The confetti was still falling at the end of Game 5 in the 2024 Finals, and no doubt someone, somewhere was already asking: “Sure, these Celtics finally won the NBA title – but can they repeat?”
It’s a valid question. A common belief in professional sports is that winning two straight titles is the biggest mountain any team can climb, and we don’t disagree. But a check of basketball history reveals that repeating as champs is not all that unusual in the NBA – and the Celtics seem well-positioned to do it in 2025.
A total of 21 franchises have won at least one of the 78 NBA* championships – but the title totals are extremely lopsided. In most seasons, one of five teams has been popping champagne corks at the end. They are the Boston Celtics with 18 titles; Los Angeles/Minneapolis Lakers, 17 titles; Golden State/Philadelphia Warriors, seven; Chicago Bulls, six; and San Antonio Spurs, five.
(* From 1946-1949, the league was known as the BAA, Basketball Association of America.)
Those add up to 53 championships or 67.9% of the titles, leaving a mere 25 titles won by all the other franchises throughout NBA history. Furthermore, no other team has won more than three times; ten teams have captured just one title; and ten current teams are still looking for their first championship.
Knowing those facts, it should not be surprising that 23 times (29.4%) the NBA champions have successfully defended their crown the next season (see sidebar).
To get a sense of how likely the current Celtics are to join that list, we’re going to take a snapshot look at each defending champion of the most recent 20 seasons. The teams are listed with the years in which they were seeking to repeat. As you might suspect, to repeat, a team obviously must be very good, and also very lucky.
2005 Pistons
Similar to the 2024 Celtics, the ‘04 Pistons had a deep and talented veteran roster, but their only individual award winner was center Ben Wallace (All NBA, All Defense). The Pistons’ defense and veteran poise ended the Lakers’ streak of three straight titles, and Detroit probably should have repeated against the Spurs in the low-scoring ’05 Finals. However, they lost Game 5 at home by inexplicably leaving clutch shooter Robert Horry alone for a game-winning three. The Pistons pushed San Antonio to seven games, but the Spurs prevailed at home.
2006 Spurs
After winning 63 games, San Antonio appeared headed back to the Finals, but in the Western Conference semifinals, they fell behind 3-1 to Dirk Nowitzki’s Mavs. The Spurs rallied to force Game 7 at home and led by three with a half-minute remaining, but Manu Ginobili made a huge error by fouling Nowitzki on a made layup. Dirk’s and-1 tied the game, and the Spurs missed two layups in the final seconds. In the overtime, the energized Mavs never trailed while the Spurs shot just 2 of 10.
2007 Heat
Miami beat Dallas in the ’06 Finals when third-year sensation Dwayne Wade averaged 34.7 points, helped by going to the free throw line an incredible 97 times in six games. But in 2007, Shaquille O’Neal – First Team All-NBA in the title run – missed half the season with injuries, the Heat won only 44 games to finish fourth in the East, and coach Pat Riley had no more magic. They were swept 4-0 by Chicago.
2008 Spurs
After sweeping Cleveland in ’07 (LeBron James’ first Finals appearance with the Cavs), the Spurs had 56 wins and made it to the ’08 Western finals, but lost in five to the Lakers. The turning point of the series was this play at the end of Game 4, which LA won by two points. The NBA later acknowledged a two-shot foul should’ve been called.
2009 Celtics
As exciting as it was to win Banner 17 in 2008, that’s how frustrating it was to not repeat in ’09. The first sign of trouble was the loss of clutch sixth-man James Posey, who departed for New Orleans as a free agent. Then the real killer was Kevin Garnett suffering a knee injury in February at Utah. The Celtics were 44-11 at the time, but went just 7-7 as KG missed the next month. He returned for four games, playing limited minutes, then sat out the rest of the regular season. That entire time, the Celtics were vague about what to expect. Finally, just before the first playoff game, they announced Garnett would be out for the entire playoffs. That was the end of any hope for a repeat.
2010 Lakers
This LA team was the first to repeat during the 20-season stretch we’re reviewing. Their 57 wins was best in the West, but they were fortunate that the Cavs (61 wins) and Magic (59 wins) were both eliminated by the 50-win Celtics, who had a flawed roster that got hot at the right time. Garnett was back from his ’09 injury but was never quite his usual self. The Celtics bench was also not as productive as in the past. Still, the Cs led 3-2 in the Finals with the last two games held in Los Angeles. The Lakers recovered to win the series after Celtic Kendrick Perkins was lost to a knee injury in Game 6, and (as almost any Celtics fan will tell you) LA shot 21 free throws in the fourth quarter of Game 7, a four-point comeback win for the home team.
2011 Lakers
Both LA and Dallas were 57-25, but when they met in the postseason second round, the Mavs ended the Lakers’ run with a sweep. Nowitzki and Jason Terry were not to be denied, winning three straight low-scoring games before blowing out LA in Game 4. The Mavs went on to beat LeBron and the Heat in the Finals, thus earning some good will from Celtics fans (until this year, anyway).
2012 Mavericks
Unlike the Celtics re-signing all their key players this summer, Mavs owner Mark Cuban chose his finances over the chance to repeat. He traded All-Defense Second Teamer Tyson Chandler, who was critical to their defeat of Miami, to the Knicks. The Mavs’ defense suffered big-time, while Chandler went on to win Defensive Player of the Year and make all-NBA Third Team in New York. Dallas was swept in the first round by Oklahoma City.
2013 Heat
The second team to repeat in this stretch, Miami rolled through the regular season at 66-16, but needed two Game 7s and several miracles to get to the finish line. The Indiana Pacers battled them in a back-and-forth Eastern Finals, but the Heat ended the series in a blowout Game 7. Then in the NBA Finals, the Spurs led game 6 by five points with the title just 28 seconds away. The win could’ve been iced at the line, but Ginobili and Kawhi Leonard – both certified clutch players – each missed one of two free throws. Also, for matchup purposes, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich twice subbed Boris Diaw in for Tim Duncan, and both times the Heat took advantage with an offensive board that led to a three. The second one was when Chris Bosh got it to former Celtic Ray Allen, who tied the score with the biggest three of his life, which is saying something. In overtime, San Antonio led by three with 2:42 to play, but didn’t score again. They lost, 103-100, a result that defied all logic. After that, Miami was too resilient to lose Game 7.
2014 Heat
Miami had no trouble getting back to the Finals, going 12-3 in the East playoff rounds. But the Spurs made it back there too, and were determined to atone for their giveaway of 2013. The Heat won Game 2 of the Finals by two points, but the Spurs demolished them in five, with each victory by at least 15 points. The LeBron era in South Beach ended as he returned to Cleveland as a free agent.
2015 Spurs
San Antonio had won five titles entering this postseason, and the LA Clippers had never even made the NBA Finals (still haven’t, actually), but as we’ve seen, anything can happen. When they faced off in the first round of 2015, the Spurs held series leads of 2-1 and 3-2, but the Clips hung tough and won a close Game 6 on the road, then won Game 7 at home on a Chris Paul jump shot with one second left. (Something that’s clear in this review: the Duncan/Popovich Spurs were known as a a clutch veteran group, but they suffered an extraordinary number of excruciating losses.)
2016 Warriors
The Warriors who defended their 2015 title may have been the most hyped NBA team of all time. They were like rock stars, where fans in visiting arenas would be sure to arrive early just to watch them warm up, and for good reason. They won the first 24 games on their schedule, never lost two straight all season, and finished with an all-time NBA best won-lost record of 73-9. A repeat seemed certain, although they were down 3-1 in the Western finals before roaring back to beat the Thunder in seven games. Then they took a 3-1 lead of their own over the Cavs. A title never seemed so guaranteed – until Draymond Green got suspended for smacking LeBron in the crotch in Game 4. The Cavs roared back with two double-digit wins to force Game 7. And Kyrie Irving made them pay.
2017 Cavaliers
After probably the worst choke of all time, Golden State got right back in control by signing free agent Kevin Durant, whose own Thunder had just choked away a series to those same Warriors. Durant turned down the Celtics’ recruiting efforts and chose the easiest path, signing with the team that least needed his help. Although the Cavs got back to the Finals easily, winning 12 of 13 in the Eastern rounds, they had no hope against the newly fortified Warriors, who swept all three series in the West. Golden State went up 3-0 versus Cleveland and closed them out in a gentleman’s sweep, 4-1.
2018 Warriors
The third and final repeater in this era, the Warriors with Durant were just too strong. Their toughest challenge was in the Western finals, where they were down 3-2 to the Rockets but came back to win Game 7 on the road. The only suspense in the NBA Finals was Game 1, when LeBron dropped 51 points, but a bonehead play by JR Smith let the Warriors get to overtime. They took that game and went on to sweep the series.
2019 Warriors
Golden State had a chance for three in a row, but they lost the Finals to the Toronto Raptors, in part because Durant and Klay Thompson both went down with season-ending injuries during the series. Toronto had boldly traded franchise icon DeMar DeRozan for a rental of disgruntled Spurs star Kawhi Leonard, and it paid off in their only title to date. Kawhi left after that one season, but Raptors fans will always have a banner as well as this epic series-winning buzzer-beater.
2020 Raptors
The Raptors almost didn’t have the opportunity to defend their title because of the COVID pandemic, until the NBA assembled the bubble in Disney World. However, Toronto was four-tenths of a second from falling behind the Celtics 3-0, until OG Anunoby hit a prayer three for the win. The Celtics later led the series 3-2, but Toronto stayed alive with a double OT win in Game 6. The Celtics won Game 7 behind Jayson Tatum’s team-high 29 points, 12 rebounds and 7 assists. Marcus Smart made what turned out to be the game-winning defensive play.
2021 Lakers
Back in the real world, the Lakers snuck into the playoffs as the no. 7 seed after surviving the Play-In tournament. Their defense was good, their offense was not, and they went through a 9-17 stretch during the second half of the season. Phoenix eliminated them in six games in the first round.
2022 Bucks
Celtics fans will remember how the Bucks’ quest to repeat ended. Boston was on the brink after Milwaukee won Game 5 at TD Garden, but Tatum saved the season with a classic performance on the road in Game 6: 46 points on 17-32 shooting, with 9 rebounds and 4 assists. Then Grant Williams made 7 threes in Game 7 to eliminate the frustrated Bucks. (By the way, that guy Jrue Holiday had a pretty good series for the Bucks.)
2023 Warriors
You might think players would be in good spirits at training camp after winning the title, but Draymond Green is different. He had some sort of beef with teammate Jordan Poole, and his way of solving it was to sucker punch Poole during practice. Green was suspended for part of camp, but not for any regular season games, and that result seemed to be bad karma for the Warriors’ season. They finished as the sixth seed, had to win a Game 7 at Sacramento to survive the first round, and then were eliminated by the Lakers in six ugly games. A disaster all the way around, and Poole was traded after the season.
2024 Nuggets
Nikola Jokic won his third Most Valuable Player award and Coach Mike Malone was pretty confident that Denver would be back in the Finals this year. But the loss of Jeff Green and Bruce Brown to free agency was more damaging than expected. The Nuggets took out the Lakers in five games, but then couldn’t stop Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves. Denver led that series 3-2, but completely melted down, losing Game 6 by 45 points and then dropping Game 7 at home, 98-90.
What can we learn from this review? Well, we know winning is hard to do. And to succeed in repeating requires all sorts of mental toughness, physical stamina and plain old good luck. Everything seemed to go Boston’s way last season. Now, the Celtics will be challenged by health concerns (as always), potential fatigue after three starters play in the Olympics, and the absence of Kristaps Porzingis as he recovers from surgery.
It’s unreal and unprecedented that Brad Stevens and current ownership have committed a billion dollars to extend contracts for every key Celtics, keeping the championship roster in place. That alone should make Boston the favorite to repeat. But just showing up won’t be enough, so perhaps the biggest question is, will the Celtics be as hungry to win it the second time?
We can only wait and see.
Research resources for this piece: landofbasketball.com and basketball-reference.com
