The NBA playoffs are an opportunity for teams and players to etch themselves into the sport’s history. Legacies can be created, diminished, or cemented over the course of the two-month postseason, with playoff runs from yesteryear still celebrated today.
As the 2025 NBA playoffs get underway, let’s take a look at the past and rank the 10 best NBA playoff runs ever.
10. 1983 Philadelphia 76ers
The Philadelphia 76ers’ third, and most recent, NBA championship came in epic fashion.
Led by Hall of Famers Julius Erving and Moses Malone, the Sixers tore through the postseason with a sweep against the New York Knicks and a five-game win over the Milwaukee Bucks to set up a rematch with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, and the L.A. Lakers. Philly would sweep the Lakers to win their first title in 16 years and finish the postseason with a 12-1 record.
9. 1986 Boston Celtics
The 1986 Boston Celtics get the nod for what their team represented, as much as for what they accomplished. Before the ‘90s Chicago Bulls and the ’10s Golden State Warriors, the Celtics of the ‘80s planted their flag as one of the best teams in NBA history.
With Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Bill Walton, and Robert Parish, Boston finished the ’86 season with what was then the most total wins in an NBA season, 82. They dispatched a young Michael Jordan and the Bulls, the Atlanta Hawks, the Milwaukee Bucks, and the Houston Rockets on the way to a 15-3 postseason run.
8. 1995 Houston Rockets
Jordan’s absence from the league landscape leads some to discount this Houston Rockets title, but there’s no denying the challenging route that they took. Over the course of four playoff series, the Rockets beat the four teams that finished the regular season with the four best records.
In eliminating the John Stockton- Karl Malone Utah Jazz, Charles Barkley’s Phoenix Suns, David Robinson’s San Antonio Spurs, and Penny Hardaway, Shaq, and the Orlando Magic, Houston survived a gruelling postseason to defend its title.
As impressive as the grind it took is the fine margins the Rockets dealt with. They were taken to a fifth and final game in Round 1, a game seven in Round 2, and six games in the Western Conference Finals.
7. 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers
More than any other champion on this list, these Cleveland Cavaliers get the nod because of the ripple effect on league history. Lebron James and the Cavs lost just two games across their first three playoff series, with both coming against the Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Conference Finals after sweeping their first two series.
The Cavs would then go down 3-1 in the NBA Finals to the 73-win, record-setting Golden State Warriors. What followed — an epic comeback and Cleveland’s first title — altered Bron’s legacy forever and, within a couple of weeks, sent Kevin Durant to Golden State.
6. 2017 Golden State Warriors
Fittingly, then, the next team is the 2017 Golden State Warriors. With fresh wounds from a 3-1 collapse, but bolstered by the addition of Durant, these Dubs were among the best teams in NBA history.
Golden State went 16-1 during the postseason, dropping only Game 4 in Cleveland, to win its second title in three years. Durant outduelled James in the NBA Finals and, ultimately, made the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers look incredibly average.
5. 1991 Chicago Bulls
By the spring of 1991, Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls had taken more than their fair share of lumps. For three straight seasons, Jordan had been bruised by the Detroit Pistons, with Detroit eliminating the Bulls in three consecutive playoffs.
But ‘91 was finally the breakthrough. Jordan and Chicago went 7-1 in the first two rounds of the playoffs to set up a rematch with Isiah Thomas and the Pistons. The Bulls then swept Detroit in the Eastern Conference Finals and then beat the Magic’s L.A. Lakers in five games to win their first title and finish the postseason with a 15-2 record.
4. 2001 L.A. Lakers
The defending champions, the 2001 L.A. Lakers — led by Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant — took it up a level in their title defense. L.A. tore through the Western Conference playoffs, going a perfect 11-0 to reach the NBA Finals.
It would then beat Allen Iverson’s Philadelphia 76ers in five games to finish the playoffs 15-1 — despite facing 50-win teams in all four rounds of the postseason.
3. 2011 Dallas Mavericks
After a controversial loss in the 2006 NBA Finals, the Dallas Mavericks and Dirk Nowitzki got a rematch against the Miami Heat five years later. But, instead of Shaq alongside Dwayne Wade, the Heatles and Lebron, Wade met the Mavs, and Chris Bosh.
In a six-game triumph, the Mavs crowned what was an incredible playoff run. Dallas swept Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol’s L.A. Lakers and beat the Oklahoma City Thunder with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden in five games, before denting Miami’s hopes of a dynastic era.
2. 1996 Chicago Bulls
Just like Jordan and the Chicago Bulls’ first appearance on this list, these Bulls kicked off a run of three straight titles. After a hiatus to play baseball, Jordan returned to the league and resumed doing what he had done throughout the ’90s — owning the league.
The 1995-96 Bulls won a record 72 games during the regular season and reached the Finals after going 14-1 through the Eastern Conference Finals. After briefly letting their foot off the gas against the Seattle SuperSonics in the NBA Finals, they would finish the job to win a fourth title in the decade and finish the playoffs at 15-3.
1. 1989 Detroit Pistons
Though they won’t win any popularity contests, the 1988-89 Detroit Pistons’ playoff run has grown into absurdity in the decades since. The Pistons first swept Larry Bird’s Boston Celtics, before doing the same to Sydney Moncrief’s Milwaukee Bucks.
In the Eastern Conference Finals, Jordan and the Chicago Bulls managed to take two games off the Pistons, but still fell in six games. The crowning achievement would then come, as the Pistons swept Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, and the L.A. Lakers to finish the playoffs 15-2.
A playoff run that includes eliminating Bird, Magic, and Jordan — the three defining players of the 1980s and ‘90s — is as good as it gets, and is the best playoff run of all time.
