If winning an NBA Championship is difficult, imagine winning back-to-back Chips. Moreover, what can we say about those teams that have been dominant enough to establish themselves a dynasty and win a three-peat?
Golden State Warriors had played in the last 4 NBA Finals and they won 3 NBA Championships, but they didn’t win three-peat because of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love.
Furthermore, the Dubs are in a prime position to three-peat right now amid DeMarcus Cousins’ signing, and even though everybody feels as if they’re killing the league, we’re always excited to watch history in the making.
But, how would they fare if we compared them with the handful of teams that have managed to accomplish this over the course of history? Let’s take a look at the only teams that have ever three-peated, ranked by their dominance.
5. Minneapolis Lakers
NBA Champion: 1951-52 / 1952-53 / 1953-54
Long before the Celtics’ dominance, the Minneapolis (then Los Angeles) Lakers were the team to beat in the Association. Led by George Mikan, the best center of his generation, this club completely ruled basketball world throughout the early 50’s.
Nonetheless, it’s pretty safe to state that they didn’t have much competition to begin with. Other than the Syracuse Nationals and New York Knicks (who actually fared better in the regular season), they were yearly frontrunners to take it all. The fact that they succeeded it’s still pretty impressive, though.
4. Boston Celtics
NBA Champions: 1958-59 / 1959-60 / 1960-61 / 1961-62 / 1962-63 / 1963-64 / 1964-65 / 1965-66
This team didn’t actually three-peated, they eight-peated. Yes, the Boston Celtics were so incredibly dominant that they managed to win 8 straight Championships, an accolade that not even the Warriors are going to be able to top.
Bill Russell was the face of the league and even though he was a major beast compared to his competition, we believe he’d be a backup center at best in modern NBA. Also, the league had only 9 teams and there wasn’t much player movement whatsoever, so that’s why they’re ranked so low here.
3. Los Angeles Lakers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NQLJmM34ik
NBA Champions: 1999-00 / 2000-01 / 2001-02
Even though the Los Angeles Lakers had to fight the injury bug during the 2nd of their 3 straight Championships and didn’t even make it to the 1st seed, they still managed to overcome all adversity and win Phil Jackson’s 3rd threepeat.
Led by a surging Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal as the most dominant center ever, the Lake Show’s brought the triangle back to business. Also, they gave us one of the best basketball images ever, the Kobe-to-Shaq alley-oop to beat the Blazers in the WCF, and that incredibly entertaining series against the Kings in 2002.
2. Chicago Bulls
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eve0wooazZM
NBA Champions: 1990-91 / 1991-92 / 1992-93
These Bulls were Michael Jordan’s confirmation as the best player in the league. Following an insane 1990-91 season, his royal Airness was even better the year after, even though there was no other team in the league that could slightly threaten their chances.
They went 33-8 in the playoffs and completely demolished Drexler and the Blazers, let alone the Pistons despite their bad boys. This was the beginning of both Jordan’s and Jackson’s legacy, only topped by their next milestone.
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1. Chicago Bulls
NBA Champions: 1995-96 / 1996-97 / 1997-98
Following Michael Jordan’s comeback from his unexpected retirement, the Bulls were back in business and it didn’t take long for them to let everybody know they weren’t going to be denied of the Chip, going 72-10 in the 1995-96 season.
Dennis Rodman’s addition gave this team yet another top-notch defender to round up arguably the most dominant squad in both ends of the hardwood. Even if the Warriors had a better regular season record, “it don’t mean a thing without the ring”.
