A common saying in basketball is that offense sells tickets and defense wins NBA championships.
But in modern basketball and even as far back as the 1990s, the defensive side of the game can also be fun sometimes.
It usually comes in big blocks and steals, leading to fast break points.
We’ll talk about the ending that wins championships in this OKBet basketball article.
1965-1966 Boston Celtics
This team was in the middle of a 13-year run in which they won 11 NBA championships.
The essential thing to know about any of these teams is that the player who popularized blocking shots played for the Celtics.
It was Bill Russell, and his best piece of advice was not to try to block every shot but to change shots. People who try to block shots should change the shooter’s angle.
Interestingly, changed shots are not included in traditional stat lines at any game level today.
It would be a tough stat to keep track of because you would have to define what a changed shot is and what it is not. However, blocked shots are easy to keep track of.
Shot blocking wasn’t even a stat that could be kept track of until the 1973-1974 season.
We don’t know how many shots Russell blocked that season, but on average, he grabbed 22.8 rebounds per game.
1987-1988 Detroit Pistons
For almost any team, you could pick any Detroit Pistons team from the late 1980s through most of the 1990s. Their defense was their main strength, and it helped them win two NBA titles.
Bill Laimbeer and Dennis Rodman were the most well-known players on the Pistons. Both are known for playing hard and getting inside your head.
The only bad thing about their style of play was that they were often called for fouls. On average, they were called for two fouls per game.
It may not sound like a big deal, but Rick Mahorn (3.9) and John Salley led the way (3.3).
Even though neither of these players did crazy or unique, they still considered the best defenders on the Pistons.
The 1987-1988 Detroit Pistons also the team that came up with the “Jordan rules.” It means that there specific rules they had to follow when they played Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls.
This plan has meant to make Jordan less productive. It worked in the end, which helped the Pistons beat the Bulls and win the NBA title again in 1989 and 1990.
1993-1994 New York Knicks
In this period, the Knicks were like the 76ers were in the 1980s. At the time, the Bulls and Pistons were the best teams in the NBA, while the Knicks could never get over the hump.
Only one thing is different: in 1983, Philadelphia did win a championship.
But during that time, the Knicks never won a championship. The 1993-1994 season the only time they made it to the finals.
In the end, they lost to Hakeem Olajuwon and the Houston Rockets in seven games.
The strength of this Knicks team was their big men on defense. You had to deal with Charles Oakley, Anthony Mason, and Patrick Ewing, who were big and strong.
Even though Ewing the only player to block more than one shot per game (2.7), all three combined for just a little less than 20 rebounds per game.
Ewing got 8.4 defensive boards, Oakley scored 7.5, and Mason scored 3.7.
1995-1996 Chicago Bulls
Even though the Bulls of this time have been remembered for their great offense, they were strong on defense.
Dennis Rodman used to play for the rival Detroit Pistons and put that team over the top. He led the league in both offensive and defensive rebounds per game.
On defense, the Bulls also won in many other ways.
They were one of the first teams that turned defense into offense. They would often steal the ball and score on a fast break or a pull-up 3.
2000-2001 San Antonio Spurs
Like almost every team on this list, one of the main reasons the Spurs so good that they had two big men who both very good.
Since the early 2000s, this has been happening less and less.
David Robinson and Tim Duncan were two of the best big men. Some people may not know who they are.
It meant that when you were in the paint and could block your shot, you had to worry about not just one but two centers.
In a way, Robinson was lucky for the Spurs. Robinson was in the second half of his NBA career, which is why San Antonio would have needed to get Duncan. Duncan was 35 years old this season, which is also why Robinson was in the second half of his career.
He finally gave up playing at the end of the 2002-2003 season.
During the season of 2000-2001, the two towers worked together to get 15 defensive rebounds and 4.8 blocks.
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