FORT STEWART Ga. - I know it’s been a whole week since the last game of the NBA finals, but I must say I really enjoyed watching it. It’s always nice to be able to watch game seven of a series.
What I didn’t know until after the game was it was only the 18th game seven in NBA Finals history.
With the Miami Heat winning its third championship, it became only the eighth franchise in NBA history to have three or more championships.
The Boston Celtics leads with 17 championships, followed by the Los Angeles Lakers with 16, the Chicago Bulls with six, the San Antonio Spurs with four and the Detroit Pistons, Golden State Warriors and Philadelphia 76ers with three each. Only 17 NBA franchises have won at least one championship, three of them (Lakers, Warriors and 76ers) did it in different cities.
The Celtics and Lakers dominance in the NBA is impressive, but let’s look at some other impressive winners.
How about Bill Russell? He won two straight NCAA basketball championships followed by an Olympic Gold Medal and then went on to win nine NBA championships in his first 10 years in the league. He ended up winning 11 total NBA titles in 13 years.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar finished high school with a 79-2 record with three straight state crowns, won three straight NCAA titles and six NBA titles. Magic Johnson won a state championship his senior year in high school, a NCAA title, five NBA titles and a gold medal.
Michael Jordan won one NCAA, six NBA titles and two Olympic gold medals.
Speaking of basketball coaches, Red Auerbach won nine NBA titles as the Boston Celtics coach and seven as their general manager.
Phil Jackson won a NBA championship as a player and 11 as a coach. John Wooden won a NCAA title as a player, then won 10 of them as the coach of ULCA, including seven straight. His teams had four perfect seasons, an 88-game win streak and a 38-game NCAA tournament win streak.
In women’s basketball, Pat Summitt and Geno Auriemma are before the rest. Summitt had a 1,098-208 record with eight championships and a gold medal at the University of Tennessee. Auriemma has won 14 conference championships, reached 12 Final Fours with seven titles.
Speaking of NCAA Chapionships, the UCLA baseball team beat Mississippi State in the College World Series this week to earn their first baseball championship and the school's 109th team championship in 17 sports, the most of any university.
The UCLA became only the fifth university to win a championship in baseball, football and men’s basketball with California, Michigan, Ohio State and Stanford. Adding women’s basketball and Stanford is the only school to have won a championship all four of these sports.
| Date Taken: | 06.27.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 06.28.2013 09:42 |
| Story ID: | 109460 |
| Location: | FORT STEWART, GEORGIA, US |
| Web Views: | 58 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Who are the greatest basketball winners of all time?, by Roger RyDell Daniels, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
