1) ’05-’06 Miami Heat

Metrics have proven repeatedly that ending the regular season “on a roll” does not correlate to playoff success. The ’05-’06 Heat are a prime example. Pat Riley took over as head coach after a sluggish start and the veteran squad finally coalesced heading into the postseason. That’s the traditional narrative and it’s only partially true. Yes, after reaching the brink of the NBA Finals in 2005, Miami did start slow in ’05-’06, holding an 11-10 record when Stan Van Gundy resigned as coach. Things did improve immediately under Riley, though much of that was due to Shaquille O’Neal rounding (no pun intended) into shape after showing up to training camp overweight and missing 18 straight games with an ankle injury. The Heat had improved to 48-23 by the end of March but they actually hit the playoffs in a slump, losing seven of their final 11 games. Their starters were resting for the last couple of those losses but everyone was active for an early April dismantling at home against the rival Pistons. Miami did put it together when it mattered most, overcoming Detroit in the Conference Finals en route to a title.

2) ’87-’88 Los Angeles Lakers

This is the squad that inspired Pat Riley to coin the term “disease of more” in his 1988 book Showtime to describe the difficulties of title defenses. Things started strong for the Lakers that season and they were atop the Western Conference with a 49-10 record when an early March tilt with the Bulls set off alarm bells. Michael Jordan dominated with 38 points in a Chicago blowout over the suddenly ancient and vulnerable looking Lakers. Adding injury to insult, Magic Johnson suffered a groin pull during the game and hit the injured list alongside Michael Cooper, who was already sidelined with an ankle sprain. Questions were suddenly abound about not just the Lakers’ determination to repeat as champs but now also their health. With a hampered Johnson in-and-out of the lineup, the Lakers lost seven out of 11 games down the stretch. That included defeats against their top West rivals, the Mavericks, and an embarrassing loss to the lowly Kings. Johnson and Cooper did manage to recover and the veteran back court ultimately led Los Angeles to the fifth title of the “Showtime” era.

3) ’57-’58 St. Louis Hawks

Centered around reigning MVP Bob Pettit, the Hawks had entered ’56-’57 with expectations of becoming the next NBA dynasty. Instead, they suffered a heartbreaking loss in the 1957 NBA Finals to a Celtics team that now looked indefinitely unstoppable. The follow-up season for St. Louis was a roller coaster ride, starting with a blowout loss to Boston on opening night. The Hawks started ’57-’58 with a 4-5 record, then won 16 of their next 20 games to shoot to the top of the Western Conference standings. They then dropped 10 of 14 games in one stretch immediately after the All-Star break, and later lost seven of 11 to close out the season. Most of those defeats came away from home but once the postseason started the Hawks suddenly morphed into road warriors. They won four out of five playoff games on the road, including two in the Boston Garden, where they had been swept in all four regular season contests. Pettit had an incredible performance in the NBA Finals as St. Louis took advantage of a Bill Russell ankle injury to hand the Celtics star his only Finals defeat.

4) ’74-’75 Golden State Warriors

Though the Warriors were certainly a talented team in ’74-’75, they were also the beneficiaries of some lucky breaks and fortunate timing. The recent retirements of Jerry West and Oscar Robertson had knocked the Lakers and Bucks out of title contention, while a Bill Walton injury (go figure) grounded the Blazers. This left the Western Conference wide open, allowing the Warriors to essentially back into home court advantage despite playing just .500 ball through February and March. It took back-to-back wins to close out the season for the Warriors to hold off the Bulls for the West’s top seed, hardly an encouraging sign for fans who watched Golden state lose six of their last seven to miss the 1974 playoffs. That top seed ended up paying off dividends, as the Warriors finished 7-2 at home during the playoffs, including a come-from-behind game seven victory over the Bulls in the Conference Finals. Two weeks later they closed out the Bullets in an upset sweep to win the first NBA Finals since the franchise had moved to California.

5) ’89-’90 Detroit Pistons

Like the evil entity in It Follows, the Pistons seemed to inherit the Lakers’ “disease of more” after dethroning them in the 1989 NBA Finals. In a bit of a twist, the main culprit was arguably head coach Chuck Daly. Late in the ’89-’90 season, rumors began circulating that Daly was frustrated with his lack of control over Pistons personnel decisions and wanted to move on to a new franchise that would grant him both coach and general manager duties. Right as those headlines were generating, the previously cruising Pistons entered a prolonged slump. They lost all three games in a late March road trip through Texas, were blown out by the rival Celtics, and suddenly found themselves in a dog fight with the Bulls for the East’s #1 seed. Never one to pass up a chance to cause Michael Jordan heartbreak, the Pistons rallied at the end of the season to hold on to the top spot and they needed it, winning a Conference Finals over the Bulls in which the home team was victorious in every game. When the Pistons repeated as champs, Daly did hang around for another two seasons before departing.

“For people who complain now about the playoffs being diluted by too many teams qualifying […] consider the NBA of the mid ’50s. Only eight teams were active in the ’55-’56 season, and seven of them went to the postseason.”

6) ’72-’73 New York Knicks

For the early ’70s Knicks, the biggest obstacles overcome in their two title runs was not their opponents but Willis Reed’s legs. The MVP center famously rallied New York to the 1970 title by returning for game six on a torn thigh, then was sidelined by knee tendinitis when the Lakers won a 1972 Finals rematch. The lingering effects of that knee inflammation hampered Reed throughout ’72-’73, as he averaged career lows in points, rebounds, and minutes played. Thanks to their “Rolls Royce” back court of Earl Monroe and Walt Frazier, the Knicks still won 57 games that season, though they finished well behind the rival Celtics in the standings. Seemingly locked into the #2 seed in the Eastern Conference, the Knicks struggled in the final stretch, finishing with a 6-7 record in the month of March. That included back-to-back defeats against the Celtics, who certainly seemed confident with home court advantage in the impending Conference Finals. But the Knicks managed to win two games in the series at the Boston Garden, including a 94-78 blowout in the deciding game seven.

7) ’55-’56 Philadelphia Warriors

For people who complain now about teams coasting late in the season due to the playoffs being diluted by too many participants, consider the NBA of the mid ’50s. Only eight teams were active in the ’55-’56 season and seven of them qualified for the playoffs. Winning the conference was still crucial as it afforded both a first round bye and home court advantage, especially critical in the days before charter airplanes. Spurred by the addition of star rookie Tom Gola, the Warriors had started ’55-’56 red hot, winning eight straight to start the season and reaching late January with a 28-13 record and huge lead in the Eastern Division standings. But the final few weeks of the season were a struggle, winning just six of their final 14 games. The eight losses included two against their biggest title threat, the Celtics, and one against the Rochester Royals, a.k.a., the only NBA team that didn’t qualify for the playoffs that year. Owing some gratitude to the Syracuse Nationals, who upset the Celtics in a first round series, the Warriors won seven of their 10 postseason games en route to a championship.

8) ’77-’78 Washington Bullets

Wes Unseld and Elvin Hayes were showing their age, Phil Chenier was out indefinitely with a back injury, the wing positions were a depth chart logjam, and the decade-long title window seemed slammed shut. Nothing about the Bullets at the midway point of ’77-’78 indicated that they would eventually finish the season as champions. They lost four of their first six games, setting the stage for a season in which they were consistently lagging behind the Spurs and 76ers in the Eastern Conference standings. Washington finished with just 44 wins, their lowest total in seven years, and failed to secure a first round bye in the playoffs, entering as the #3 seed. But that Chenier injury turned out to be a blessing in disguise in the postseason, as coach Dick Motta simplified his rotation, getting more minutes for new acquisitions Bobby Dandridge and Charles Johnson. Inspired by their perceived lack of respect, the Bullets went on a roll, upsetting the Spurs and 76ers in successive playoff series, then defeating the SuperSonics in the NBA Finals for the first and only title in franchise history.

9) ’94-’95 Houston Rockets

With nine straight wins to start the ’94-’95 season, the defending champion Rockets seemed unstoppable in their repeat quest. Vernon Maxwell and Otis Thorpe had different ideas. Both started the season playing basically under protest due to dissatisfaction with their respective contracts and it quickly caught up to Houston. Between their 9-0 start and the All-Star break, the Rockets had a 20-17 record, not a disaster but certainly not becoming of a title favorite. That stretch included a lengthy suspension for Maxwell after he entered the stands during a game to fight a fan. Thorpe was traded to the Blazers for Clyde Drexler but Maxwell was stuck in Houston after a trade with the Nets fell apart. With Drexler getting acclimatized, Robert Horry struggling at power forward replacing Thorpe, and Maxwell as “Mad” as ever, the Rockets lost 16 of their final 28 games to enter the playoffs as the #6 seed. The Rockets then suspended Maxwell indefinitely and things suddenly clicked. Drexler and Horry settled in and the Rockets made a historic run to the title despite never holding home court advantage in any series.

10) ’68-’69 Boston Celtics

Bill Russell’s 13th and final NBA season was an absolute gauntlet. The 35-year-old Celtics superstar was exhausted, having participated in 11 of the last 12 NBA Finals, winning 10 of them. He also now had double duty as player-coach, was battling through a leg injury, and was still in mourning over the assassination of his friend Martin Luther King, Jr. The Celtics still managed to start the ’68-’69 season strong, holding a 29-13 record in mid January, but fell apart in the second half of the season. They generally just looked tired and old, with Sam Jones (35 years old), Satch Sanders (30), and Bailey Howell (32) also slouching towards the postseason, looking like wounded animals ready to be put out of their misery. Boston’s 48 wins was their lowest total since Russell’s rookie season, as was their #4 seed in the Eastern Conference. But the postseason muscle memory kicked in and the Celtics pulled off consecutive upsets over the 76ers, Knicks, and Lakers to send Russell into retirement with championship #11.