Ask any basketball enthusiast — from the casual partakers to the hardcore junkies — of their shortlist of the best defensive teams in the league, and they’ll give you differing answers.
The Boston Celtics’ unholy trinity of length, switchability, and rim protection is a blend that arguably no other team in the league can boast of having. There are very few weaknesses in their armor; one would have to thread a very fine needle in order to topple their foundation (as Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors were able to do).
The Miami Heat may not possess the same kind of bulletproof depth, but they are bolstered by an anchor whose versatility knows no bounds, and whose partner nearly equals him in terms of versatility while adding the highly valuable component of elite wing defense.