What Celtics can learn from last five NBA champs that didn’t repeat originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
There was a time, not too long ago, when a team repeating as NBA champions wasn’t an uncommon result. Sure, winning a title in just one season is tough, so it goes without saying that doing it back-to-back years is certainly difficult.
But when you look at other sports, being the last team standing in consecutive seasons had been easier to achieve in the NBA than the NHL, NFL or MLB.
For example, the NFL has had two repeat champions since 1998 — the New England Patriots in 2003/2004 and the Kansas City Chiefs in 2022/2023. The NHL has had two repeat champions since 1998 — the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016/2017 and the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020/2021. The MLB has had zero repeat champs since the New York Yankees’ three-peat from 1998 through 2000.
After the Chicago Bulls’ second three-peat in 1998, the NBA has had four instances of repeat champions. The Los Angeles Lakers three-peated from 2000 through 2002, then won back-to-back in 2009 and 2010. The Miami Heat won consecutive rings in 2012 and 2013. The Golden State Warriors won back-to-back Finals in 2017 and 2018.
But since the Warriors repeated, we’ve had six different champions in the last six years.
Interestingly enough, none of the last five champions even made it past the second round the following campaign.
Pro basketball has seen a remarkable amount of parity lately. In fact, the last time the NBA had a six-year span with six different champions was 1975 through 1980.
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1975: Golden State Warriors
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1976: Boston Celtics
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1977: Portland Trail Blazers
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1978: Baltimore Bullets (currently the Washington Wizards)
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1979: Seattle SuperSonics (currently the Oklahoma City Thunder)
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1980: Los Angeles Lakers
If there’s a team that could end this trend and win back-to-back titles, the Celtics are well-positioned to do it.
They are bringing back nearly their entire championship-winning roster from last season. The top 11 players in minutes per game all are returning. They also added first-round draft pick Baylor Scheierman from Creighton.
This roster didn’t just win the 2024 NBA Finals over the Dallas Mavericks in five games, it ranked No. 5 all-time in point differential (11.34 per game) and No. 1 all-time in offensive rating (123.2). The C’s also became just the 14th team ever to win 80 games between the regular season and playoffs.
The Celtics’ hunger/motivation to win again shouldn’t be an issue, either. They had tons of doubters and criticism on the way to winning the 2024 title, most notably that their road was easy due to opponent injuries. This criticism is largely dumb, but it has persisted into the offseason. Jayson Tatum should be motivated after not playing as much as he should have for Team USA during the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Jaylen Brown should be motivated after not making the Team USA squad. Head coach Joe Mazzulla, based on his recent comments, is about as locked in as you can get entering a title defense.
What can the Celtics learn about the previous five champions that failed to repeat? Let’s run through each one.
2019 Toronto Raptors
Title defense result: Lost to Celtics in Eastern Conference semifinals
Key issue: Best player left in free agency
The Raptors’ lone title was the result of acquiring superstar wing Kawhi Leonard in a trade with the Spurs before the 2018-19 season. It was a bold move for the Raptors considering Leonard was able to leave after just one year as a free agent. That’s ultimately what happened, but he did lead Toronto to an improbable championship. The Raptors beat a banged-up Warriors team without Kevin Durant in six games in the 2019 NBA Finals. Leonard won Finals MVP, and a few weeks later he signed with the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Raptors had a solid season in 2019-20, but their title defense ended with a conference semifinals loss to the C’s inside the COVID-19 bubble in Orlando.
What Celtics can learn: The Celtics don’t have this problem. As noted above, they are bringing back all their good players from last season. And several of their top players, including Jayson Tatum, signed extensions.
2020 Los Angeles Lakers
Title defense result: Lost to Suns in Western Conference first round
Key issue: Injuries to LeBron James and Anthony Davis
James missed 27 games in 2020-21, including a 20-game absence due to an ankle injury that spanned between March and April. It was the longest injury absence of his career. Davis played in just 36 of the team’s 72 games due to injuries. These injuries eventually caught up to the Lakers as they lost in six games to the Suns in the first round. Davis played just 19 minutes in Game 4, missed Game 5 and played five minutes in Game 6.
James averaged just 23.3 points per game in the series — well below his career postseason average of 28.4 points per game. This was also the first time James had been eliminated in the first round.
What Celtics can learn: The Celtics would certainly be in trouble if their two-best players — Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown — missed significant time with injuries and weren’t at 100 percent come playoff time. That said, this Celtics roster is more talented and deeper than the 2020-21 Lakers, so it probably wouldn’t look as bad.
The Lakers also didn’t add enough depth in the 2020 offseason to combat the possibility of injuries. Davis has been injury prone his entire career, so the Lakers should have been better prepared. Their offseason additions of Montrezl Harrell and Andre Drummond at center weren’t enough. The Celtics could use another big man in case Porzingis doesn’t play a ton of games in 2024-25. Al Horford also is 38 years old, so it’s possible his production could decrease. The Celtics are limited in how much they can add to the roster — they’re in the second apron right now — but a veteran center would be a valuable pickup.
2021 Milwaukee Bucks
Title defense result: Lost to Celtics in Eastern Conference semifinals
Key issue: Khris Middleton injury
Khris Middleton was a huge part of the Bucks’ 2021 title. He played 40.6 minutes per game and scored 23.6 points per game during the 2021 playoffs. He was an excellent No. 2 option offensively behind Giannis Antetokounmpo. Middleton was limited to just two games during the 2022 playoffs because of a knee injury. He missed the entire conference semifinals series versus the Celtics.
Milwaukee needed one more scorer to beat Boston that year. Jrue Holiday and Antetokounmpo were the only Bucks players to score 11 or more points per game in that playoff run.
What Celtics can learn: The impressive thing about the current Celtics roster is that it can withstand a key player going down to injury and still win important games. Star center Kristaps Porzingis missed nearly the entire 2024 playoffs and the Celtics still went 16-3 en route to a title. Is that repeatable if the road to the Finals in 2025 is tougher? Maybe, maybe not. But the point is the Celtics can put up a great fight regardless.
Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer also refused to switch up his defensive game plan in Game 7 against the Celtics. He dared the C’s, especially Grant Williams, to keep shooting from the outside. That strategy proved disastrous as Boston hit 53 more 3-pointers than Milwaukee over the seven games combined. C’s coach Joe Mazzulla has shown much more of a willingness to make adjustments than Budenholzer.
2022 Golden State Warriors
Title defense result: Lost to Lakers in Western Conference semifinals
Key issue: Injuries
Injuries were a huge factor for the 2022-23 Warriors. Stephen Curry missed 26 games, Klay Thompson missed 13 games and Draymond Green missed nine games. Andrew Wiggins played an important role in their 2022 title team, and then he played just 37 games the following season. These absences made it tough for the Warriors to find their rhythm. Jordan Poole also failed to take a significant leap after a breakout 2021-22 campaign, as his field goal, free throw and 3-point percentages all decreased.
We also should remember that Green punched Jordan Poole during a practice before the season, which caused a huge distraction.
What Celtics can learn: Injuries are always a factor, so it’s possible the Celtics could have their title defense derailed by them. The Celtics were relatively healthy last season with the exception of Kristaps Porzingis. The star center won’t be available for the start of the upcoming season and might not play until December or January. The C’s can afford to take their time with Porzingis and make sure he’s fully ready to play for the most important matchups late in the year. They have enough talent elsewhere on the roster to be a top team.
The Celtics need to be careful with all of their star players’ minutes next season. Tatum, Brown and others have played A LOT of basketball over the last few years when you include deep playoff runs and Olympic tournaments (2021 and 2024). Dialing back the minutes of some star players could lessen the likelihood of injuries.
2023 Denver Nuggets
Title defense result: Lost to Timberwolves in Western Conference semifinals
Key issue: Not closing out a Game 7 at home despite 20-point lead
The Nuggets didn’t have as much depth compared to their title year, and Jamal Murray’s 2024 playoff performance wasn’t amazing, but they did have the league MVP in Nikola Jokic and homecourt advantage in the first two rounds.
The real reason the Nuggets didn’t repeat is they had a historic meltdown in Game 7 of the second round against the Timberwolves at home. They became the first team ever to lose a Game 7 when leading by 20-plus points. Denver was outscored 60-37 in the second half.
What Celtics can learn: The Celtics have had their share of late-game collapses in recent years, and it even happened a few times in the 2024 NBA Finals, most notably Games 2 and 3. But the C’s still won those two games by making enough winning plays down the stretch, including Jaylen Brown’s clutch mid-range jumper in Game 3.
So, sure, late-game issues could cost them in the playoffs next season, but their improvement at closing games in 2024 should give the team a little more confidence during those situations moving forward.
Nuggets head coach Michael Malone also didn’t play his young players enough last season. As a result, the Nuggets didn’t have enough depth or stamina come playoff time because their veteran players had a heavy workload in the regular season.
“How do we handle the conflict of the postseason push after the All-Star break? Well, on one hand, we got the No. 2 seed. And on the other hand, I’m watching our players play in Game 7 in the second half, and our guys look dead tired, and I think you guys probably saw the same thing,” Malone told reporters in the team’s end-of-season press conference.
“So did I run our players into the ground? I’m sure that’s definitely part of it. Much was asked of Jamal (Murray,) KCP (Kentavious Caldwell-Pope,) Michael (Porter Jr.,) Aaron (Gordon) and Nikola (Jokic) especially. And we were not afforded the opportunity like we were last year to rest players down the stretch. This was a different season. And that was the decision we made and we live with it.”
The C’s cannot fall into the same trap this year. Health should be the No. 1 priority in the regular season, not seeding. If that means the Celtics give up homecourt advantage in a round or two, so be it.
