jim McMillian and Happy Hairston were the ingredients to bring Los Angeles their first championship and breaking Philadelphia's 1966-67 record for wins in a season and since broken by Chicago in 1995-96, at one point winning 33 consecutive games, a record that still stands...Won NBA record 16 consecutive road games...Best road winning percentage in NBA history (.816; 31-7)...Defeated New York 4-1 in 1972 NBA Finals.

Their remarkable run began on Nov. 5 with a 110-106 win over the Baltimore Bullets and did not end until more than two months later, when the Milwaukee Bucks beat Los Angeles 120-104 on Jan. 9. The Lakers won their last 14 games of November, all 16 games during December and their first three games of January to obliterate the previous NBA record of 20 straight wins, set by Milwaukee one year earlier. After opening the season at 6-3, the Lakers ran away from the rest of the league with their 33-game winning streak and to a 69-13 record overall, the best in NBA history until the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls won 72 games. The Lakers topped the NBA in scoring (121.0 ppg), rebounding (56.4 rpg), assists (27.2 apg) and point differential (+12.3 ppg). They were 36-5 at home, 2-1 on neutral courts and an amazing 31-7 on the road-the Lakers' .816 road winning percentage stands as the best in NBA history.

WILT CHAMBERLAIN

1966-67 Philadelphia 76ers 68 - 13 (.840)

Wilt Chamberlain, Hal Greer, Chet Walker and Billy Cunningham, started the ‘66-‘67 season 46-4 and set the record for most victories for a season in 1967 and ending the Boston Celtics' run of eight consecutive championships by defeating Boston 4-1 in Eastern Division Finals, and clinched the championship defeating the San Francisco Warriors 4-2 in NBA Finals.  

The Philadelphia 76ers won 45 of their first 49 games and ran away to a 68-13 regular season record, setting at the time the best NBA record in history. The Sixers out-paced Boston by eight games for the Atlantic Division title. The Celtics' string of championships ended soon after. Boston could not keep up with Philadelphia when they met in the Eastern Division Finals, winning only Game 4 at home after the 76ers dominated with three straight wins. Philadelphia punished Boston 140-116 in Game 5 to end the series, completing an almost anti-climactic NBA Final in which the 76ers defeated the San Francisco Warriors in six games for the title. During the NBA's 35th anniversary celebration in 1980, the 1966-67 Philadelphia club was chosen as the greatest team of all time.

So there you have it, the best of the best.

That’s all I wrote, folks!