I mentioned this in another thread. Off the top of my head, the team with the best record in the league has only won the title 6 times in the last 18 years. Year/Best Record/Champion 1993/Suns/Bulls 1994/Sonics/Rockets 1995/Spurs/Rockets 1996/Bulls/Bulls 1997/Bulls/Bulls 1998/Jazz/Bulls 1999/Spurs/Spurs 2000/Lakers/Lakers 2001/Spurs/Lakers 2002/Kings/Lakers 2003/Spurs/Spurs 2004/Pacers/Pistons 2005/Suns/Spurs 2006/Pistons/Heat 2007/Mavericks/Spurs 2008/Celtics/Celtics 2009/Cavaliers/Lakers 2010/Cavaliers/? Isn't that crazy?
I wonder which team has surprised us the most times by winning a championship without the best record. Bulls and Rockets twice, Lakers three times. David Stern's referees are just so tough to predict....
Not really, to me. First of all, there's usually not a lot of difference in record among the top two or three teams in the NBA. A team one to two games behind another team doing better in the playoffs isn't very surprising, even if record indicated "true talent." Small differences in record don't speak to significant differences in ability. Secondly, top teams often cruise near the end, either because they have nothing to play for (like seeding in their conference) or because they're a veteran team that is more interested in being healthy and rested for the playoffs than seeding. So record is not always indicative of true talent level. How many times is the NBA champion not one of the three best records in the NBA, or how many times is the NBA champion a team that few picked to win? Not very often.
Minstrel makes some good points. In addition, I'd like to point out that the 98 Bulls were actually tied with Utah for the best record, so there were actually 7 matches in the past 18 years. There are also a handful of 2nd best records winning it all, a few cases of the 3rd best record winning, and then things tail off drastically after that. In other words, it's a very predictable distribution.
Putting out 110% during the regular season often causes injuries by playoff time. Conversely, cruising below capacity in the regular season leaves something in reserve for the playoffs.
