5 greatest NBA teams that never won a title
By Jalen Eutsey
1. 2015-16 Golden State Warriors
The team with the best regular-season record in NBA history, yet they failed to win a title. The team that outdid Michael Jordan, breaking the 1995-96 Bulls’ 72-10 record by going 73-9. They were first in offensive rating, fifth in defensive rating, second in pace and first in Simple Rating System on the season. Their defensive rating and SRS both remain in the top ten of single-season ranks since 1973. They were already champions, but this team was on a mission to remove all doubt about their greatness — they nearly did it.
The 2015-16 Warriors were upended by injury, fatigue, stupidity, greatness and depending on your beliefs — destiny. After winning the league’s first unanimous MVP with one of the best offensive seasons ever, Stephen Curry slipped on a puddle of sweat and sprained his knee during the Warriors’ first-round matchup against the Houston Rockets. The foundation remained strong, but things had already begun to go off-script. Before the Warriors were on the wrong side of a 3-1 collapse, they were on the right side of one in the Western Conference Finals. They rallied to overcome a relentless, swarming Oklahoma City Thunder defense with the help of Klay Thompson’s 41-point performance in Game 6, which included a still unmatched playoff record of 11 3-pointers.
After taking a 3-1 lead in the Finals, all hell broke loose. Draymond Green got himself suspended for a pivotal Game 5 due to an accumulation of flagrant fouls. They lost Game 5. Bogut was injured in Game 6 and missed the rest of the series. Andre Iguodala left Game 6 with back stiffness and the rest is history. Game 7. The block, the shot, the stop. Cavs win.
If nothing else, this team is a sobering reminder of how hard it is to win a championship. Curry married efficiency and flare from long-range like no one had before and no one has since. And the Warriors married a team-first style built around the games two greatest shooters, with a switch-everything defense anchored by a 6-foot-7 power forward/center hybrid. Oh, what could have been…
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