The Curious Cases of Top Teams in Recent Years

Through the 2004-05 season, 13 teams in NBA history won 64 or more games in a single season. Here's the list:96 CHI 72-1072 LAL 69-1397 CHI 69-1367 PHI 68-1373 BOS 68-1486 BOS 67-1592 CHI 67-1500 LAL 67-1571 MIL 66-1687 LAL 65-1783 PHI 65-1796 SEA 64-1897 UTH 64-18In almost every case, these teams reached the postseason potential that was suggested by their regular-season prowess. 10 of these 13 teams won the NBA championship, and two others (96 SEA, 97 UTH) lost only when matched up against a team with more regular-season wins in the NBA Finals. The '72-73 Celtics were the only one of these teams to fail to make the Finals, and that was after their best player, John Havlicek, suffered a debilitating shoulder injury in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Knicks.The past four seasons have seen a flurry of dominant regular-season teams, but for whatever reasons, these teams have had a much tougher time translating regular-season dominance into postseason succ...