NBA Finals: All-Time Champions

YEAR	CHAMPION	OPPONENT	RESULT	MVP
2009-10	Los Angeles Lakers	Boston Celtics	4-3	Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles
2008-09	Los Angeles Lakers	Orlando Magic	4-1	Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles
2007-08	Boston Celtics	Los Angeles Lakers	4-2	Paul Pierce, Boston
2006-07	San Antonio Spurs	Cleveland Cavaliers	4-0	Tony Parker, San Antonio
2005-06	Miami Heat	Dallas Mavericks	4-2	Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat
2004-05	San Antonio Spurs	Detroit Pistons	4-3	Tim Duncan, San Antonio
2003-04	Detroit Pistons	Los Angeles Lakers	4-1	Chauncey Billups, Detroit Pistons
2002-03	San Antonio Spurs	New Jersey Nets	4-2	Tim Duncan, San Antonio
2001-02	Los Angeles Lakers	New Jersey Nets	4-0	Shaquille O'Neal, Los Angeles
2000-01	Los Angeles Lakers	Philadelphia 76ers	4-1	Shaquille O'Neal, Los Angeles
1999-00	Los Angeles Lakers	Indiana Pacers	4-2	Shaquille O'Neal, Los Angeles
1998-99	San Antonio Spurs	New York Knicks	4-1	Tim Duncan, San Antonio
1997-98	Chicago Bulls	Utah Jazz	4-2	Michael Jordan, Chicago
1996-97	Chicago Bulls	Utah Jazz	4-2	Michael Jordan, Chicago
1995-96	Chicago Bulls	Seattle SuperSonics	4-2	Michael Jordan, Chicago
1994-95	Houston Rockets	Orlando Magic	4-0	Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston
1993-94	Houston Rockets	New York Knicks	4-3	Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston
1992-93	Chicago Bulls	Phoenix Suns	4-2	Michael Jordan, Chicago
1991-92	Chicago Bulls	Portland Trail Blazers	4-2	Michael Jordan, Chicago
1990-91	Chicago Bulls	Los Angeles Lakers	4-1	Michael Jordan, Chicago
1989-90	Detroit Pistons	Portland Trail Blazers	4-1	Isiah Thomas, Detroit
1988-89	Detroit Pistons	Los Angeles Lakers	4-0	Joe Dumars, Detroit
1987-88	Los Angeles Lakers	Detroit Pistons	4-3	James Worthy, Los Angeles
1986-87	Los Angeles Lakers	Boston Celtics	4-2	Magic Johnson, Los Angeles
1985-86	Boston Celtics	Houston Rockets	4-2	Larry Bird, Boston
1984-85	Los Angeles Lakers	Boston Celtics	4-2	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Los Angeles
1983-84	Boston Celtics	Los Angeles Lakers	4-3	Larry Bird, Boston
1982-83	Philadelphia 76ers	Los Angeles Lakers	4-0	Moses Malone, Philadelphia
1981-82	Los Angeles Lakers	Philadelphia 76ers	4-2	Magic Johnson, Los Angeles
1980-81	Boston Celtics	Houston Rockets	4-2	Cedric Maxwell, Boston
1979-80	Los Angeles Lakers	Philadelphia 76ers	4-2	Magic Johnson, Los Angeles
1978-79	Seattle SuperSonics	Washington Bullets	4-1	Dennis Johnson, Seattle
1977-78	Washington Bullets	Seattle SuperSonics	4-3	Wes Unseld, Washington
1976-77	Portland Trail Blazers	Philadelphia 76ers	4-2	Bill Walton, Portland
1975-76	Boston Celtics	Phoenix Suns	4-2	Jo Jo White, Boston
1974-75	Golden State Warriors	Washington Bullets	4-0	Rick Barry, Golden State
1973-74	Boston Celtics	Milwaukee Bucks	4-3	John Havlicek, Boston
1972-73	New York Knicks	Los Angeles Lakers	4-1	Willis Reed, New York
1971-72	Los Angeles Lakers	New York Knicks	4-1	Wilt Chamberlain, Los Angeles
1970-71	Milwaukee Bucks	Baltimore Bullets	4-0	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Milwaukee
1969-70	New York Knicks	Los Angeles Lakers	4-3	Willis Reed, New York
1968-69	Boston Celtics	Los Angeles Lakers	4-3	Jerry West, Los Angeles
1967-68	Boston Celtics	Los Angeles Lakers	4-2
1966-67	Philadelphia 76ers	San Francisco Warriors	4-2
1965-66	Boston Celtics	Los Angeles Lakers	4-3
1964-65	Boston Celtics	Los Angeles Lakers	4-1
1963-64	Boston Celtics	San Francisco Warriors	4-1
1962-63	Boston Celtics	Los Angeles Lakers	4-2
1961-62	Boston Celtics	Los Angeles Lakers	4-3
1960-61	Boston Celtics	St. Louis Hawks	4-1
1959-60	Boston Celtics	St. Louis Hawks	4-3
1958-59	Boston Celtics	Minneapolis Lakers	4-0
1957-58	St. Louis Hawks	Boston Celtics	4-2
1956-57	Boston Celtics	St. Louis Hawks	4-3
1955-56	Philadelphia Warriors	Fort Wayne Pistons	4-1
1954-55	Syracuse Nationals	Fort Wayne Pistons	4-3
1953-54	Minneapolis Lakers	Syracuse Nationals	4-3
1952-53	Minneapolis Lakers	New York Knicks	4-1
1951-52	Minneapolis Lakers	New York Knicks	4-3
1950-51	Rochester Royals	New York Knicks	4-3
1949-50	Minneapolis Lakers	Syracuse Nationals	4-2
1948-49	Minneapolis Lakers	Washington Capitols	4-2
1947-48	Baltimore Bullets	Philadelphia Warriors	4-2
1946-47	Philadelphia Warriors	Chicago Stags	4-1

Playoffs

NBA Playoffs begin in late April, with eight teams in each conference going for the Championship. The three division winners, along with the team with the next best record from the conference are given the top four seeds. The next four teams in terms of record are given the lower four seeds.

Having a higher seed offers several advantages. Since the first seed begins the playoffs playing against the eighth seed, the second seed plays the seventh seed, the third seed plays the sixth seed, and the fourth seed plays the fifth seed, having a higher seed means a team faces a weaker team in the first round. The team in each series with the better record has home court advantage, including the First Round. This means that, for example, if the team who receives the 5 seed has a better record than the team with the 4 seed (by virtue of a divisional championship), the 5 seed would have home court advantage, even though the other team has a higher seed. Therefore, the team with the best regular season record in the league is guaranteed home court advantage in every series it plays. For example, in 2006, the Denver Nuggets won 44 games and captured the Northwest Division and the #3 seed. Their opponent was the #6 seeded Los Angeles Clippers, who won 47 games and finished second in the Pacific Division. Although Denver won its much weaker division, the Clippers had home-court advantage and won the series in five games.

The playoffs follow a tournament format. Each team plays an opponent in a best-of-seven series, with the first team to win four games advancing into the next round, while the other team is eliminated from the playoffs. In the next round, the successful team plays against another advancing team of the same conference. All but one team in each conference are eliminated from the playoffs. Since the NBA does not re-seed teams, the playoff bracket in each conference uses a traditional design, with the winner of the series matching the 1st and 8th seeded teams playing the winner of the series matching the 4th and 5th seeded teams, and the winner of the series matching the 2nd and 7th seeded teams playing the winner of the series matching the 3rd and 6th seeded teams. In every round except the NBA Finals, the best of seven series follows a 2-2-1-1-1 home-court pattern, meaning that one team will have home court in games 1, 2, 5, and 7, while the other plays at home in games 3, 4, and 6. For the final round (NBA Finals), the series follows a 2-3-2 pattern, meaning that one team will have home court in games 1, 2, 6, and 7, while the other plays at home in games 3, 4, and 5. The 2-3-2 pattern in the NBA Finals has been in place since 1985.

The final playoff round, a best-of-seven series between the victors of both conferences, is known as the NBA Finals, and is held annually in June. The victor in the NBA Finals wins the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy. Each player and major contributor—including coaches and the general manager—on the winning team receive a championship ring. In addition, the league awards a Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award to the best performing player of the series.

On August 2, 2006, the NBA announced the new playoff format. The new format takes the three division winners and the second-place team with the best record and rank them 1–4 by record. The other 4 slots are filled by best record other than those other 4 teams. Previously, the top three seeds went to the division winners.

Regular season

Following the summer break, teams begin training camps in late September. Training camps allow the coaching staff to evaluate players (especially rookies), scout the team's strengths and weaknesses, prepare the players for the rigorous regular season, and determine the 12-man active roster (and a 3-man inactive list) with which they will begin the regular season. Teams have the ability to assign players with less than two years of experience to the NBA development league. After training camp, a series of preseason exhibition games are held. The NBA regular season begins in the last week of October. During the regular season, each team plays 82 games, 41 each home and away. A team faces opponents in its own division four times a year (16 games), teams from the other two divisions in its conference either three or four times (36 games), and teams in the other conference twice apiece (30 games). This asymmetrical structure means the strength of schedule NFL or MLB). will vary between teams (but not as significantly as the

As of 2008, the NBA is one of only two of the Big 4 in North America in which teams play every other team during the regular season (the other being the National Hockey League.) Each team hosts and visits every other team at least once every season. For a few seasons until 2008, the NBA had the distinction of being the only one of the four major leagues in which all teams play every other team.

The NBA is also the only league that regularly schedules games on Christmas Day. The league has been playing games regularly on the holiday since 1947, though the first Christmas Day games weren't televised until 1983–84. Games played on this day have featured some of the best teams and players. Christmas is also notable for NBA on television, as the holiday is when the first NBA games air on network television each season.Milwaukee Bucks playing the Charlotte Bobcats in a regular season gameIn February, the regular season pauses to celebrate the annual NBA All-Star Game. Fans vote throughout the United States, Canada, and on the Internet, and the top vote-getters at each position in each conference are given a starting spot on their conference's All-Star team. Coaches vote to choose the remaining 14 All-Stars. Then, Eastern conference players face the Western conference players in the All-Star game. The player with the best performance during the game is rewarded with a Game MVP award. Other attractions of the All-Star break include the Rookie Challenge, where the top rookies and second-year players in the NBA play against each other in a 5-on-5 basketball game; the Skills Challenge, where players compete to finish an obstacle course comprising of shooting, passing and dribbling in the fastest time; the Three Point Contest, where players compete to score the most amount of three-point field goals in a given time; and the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, where players compete to dunk the ball in the most entertaining way according to the judges. These other attractions have varying names which include the names of the various sponsors who have paid for naming rights.

Shortly after the All-Star break is the trade deadline, which is set to fall on the 16th Thursday of the season (usually in February) at 3pm Eastern Time. After this date, teams are not allowed to exchange players with each other for the remainder of the season, although they may still sign and release players. Major trades are often completed right before the trading deadline, making that day a hectic time for general managers.

Around the middle of April, the regular season ends. It is during this time that voting begins for individual awards, as well as the selection of the honorary, league-wide, post-season teams. The Sixth Man of the Year Award is given to the best player coming off the bench (must have more games coming off the bench than actual games started). The Rookie of the Year Award is awarded to the most outstanding first-year player. The Most Improved Player Award is awarded to the player who is deemed to have shown the most improvement from the previous season. The Defensive Player of the Year Award is awarded to the league's best defender. The Coach of the Year Award is awarded to the coach that has made the most positive difference to a team. The Most Valuable Player Award is given to player deemed the most valuable for (his team) that season. Additionally, Sporting News awards an unofficial (but widely recognized) Executive of the Year Award to the general manager who is adjudged to have performed the best job for the benefit of his franchise.

The post-season teams are the All-NBA Team, the All-Defensive Team, and the All-Rookie Team; each consists of five players. There are three All-NBA teams, consisting of the top players at each position, with first-team status being the most desirable. There are two All-Defensive teams, consisting of the top defenders at each position. There are also two All-Rookie teams, consisting of the top first-year players regardless of position.

Teams

The NBA originated in 1946 with 11 teams, and through a sequence of team expansions, reductions, and relocations currently consists of 30 teams. The United States is home to 29 teams and one is located in Canada. The Boston Celtics have won the most championships with 17 NBA Finals wins. The second most successful franchise is the Los Angeles Lakers, who have 16 overall championships (11 in Los Angeles, 5 in Minneapolis). Following the Lakers are the Chicago Bulls with six championships, all of them over an 8-year span during the 1990s, and the San Antonio Spurs with four championships, all since 1999.

The current league organization divides thirty teams into two conferences of three divisions with five teams each. The current divisional alignment was introduced in the 2004–05 season.

Division	Team	City, Region	Arena	Founded	Joined	Head coach
Eastern Conference
Atlantic	Boston Celtics	Boston, MA	TD Garden	1946		Doc Rivers
	New Jersey Nets	Newark, NJ*	Prudential Center	1967	1976	Avery Johnson
	New York Knicks	New York, NY	Madison Square Garden	1946		Mike D'Antoni
	Philadelphia 76ers	Philadelphia, PA	Wells Fargo Center	1946*	1949	Doug Collins
	Toronto Raptors	Toronto, ON	Air Canada Centre	1995		Jay Triano
Central	Chicago Bulls	Chicago, IL	United Center	1966		Tom Thibodeau
	Cleveland Cavaliers	Cleveland, OH	Quicken Loans Arena	1970		Byron Scott
	Detroit Pistons	Auburn Hills, MI	The Palace of Auburn Hills	1941*	1948	John Kuester
	Indiana Pacers	Indianapolis, IN	Conseco Fieldhouse	1967	1976	Jim O'Brien
	Milwaukee Bucks	Milwaukee, WI	Bradley Center	1968		Scott Skiles
Southeast	Atlanta Hawks	Atlanta, GA	Philips Arena	1946*	1949	Larry Drew
	Charlotte Bobcats	Charlotte, NC	Time Warner Cable Arena	2004		Paul Silas
	Miami Heat	Miami, FL	AmericanAirlines Arena	1988		Erik Spoelstra
	Orlando Magic	Orlando, FL	Amway Center	1989		Stan Van Gundy
	Washington Wizards	Washington, D.C.	Verizon Center	1961*		Flip Saunders
Western Conference
Northwest	Denver Nuggets	Denver, CO	Pepsi Center	1967	1976	George Karl
	Minnesota Timberwolves	Minneapolis, MN	Target Center	1989		Kurt Rambis
	Oklahoma City Thunder	Oklahoma City, OK	Oklahoma City Arena	1967*		Scott Brooks
	Portland Trail Blazers	Portland, OR	Rose Garden	1970		Nate McMillan
	Utah Jazz	Salt Lake City, UT	EnergySolutions Arena	1974*		Jerry Sloan
Pacific	Golden State Warriors	Oakland, CA	Oracle Arena	1946*		Keith Smart
	Los Angeles Clippers	Los Angeles, CA	Staples Center	1970*		Vinny Del Negro
	Los Angeles Lakers	Los Angeles, CA	Staples Center	1947*	1948	Phil Jackson
	Phoenix Suns	Phoenix, AZ	US Airways Center	1968		Alvin Gentry
	Sacramento Kings	Sacramento, CA	ARCO Arena	1945*	1948	Paul Westphal
Southwest	Dallas Mavericks	Dallas, TX	American Airlines Center	1980		Rick Carlisle
	Houston Rockets	Houston, TX	Toyota Center	1967*		Rick Adelman
	Memphis Grizzlies	Memphis, TN	FedExForum	1995*		Lionel Hollins
	New Orleans Hornets	New Orleans, LA	New Orleans Arena	1988*		Monty Williams
	San Antonio Spurs	San Antonio, TX	AT&T Center	1967	1976	Gregg Popovich

NBA HISTORY

From its inception as a league in 1949, the National Basketball Association (NBA) had grown from a small league garnering little interests from the American public to a global juggernaut responsible for making basketball into the fastest growing sport in the world!  The history of the NBA is filled with remarkable stories and captivating characters.  Starting as a league featuring 8 teams to its current 30 teams.  From the first superstar, center George Mikan of the Minneapolis Lakers, to its current star, Chinese center Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets.

Here at RingSurf NBA, we realize that true fans appreciate the history and evolution of the game in the world’s greatest basketball league.  That is why we are devoting a special segment documenting the History of the NBA, highlighting significant changes, moments, and players of the game.  Our special segments trace the dynasties of the Minneapolis Lakers, Boston Celtics, and Chicago Bulls, as well as recording the significance of such great players and ambassadors of the game from George Mikan, Bill Russell, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Julius Erving, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, and Shaquille O’Neal.