Offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships. Legendary college football coach Bear Bryant said those words about the gridiron, but they apply to the basketball hardwood, too.
Offense and lots of points can be exciting, but the nuts and bolts of a great team is a commitment on the defensive end of the court. That has changed more in the current NBA, but of the last 22 NBA champions (through 2020), all but two of them ranked in the top 10 in opponent’s field-goal percentage. Six of those champions had the lowest opponent’s field-goal percentage, and all 22 were better than league average in that defensive statistic.
Still, you don’t have to be an NBA champion to be a great defensive team. Some great defensive squads don’t even make the playoffs. These are the greatest defensive teams in NBA history.
Note: The rankings take into account traditional stats, advanced stats, individual players and defensive schemes.
Bottom Line: 1993-94 New York Knicks
There’s nowhere to go. Kathy Willens / AP Photo
Pat Riley made his name as a coach with the flashy Showtime Lakers, but he really preferred a rough and rugged style, and no team epitomized that more than the 1994 Knicks.
The mere mention of their front line of Patrick Ewing, Charles Oakley and Anthony Mason gives many mid-90s big men chills. Those three didn’t just look tough. They were tough.
With intimidation, intellect and ability, the Knicks allowed the fewest points per game that season, 91.5. That was 4.3 fewer points than the second-best team, the Spurs, who allowed 94.8 points. That’s impressive.
Bottom Line: 1977-78 Phoenix Suns
The Phoenix Suns have never won an NBA championship. John Storey / AP Photo
General manager Jerry Colangelo had a specific vision in mind when he constructed the 1977-78 Suns team, and the team played exactly as he envisioned.
The Suns didn’t have a single player in their 30s, and five of the 12 players on the team were rookies, which meant lots of boundless energy that could be applied on the court. That energy manifested itself into a frenzied defensive style in which Suns would pressure opposing players into making mistakes and committing turnovers.
The Suns not only led the league in steals, but their average of 12.9 per game also remains an all-time NBA record over 40 years later. Backup point guard Ron Lee led the league in steals while starting point Don Buse finished fifth as the top six players for the Suns collected more steals than all but one other NBA team.
Bottom Line: 2013-14 Indiana Pacers
Take that. Gerald Herbert / AP Photo
A forgotten team because they were never able to get over the hump of LeBron and the Miami Heat, the 2014 Pacers team had everything required to be elite defensively.
They had length on the perimeter with George Hill and Paul George, toughness with Lance Stephenson and David West, and a deterrent in the middle with Roy Hibbert. This team also had continuity. Those five players started 73 of the 82 games, which helps in knowing the tendencies of your teammates.
These Pacers lacked depth beyond the starting five, which is why they’re ranked so low on this list, but you would be hard-pressed to find a better five-man defensive unit in recent NBA history.
Bottom Line: 1980-81 Phoenix Suns
Alvan Adams spent his entire career with the Phoenix Suns. Rusty Kennedy / AP Photo
Sometimes one player can make all the difference in the world, both on the court and off the court. For the 1981 Suns, that player was Dennis Johnson, who was acquired via trade for fellow Hall of Famer Paul Westphal.
DJ was known for his tough-nosed defense. He is the NBA’s all-time leading shot blocker amongst point guards and was selected to nine All-Defensive teams. But Johnson was also known for his leadership, and he got his new Suns teammates to buy into that end of the court.
Westphal was a brilliant offensive player, but he made no impact defensively. The SuperSonics team he was traded to got worse defensively with both his addition and Johnson’s subtraction.
Bottom Line: 1977-78 New Jersey Nets
Steals and blocks were the Nets’ specialty. Gene Puskar / AP Photo
This might be the worst great defensive team in NBA history. The Nets finished 24-58 thanks to a last-ranked offense, and their defense was solid at seventh-best though not elite.
But what earns their placement on this list was their uncanny ability to rack up, as Bill Simmons calls them, stocks (steals and blocks). These woeful, cellar-dweller Nets are the only team in NBA history to average at least 10.5 steals and 7.5 blocks per game.
When this season was over, the Nets ranked 16th all-time in steals for a single-season while also ranking second all-time in blocks. No other team in NBA history has reached both of those thresholds in a single season.
Bottom Line: 1996-97 Miami Heat
The Heat were an intimidating team led by Alonzo Mourning in the middle. Jeffrey Boan / AP Photo
Pat Riley constructed his early Miami Heat teams similarly to how he did his Knicks teams. That meant they were big, physical teams that had a habit of wearing teams down late in games.
This Heat squad had an intimidating front line of Jamal Mashburn, P.J. Brown and Alonzo Mourning, all of whom were at least 240 pounds. Miami didn’t rank in the top five in either blocks or steals, but they ranked second in opposing field goal percentage (43.2 percent).
With their size and length, they simply made it difficult for opponents to get easy baskets and it showed as 71 of their 82 opponents were kept under 100 points.
Bottom Line: 1993-94 Seattle Supersonics
The game used to be more physical. This might be a foul in today’s NBA. Gary Stewart / AP Photo
Just like in football, in basketball turnovers are often the biggest predictor of success. Creating more turnovers means more possessions for your team, which equates to more points scored.
The SuperSonics had supersonic speed on the defensive end and created more turnovers than any other team in the 1993-94 season. The catalysts for that were their two All-Defensive selection point guards in Gary Payton and Nate McMillan, who combined to average nearly 5.5 steals per game.
Whether it was hounding opposing point guards, jumping passing lanes or stripping big men in the post, those two set the tone for this Seattle team. Until they became the first No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 8 seed in the playoffs.
Bottom Line: 2010-11 Chicago Bulls
Skywalkers make good shot blockers. Nam Y. Huh / AP Photo
You can’t have a greatest defensive teams list without including a Tom Thibodeau-coached team. The 2010-11 season is best remembered for Derrick Rose winning the MVP, but the strength of that Bulls team was their man-to-man defense.
Thibodeau’s teams didn’t put up big stats in terms of steals and blocks, but they could lock you down and made scoring an arduous task. The Bulls held opponents to the lowest two-point percentage (45.6 percent), the lowest three-point percentage (32.6 percent), and thus, the lowest field goal percentage (43.0 percent) in the league.
The Bulls won all three of their regular-season games against the Miami Heat in their first year of the Big 3, but the Heat got their revenge by eliminating the Bulls from the playoffs.
Bottom Line: 2003-04 San Antonio Spurs
Look, ma. No hands. Chris Pizzello / AP Photo
There have been five Spurs championship seasons over the last 21 years, but this non-championship team is statistically the best defensive one in franchise history. They allowed nine fewer points than the league average and held opponents to barely 40 percent shooting, which was the best in the league.
This Spurs team lost Hall of Famer David Robinson to retirement but adequately replaced him with big man Rasho Nesterovic and “Big Shot Bob,” Robert Horry, who had a knack of being in the right place at the right time on both ends of the court.
This is a forgotten Spurs team thanks to Derek Fisher and 0.4 seconds, but it’s the best defensive Spurs team of all time.
Bottom Line: 1963-64 Boston Celtics
The Celtics of the 1960 were on another level.
This was the best defensive team of Bill Russell’s career and the best defensive team in Celtics history which is saying a lot. Russell averaged a career-high of 24.7 rebounds per game and led the league in that stat, individually, as the Celtics led the NBA in rebounding as a team.
The NBA didn’t separate offensive and defensive rebounds at this time so a rebound was just a rebound, but since the Celtics held opponents to the second-fewest points per game, there’s a good chance that the vast majority of those boards were on the defensive end.
These Celtics had, statistically, the worst offense in the NBA that season, which points to just how great their defense was to win the championship.
Bottom Line: 2003-04 Detroit Pistons
Defense did win a championship in 2004. John Harrell / AP Photo
This Pistons were a dominant defensive team that then became a historic one after a midseason trade landed them Rasheed Wallace. He was a seamless fit next to Ben Wallace, and the Pistons ran roughshod over the league after his arrival.
During one stretch late in the season, the Pistons went five straight games without allowing their opponents to even crack 70 points. Things would get only better in the playoffs as the Pistons blocked an NBA postseason record of 19 shots in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals.
One of those blocks is now simply known as “The Block” and featured Tayshaun Prince chasing down a seemingly wide open layup from Reggie Miller. Then, they dominated the Lakers in the NBA Finals.
Related: Greatest NBA Teams by Franchise
