Think LeBron James and his South Beach posse are a lock to win the NBA title? Think again. Here are some heavy favorites who failed to take home the championship trophy:
1972-73 Boston Celtics
Led by MVP Dave Cowens, the Celtics breezed through the regular season with a 68-14 record, at the time the third best in NBA history. They won their division by 11 games and finished eight games ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks, who tied for the league’s second-best mark.
Boston eliminated Atlanta in the opening round, then crushed the New York Knicks by 26 points in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals. The Knicks rebounded with three straight wins, including a double-overtime thriller in Game 4, to take a 3-1 lead.
However, the key moment occurred in Game 3, when Celtics star John Havlicek separated his right shoulder. With Hondo severely limited the rest of the series, Boston ended up losing Game 7 on its home floor.
2006-07 Dallas Mavericks
MVP Dirk Nowitzki led the Mavs to a league-best 67-15 record and a first-round matchup against the Golden State Warriors, who sneaked into the playoffs with a 42-40 mark. The Warriors won nine of their last 10 regular-season games but were still huge underdogs against Dallas, which had lost the NBA Finals to Miami the previous season.
Spreading the floor with small ball, the Warriors stole Game 1 in Dallas and nearly did the same in Game 2, then won twice at home to take a 3-1 lead. The Mavs staved off elimination by winning Game 5 but were blown out, 111-86, in Game 6, becoming the first top seed to lose a first-round best-of-seven series. Nowitzki went 2-for-13 from the field in the finale and finished with eight points.
1967-68 Philadelphia 76ers
The defending champion 76ers rolled to a 62-20 record, eight games better than the runner-up Celtics. After beating the Knicks in six games, Philadelphia met Boston in the Eastern Division finals for the fourth straight year. The 76ers won three of the first four games and appeared destined to beat their archrivals and go on to repeat as NBA champions.
But the aging Celtics came back and won the last three, becoming the first team to overcome a 3-1 deficit. With Boston clinging to a two-point lead in Game 7, player-coach Bill Russell took over in the final 34 seconds, sinking a free throw, blocking a shot and grabbing a rebound that led to the clinching basket in the 100-96 victory.
The Celtics went on to win the championship, beating the Los Angeles Lakers in six games.
1946-47 Washington Capitols
Coached by Red Auerbach, the Capitols dominated the first NBA regular season with a 49-11 record. They got a bye in the first round before meeting the Chicago Stags, who had the league’s second-best record at 39-22.
The Stags won the first three games before the Capitols rallied to win the next two. But Chicago edged Washington, 66-61, in Game 6 to reach the Finals, where the Stags lost to the Philadelphia Warriors.
(This is officially recognized as the first NBA season, even though it was then called the Basketball Association of America and was not renamed the National Basketball Association until 1949.)
Rick Warner is a longtime sports journalist who now teaches at Rutgers University.