Number 2: 2012-2014 San Antonio Spurs
Best Supporting Player: Tim Duncan
Record: 58-24 /62-20
Playoffs: Lost NBA Finals 4-3 to Miami Heat / Won NBA Finals 4-1 over Miami Heat
The Spurs and Heat channeled their inner Celtics and Lakers in back-to-back NBA Finals in some of the best sets of games fans saw in years.
LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and Ray Allen shocked the Spurs in seven games. The Spurs had five players in double-figures in the Finals, which included Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green, and Manu Ginobili. The team was amazing but fell short to LeBron, but they weren’t done.
Kawhi Leonard puts himself on the map. We all remember watching a young Kawhi Leonard go head-to-head against LeBron James and virtually dominate the game in and game out en route to winning the first of two Finals MVPs over the course of his career so far.
But this series was a lot less about Leonard and much more about the team he had around him because he wasn’t even the best player on the roster.
Tony Parker and Tim Duncan were absolutely dominant all season and Manu did Manu things all season, pouring in three after three game-after-game. Six players including Leonard averaged more than 10-points per game over the course of the season and the defensive efficiency from the squad as a whole was unmatched.
To get even more of an idea of how dominant this Spurs team was, they ranked first in win and margin of victory, top-10 in efficiency and third in defensive efficiency. They also ranked top-ten in points per game and points allowed per game. Seven playoff losses also sound pretty unmatched as well when winning 16 of 23 contests.