Today's NBA can be said to be a hundred schools of thought, and many teams in the league have the strength to impact the championship, in addition to the Celtics, who won the championship with absolute dominance last season, teams like the Thunder and the Knicks obviously also have good instant combat power. A straightforward way to judge whether there are many top teams in a season is to look at how many teams in the league have 50+ wins or even 60+ wins after the regular season.
For example, the reason why the Celtics were absolutely dominant last season was not only because they only lost three games in the playoffs, but also because they occupied the only position in the league with a 64-18 record in the regular season, and the Thunder and Nuggets had the highest wins at that time, except for them, both of them and the Nuggets had only 57 wins. So how many seasons in history have 3 teams won 60+ at the same time? Let's take a look at which seasons they have been and which teams have created this feat together.
1995-1996 season:
The Bulls have 72 wins, the SuperSonics have 64 wins, and the Magic have 60 wins
After Jordan's return in the 1994-1995 season, it took him some time to adjust to his condition, and in the 1995-1996 season he finally returned to full blood, at the same time as the Bulls also brought in Rodman, whose arrival also made up for the last shortcoming of the "Iron Triangle". After the start of the season, the Bulls were almost invincible, and finally they managed to break the all-time record of 72-10, and the Bulls did not disappoint after the start of the playoffs, they were still a difficult opponent, and finally managed to win the O'Brien Cup.
The SuperSonics, who ranked second in the league that season, they were the only team in the West to get 60+ wins, obviously after experiencing last season's black eight, their overall strength has become stronger, under the leadership of Sean Kemp and Payton, they are also considered to be one of the most promising teams to win the championship, but unfortunately the SuperSonics met the most inexplicable Bulls that year, and the team unfortunately stopped in the Finals.
Compared with the Bulls and the SuperSonics, the Magic was still a young team at that time, and the two cores of the team, O'Neal and Hardaway, were only 24 and 25 years old respectively, but these two had already become one of the best duos in the league at that time, and they also successfully brought the Magic to the ranks of the top teams. In the playoffs, the Magic went all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals, but they were powerless against the Bulls, and they were swept 4-0 in the end.
1996-1997 season:
The Bulls have 69 wins, the Jazz have 64 wins, and the Heat have 61 wins
After returning to the top of the league in 1996, the Bulls announced their return to the world, and they did not let up after winning the championship, and the team is still pushing to build a dynasty under Jordan's leadership. In the 1996-1997 season, although the Bulls' wins were slightly lower than the previous year, 69 wins was still a very exaggerated record, and they were still the only team to win 65+ games that season, and most importantly, the Bulls successfully defended their title in the playoffs.
Led by Karl Malone and Stockton, the Jazz have been one of the top teams in the West for many years, and this season they finally broke through again. In the playoffs, the Jazz successfully won the Western Conference championship for the first time in team history, but the Bulls at that time were completely unique in the league, and in the end, the Jazz did not have the last laugh.
On the Eastern side, the Heat relied on the performance of Mourning and Hardaway, and they successfully completed their rise, and the team finished the regular season with a record of 61 wins, only behind the Bulls in the East, but in the playoffs they also fell under the iron hooves of the Bulls.
1997-1998 season:
The Bulls won 62, the Jazz won 62, the SuperSonics won 61 and the Lakers won 61
In the 1997-1998 season, the competition between the top teams in the league became more intense, with a total of 10 teams winning 50+ games in the regular season, and 4 of them winning 60+ games. As the leader of the Bulls, at this time their situation can be called internal and external troubles, the general manager of the team wanted to dismantle the championship lineup long before the start of the season, but under the persuasion of Jordan himself, the Bulls still started the new season with the original lineup, and under the leadership of Jordan, the Bulls not only achieved a record of 62 wins in the regular season, but finally they completed the hegemony of three consecutive championships.
The Jazz still lead the entire division in the West, and they challenged the Bulls again in the playoffs, but unfortunately they still failed to capitalize on their chances this time. In addition to the Jazz, the SuperSonics and the Lakers both have a record of 61 wins, although the former occupies the second place in the West in the regular season, but when the two sides meet in the Western Conference semifinals in the playoffs, the Lakers only need five games to end the series, but in the end facing the more experienced Jazz, the Lakers also had no choice but to end the season.
2005-2006 season:
The Pistons won 64, the Spurs won 63 and the Mavericks won 60
After 1998, it was not until the 2005-2006 season that the league once again had three teams score 60+ wins at the same time, in that era of great emphasis on defense, the Pistons and Spurs became the leaders of their respective divisions, when the Pistons averaged 90.2 points per game, and the Spurs could limit the opponent to 88.8 points, so at that time, many teams were powerless in the face of them, and it seemed that the score gap was not large, but in fact there was no hope of winning.
However, neither the Pistons nor the Spurs were able to emerge from the East and West this year, with the Pistons losing to Wade's Heat in the Eastern Conference finals and the Spurs losing to the Mavericks in the Western Conference semifinals. Speaking of the Mavericks, although they also had a 60-win record in the regular season this year, due to the format at that time, they only ranked fourth in the West in the regular season, which also led to their early meeting with the Spurs, but fortunately they managed to beat their opponents in the end.
2008-2009 season:
The Cavaliers won 66, the Lakers won 65 and the Celtics won 62
This is the last season in the league to date where three teams have won 60+ at the same time, and as the first team in the league in the regular season, the Cavaliers played one of the best moments in team history under the leadership of James, who eventually won the first MVP of his career. It's just that in the playoffs, the Cavaliers failed to reach the finals, and they lost to the Magic with a score of 2-4 in the regular season.
In addition to the Cavaliers, the Celtics also won 60+ games on the Eastern side, and they originally had a very good hope of hitting two consecutive championships, but Garnett's season reimbursement caused them to suffer a big injury, and in the end, not only failed to defend the first place in the East in the regular season, but they also lost to the Magic in the second round of the playoffs.
The Lakers in the West have a 65-win record, and the team with the most wins in the West has only 54 wins. However, in the playoffs, teams like the Rockets and Nuggets caused a lot of trouble for the Lakers, and in the end, the finals were relatively easy, and in the end they also successfully defeated their opponents with a score of 4-1 and won the championship again after 7 years.