Look at the teams still competing for an NBA championship.
As of Saturday, the Celtics, Bucks, Warriors, Heat, Suns and Mavs were all still alive. Now look at what they have in common. Five of the six teams finished the regular season with a top-seven defense in the league. Memphis, which got ousted on Friday night, was No. 6 in the NBA. Only the Bucks, whose successful formula earned them a title last season, finished outside of the top-10 defensively this season.
At No. 14, Milwaukee was percentage points better than the Nuggets at No. 15.
“To be a dangerous, deep playoff team, you have to have an elite defense,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said at his end-of-season news conference.