Parity comes to the NBA
The NBA playoffs are nothing short of fantastic, with incredible series and games. The playoffs also are nothing short of historic. Three of the four franchises left never have won an NBA title. And no matter which team wins the championship, it will give us four champs in the last four years: Miami, San Antonio, Boston and either the Lakers, Cavs, Nuggets or Magic.
That’s a rare level of parity in the NBA. The NBA is the most elitist of the major sports. Most every NFL franchise has Super Bowl hopes. This decade’s nine World Serieses have been won by eight franchises.
But in the NBA, the titles have been reserved for the few. Until Miami’s championship in 2006, the previous 26 titles were won by only seven franchises.
The four franchises-in-four years feat hasn’t been seen in the NBA since 1977-81, when Portland, Washington, Seattle, the Lakers and Boston won. The 1970s were the golden age of NBA parity. Six franchises won the six titles from 1975 through 1980: Golden State, Boston, Portland, Washington, Seattle and the Lakers. And five won the five titles from 1971-75: Milwaukee, the Lakers, New York, Boston and Golden State.
The only other stretch of parity came in 1954-57: the Minneapolis Lakers, Syracuse Nationals (who became the 76ers), the Philadelphia Warriors (who later moved to San Francisco) and Boston.
This is all great news for Oklahoma City. I don’t know if the current parity trend will hold. But better to have a young, blooming team now than in the 1980s, when every season was a race for fourth, behind the Lakers, Boston and Philadelphia. Or the ’90s, when Michael Jordan or Hakeem Olajuwon won eight straight titles. Or even the 200s, when the Lakers or Spurs won seven championships in a nine-year span (starting in ’99).
We’re seeing new blood, and if any of the four teams besides the Lakers win, that new blood will have scaled the mountain.
The Thunder is worlds away from an NBA championship. But there have been many eras in NBA history in which even talented, veteran teams had no real shot at challenging for the title. The league was too top-heavy. That is no longer the case.
-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.
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