HOOPSWORLD | Basketball News & NBA Rumors

We know the Lakers’ second-round loss to the Dallas Mavericks was disappointing, but what hasn’t really been discussed much is just how disappointing it really is, at least in terms of defending champions coming up short in the year after.

So that’s what we’re going to look at today—which championship teams left their fan bases most disappointed in the season after winning the ring?  Believe it or not, this year’s Lakers almost got bumped to "Honorable Mention."  Prepare to be disappointed…

#5 – 2011 L.A. Lakers – When the San Antonio Spurs were upset in the first round of this year’s playoffs, it seemed more certain than ever that the L.A. Lakers would at least get back to the NBA Finals for the fourth year in a row, but we all know how things turned out for them since we, the media, have covered the crud out of that particular story.  As far as this list is concerned, you’ve got to rate a two-time defending champ that got swept in Conference Semis pretty high on a list of disappointments.  The Mavericks played great and everything, but a sweep?  With that sort of talent on the roster?

#4 – 1983 Philadelphia 76ers – There are some who consider the 1983 Philadelphia 76ers the great NBA team of all time.  They won 65 regular season games, but what really makes them memorable is the fact that they absolutely destroyed the 1983 playoff field.  They only played three rounds back in the early ’80s, but Philly came one game short of sweeping all of them.  Behind Julius Erving and Moses Malone, they killed the league that year, which makes it so disappointing that, only a year later, they won 7 fewer regular season games and got booted out of the first round of the playoffs in just five games.

#3 – 2006 Miami HEAT – In the first game of the 2006-2007, the game in which the Miami HEAT got their championship rings from the previous summer, they got whomped at home by 42 points at the hands of the Chicago Bulls.  Things got only marginally better from there with major injuries to both Shaquille O’Neal and Dwyane Wade over the course of the year, and the HEAT ended up with 8 fewer wins than the previous season.  When it was all said and done, Miami ended up losing to—who else?— the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the 2007 postseason.  The season after that, they posted the worst record in the league, posting only 15 wins.

{AUTHOR_BOX}#2 – 1977 Portland Trail Blazers – Here’s the thing about the 1977-1978 Blazers: after winning the championship in 1977, they actually came out and played a better regular season the following year, adding 9 wins to their previous season’s total.  It looked as though Portland, behind their All-Star big man Bill Walton, would own the league for a few years, but as fate would have it Walton hurt is foot in the waning portion of the 1978 regular season.  The Blazers finished the year horribly and bowed out in the second round.  They wouldn’t get out of the first round the next three year after that, and Walton’s foot was never the same.

#1 – 1998 Chicago Bulls – The 1997-1998 ended perfectly for Bulls fans, with Michael Jordan hitting a game-winning shot on the road for the team’s sixth championship in eight years.  But immediately following that season, with a lockout looming and Phil Jackson and all the team’s major free agents (Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman) likely to retire or move on to a new team, that euphoria didn’t last long.  With the game’s greatest coach of all time and greatest player of all time (and probably greatest second banana of all time and one of the best rebounders of all time) no longer on the roster, the Bulls stunk it up in the strike-shortened season.  It would take three full seasons before Chicago would manage more than 17 wins in a season, easily making the year(s) following the 1998 Bulls title the most depressing championship hangover in the history of the game.

Honorable Mention:

1995 Houston Rockets – When Michael Jordan retired (the first time) in the mid-90s, it opened up the door for the Houston Rockets to win two consecutive championships in 1994 and 1995.  When Jordan came back stronger than ever for his first full season in 1995-1996, there was a hope that Chicago would end up against Houston (who had swept Orlando out of the Finals the previous year) to see if Hakeem Olajuwon had really taken the torch away from Jordan, or if he’d just benefitted from His Airness’s absence.  Those two teams didn’t even get a chance to face each other, as the Rockets were swept out of the second round by the Seattle SuperSonics.

It’s a frustrating thing, really, to follow up one of the best years in a sports fan’s life with something so completely and utterly disappointing.  These fan bases got a solid summer of gloating and celebrating, only to face severe disenchantment less than a year later.  Those Bulls fans, for example, went from watching Phil Jackson coach Michael, Scottie, and The Worm push for 70 wins and a title every year to dealing with an everyday starting lineup that featured Dickey Simpkins, Randy Brown, and Mark Bryant.

Yes, it happens sometimes, but it’s never easy.  At least Lakers fans can look at the above list and realize that it could’ve been a lot worse.  Kobe’s not retiring, and even if the team doesn’t make any trades they’re still slated to be one of the top teams in the Western Conference.  They won’t really have to worry unless Tim Floyd becomes a serious candidate to take over head coaching duties.  In that case, maybe consider rooting for the Clippers.