National Basketball Association

NBA: Top 5 Underdog Teams That Have Won The Title

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 3:55 p.m. ET

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While certain teams have championship blueprint written all over them, sometimes it is the underdog that goes home with the NBA crown.

Jun 2, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; (Editors note: a tilt-shift lens was used to create this image) A overall view of the court before game one of the NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

The 2016-17 NBA season will begin in a little more than a month. As of right now, there are prohibitive favorites who are expected to win it all.

For instance, the Cleveland Cavaliers are the champions until, well, someone beats them in the postseason.

Meanwhile, the Golden State Warriors, who acquired one of the premier scorers in the league in Kevin Durant, should have an inside track on a return trip back to the Finals as well.

However, we should all consider exercising a bit of caution before crowning either of these teams as the next NBA champions.

Why?

Although it doesn’t happen too often, there have been instances in which teams have won a title despite not being given much of a chance by media pundits. So to that extreme, we will take a look back at the underdog teams that have won it all over the last 25 years.

UNITED STATES – JUNE 20: Basketball: NBA Finals, Closeup of Miami Heat Shaquille O’Neal (32) and Dwyane Wade (3) victorious with trophy after winning Game 6 and championship vs Dallas Mavericks, Dallas, TX 6/20/2006 (Photo by Bob Rosato/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images)

5. 2006 Miami Heat

The Miami Heat acquired Shaquille O’Neal prior to the start of the 2004-05 campaign to play alongside Dwyane Wade in hopes of turning the team into title contenders. They came up short, though, falling to the Detroit Pistons in seven games in the conference finals.

The following season, Miami finished with a 52-30 record, good enough for the second-best record in the Eastern Conference.

After defeating the Chicago Bulls and the New Jersey Nets in six and five games, respectively, the Heat avenged the previous year’s loss by knocking off the Pistons in six games en route to their first Finals appearance.

After the first two games of the Finals, things looked a bit grim for the Heat as they fell behind 0-2 to the Dallas Mavericks. But thanks to Wade — who averaged 34.7 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists per contest — the Heat took the next four games, giving the franchise its first-ever NBA championship.

AUBURN HILLS, MI – JUNE 15: Tayshaun Prince #22 celebrates with teammate Richard Hamilton #32 of the Detroit Pistons seconds before defeating the Los Angeles Lakers 100-87 in game five of the 2004 NBA Finals on June 15, 2004 at The Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

4. 2004 Detroit Pistons

The 2004 Finals was the proverbial David vs. Goliath battle. In one corner, there were the Los Angeles Lakers, a team that was making its fourth Finals appearance in five seasons.

Not only did they have Shaq and Kobe Bryant leading the way, they had also acquired Karl Malone and Gary Payton in the offseason.

In the other corner, there was this Pistons team that didn’t have a bonafide superstar. However, what they did have was a team that knew how to play well together at both ends of the floor.

The teams split the first two games of the series at the Staples Center, shifting the venue to the Palace of Auburn Hills for the next three contests.

Detroit pounded the Lakers by an astounding 88-68 margin in Game 3 and took the remaining two games to claim the team’s first title since 1990.

Oh, and by the way, the Pistons held that star-studded Lakers squad to just 81.8 points per outing in that five-game set. Furthermore, the Pistons became the first team in NBA history to sweep the middle three games of the Finals (the Heat duplicated the feat against the Mavs in 2006).

MIAMI, FL – JUNE 12: (L-R) Finals MVP Dirk Nowitzki #41, Jason Kidd #2 and Jason Terry #31 of the Dallas Mavericks celebrate with the Larry O’Brien trophy after they won 105-95 against the Miami Heat in Game Six of the 2011 NBA Finals at American Airlines Arena on June 12, 2011 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Marc Serota/Getty Images)

3. 2011 Dallas Mavericks

The Miami Heat’s newly-formed big three of LeBron James, Wade and Chris Bosh stormed through the conference playoffs, knocking off the Philadelphia 76ers, Boston Celtics and the Chicago Bulls while compiling a 12-3 mark en route to the team’s second Finals appearance.

In other words, nothing was going to stop Miami from winning its second title, especially after they took two of the first three games, right?

Wrong.

With their season and championship hopes in peril, the Dallas Mavericks answered the bell behind the duo of Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry.

Nowitzki averaged 23.7 points and 9.6 rebounds over the final three games and Terry pumped in 21.7 points per contest on 58 percent shooting over the same span, leading the Mavericks to an unexpected 4-2 series win over the Heat.

What once looked like a coronation in the making for the self-proclaimed Heat dynasty turned out to be a coming-out party for the Mavs.

And if you were not a fan of the big three, this one is probably your favorite story on the list.

Basketball: NBA Finals: Houston Rockets Kenny Smith (30) victorious, cutting down net on ladder after winning Game 4 and championship series vs Orlando Magic at The Summit.
Houston, TX 6/14/1995
CREDIT: Phil Huber (Photo by Phil Huber /Sports Illustrated/Getty Images)
(Set Number: X48535 )

2. 1995 Houston Rockets

The Rockets entered the 1995 postseason as the defending champs, which may cause some of you to question how can be they be considered underdogs, correct?

Although Houston went on to successfully its title, the climb back to the top was not an easy one by any means.

For starters, despite acquiring Clyde Drexler in a midseason trade, the Rockets finished their injury-riddled 1994-95 campaign with the sixth-best record in the Western Conference at 47-35.

In the opening round of the playoffs, the Rockets had to overcome a seven point, fourth-quarter deficit just to get by the Utah Jazz in a fifth and deciding game.

Next up were the Phoenix Suns, a team that won three of the first four games, putting the Rockets on the brink of elimination.

Not wanting to see their championship reign come to an end, though, the Rockets won the next three games, becoming just the fifth team (at the time) to come back from a 3-1 deficit in a playoff series.

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The Rockets proceeded to beat the top-seeded Spurs in the conference finals, and followed that up with a surprising sweep over the up-and-coming Orlando Magic.

To put the Rockets’ second title run into perspective, it is worth mentioning that they repeated without having home court advantage in any round of the playoffs.

As if being the lowest seed to ever win the title wasn’t impressive enough, all of the teams they defeated had won at least 57 games during the regular season.

Last, but certainly not least, the Rockets won eight straight elimination games dating back to the first title run from the previous year.

During their championship celebration, head coach Rudy Tomjanovich said that we should never underestimate the heart of a champion.

No team epitomized that sentiment more so than the 1994-95 Rockets.

Jun 19, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) celebrates with the Bill Russell MVP Trophy after beating the Golden State Warriors in game seven of the NBA Finals at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

1. 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers

While the Cavaliers compiled an impressive 12-2 mark through the Eastern Conference playoffs, they were not expected to keep the Warriors from repeating.

After all, the Warriors won 73 games during the regular season. Aside from the Oklahoma City Thunder, no team had beaten them more than once during their postseason run.

Even more important, the Warriors held a 3-1 lead and were just one win away from capping off their historic season.

Unfortunately for the Dubs, that one win never materialized, as the Cavaliers came back to win the series in seven games.

It would be easy to say that the series would have ended differently if not for Draymond Green‘s one-game suspension and/or Andrew Bogut going down with a knee injury early in Game 5 that sidelined him for the rest of the series.

At the same time, that would also be overlooking the fact that the Cavs still had to win three consecutive games, and based on how the remaining games of the series unfolded, the underdog proved to be the better team.

That being said, while it would not be a much of a surprise if either of these two clubs won the title next season, it shouldn’t be considered a total shock if another team emerged to give these favorites a run for their money.

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