Points win Prizes: The Greatest NBA Offence's
The 5 Best Offensive Teams in NBA History
We take a look at the 5 greatest offensive teams in the history of the NBA.
Rodman, Pippen & Jordan
There is no doubt that, in the last 70-plus years of professional basketball, the rise of scoring has exploded- especially at the collegiate and professional levels.
One of the main reasons for this is that right before the 1954-1955 seasons, the 24-second shot clock was introduced.
Before the invention, when teams got possession of the ball they would often have possessions of around two minutes long, not making for the most exciting spectacle.
Teams responded by severely upping their tempo, which has created a much more entertaining and fast-paced style of basketball.
Today we are going to talk about the top 5 best ever offensive NBA teams that we have seen in the last 70 plus years.
1995-1996 Chicago Bulls
If you're trying to jog your memory, yes, this is the Bulls team that went 72-10!
This team, of course, featured Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman. Jordan and Pippen put on a score show together, netting almost 4,000 points combined (2,491 and 1,496 respectively).
As a team, they netted 99 points more in roughly 75 percent of the time- 59 in a total of 82 games during the regular season.
The impressive thing about that year's team was their length and depth!
The Bulls had sharpshooter Steve Kerr, who knocked in 122 three’s in only 237 attempts.
In addition, they were also unique in that they actually had three players who could play center. This included Luc Longley, Bill Wennington and James Edwards, all of whom are at least seven foot tall.
This means that in order to get rid of all of Chicago’s big men, you had to go through 18 fouls!
Without doubt the 95-96 Bulls are the Greatest NBA team of all-time
2015-2016 Golden State Warriors
The 2015-2016 Golden State Warriors posted the most amazing season in basketball history during this season, at a clip of 73-9.
Their big three are the same big three that is still intact today at Golden State- Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
In addition to those three, this team also had some other blasts from the past, as well as a tremendous amount of length. This team had nine players that were 6’7 or taller!
So who were the blasts from the past? Andre Iguadola, who is more remembered from playing the bulk of his career for the Philadelphia 76ers and the Denver Nuggets.
As a team, the Warriors scored 9,421 points for an average of 114.8 points per game. Another anecdote from this team- Steve Kerr was the coach of this team, and as of 2022 he has a combination of 10 championships to his name.
Six of these championships were as a player with the Chicago Bulls, and four as a coach- all with Golden State.
1985-1986 Boston Celtics
Some people who live in that area feel that this was the best team in the history of professional basketball, as they barely missed the 70-win mark at 67-15.
This included a 40-1 record at Boston Garden and they only lost three games during the playoffs, one to the Hawks in the Conference Semi-Finals and then two more to the Houston Rockets in the NBA Finals.
Similar to the 95-96 Bulls, the Celtics’ stats in height were also impressive. They had five players who were 6’9 or taller, which by that era's standards is something almost inconceivable.
If you're wondering who they were; Larry Bird is 6’9 and Kevin McHale is 6’10, while Robert Parish, Bill Walton and Greg Kite are basically 7-footers.
This team were top-heavy upfront and used its size to its advantage. They also had a reputation for being extremely unselfish with the basketball in hand.
For the year, the Celtics finished the regular season at 9,359 points, which totalled out to a clip of 114.1 points per game.
1965-1966 Boston Celtics
Considering Boston won 11 championships in 13 years between 1957 and 1969, there are technically multiple teams that could be on this list- but there are only five to choose from so we’ll go with the 1965 Boston Celtics.
As far as the actual personnel go, the Celtics’ personnel didn’t change much, especially their top personnel.
As some examples, Havlicek (also known as Hondo) played for the Celtics from 1962-1963 all the way up to the next 1977-1978 season, and he was on 8 of the 11 championship teams.
KC Jones played from 1958 to 1967, while fellow guard Sam Jones played almost identical years from 1957-1969. Lastly- the most famous of them all- Bill Russell played from 1956-1969.
The most recognisable names on this team are Bill Russell, Sam Jones, KC Jones (KC would also coach the Celtics in the Larry Bird era), Larry Siegfried and John Thompson.
1987-1988 Los Angeles Lakers
As with the Celtics of the 60s and 80s, it would be madness not to include at least one Lakers team in this list.
This Lakers team is included because they defeated the Celtics in the last year of the Larry Bird era, when he played competitively.
The most famous play of this season is one many have seen before, when Magic Johnson, guarded by Kevin McHale, dribbled towards the middle of the floor where 7 footer Robert Parish was directly in front of him- and then Larry Bird came over as well and Magic nailed a hook shot with just two seconds left.
This was preceded by Boston calling a timeout, and Bird ultimately getting a shot in the corner. However, he ended up missing it, giving the Lakers the season.
For younger fans, some of the more famous faces you’ll recognise from this team are Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul Jabbar and James Worthy.
The Lakers finished out the season with 9,656 points, which averaged out to a clip of 117.8 points per game.
