The 2008-09 Los Angeles Lakers accomplished something that hadn't been done in 20 years: They became the first NBA Finals runner-up since the 1988-89 Detroit Pistons to win a championship the following season.
If you were to look at the 20 championships won in the years between, you'd realize how big a part experience plays.
Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls managed to repeat four times en route to six titles. The Shaq/Kobe Lakers did it twice on their way to a three-peat, and Olajuwon's Houston Rockets did it once in winning consecutive rings in 1994 and 1995.
Even the Tim Duncan-led Spurs, who never won a back-to-back titles, could cull from their experiences of previous championships in winning three more titles between 2003 and 2007.
It also didn't hurt that the Spurs won their first title in the 1999 strike-shortened, Michael Jordan-less season.
The only teams to win championships between 1989 and 2009 who didn't win another title were the 2003-04 Detroit Pistons, the 2005-06 Miami Heat, and the 2007-08 Boston Celtics.
Of those three teams, the Celtics were the only ones who didn't play in the conference semi ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Andrew Ungvari
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