Greatest NBA Championship Teams Final Four- Lakers vs Knicks

And then there were four. Voters have narrowed Sportsnaut’s original 16-team Greatest NBA Championship Teams Tournament down to a Final Four. The only real upset leading up to this point was the 1972-1973 New York Knicks coming out of the Old School Region, as they defeated Bill Russell’s Boston Celtics.

By now, most of you know what this tournament is all about. We pitted the 16-best NBA championship teams together in a NCAA-like tournament. Readers voted these four teams, as champions of their specific regions in order to come to the ultimate Final Four.

Make sure to check out each region below.

Old School Region Final

Showtime 80′s Region Final

Heir 90′s Region Final

Diesel Decade Plus Region Final

So here we are with the second of two Final Four matchups. Check out and vote on the other semifinal between the 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls and 1999-2000 Los Angeles Lakers.

The 1986-1987 Los Angeles Lakers, led by the great Magic Johnson, defeated Larry Bird and the 1985-1986 NBA Champion Boston Celtics in the Showtime 80’s Region by the final vote count of 53-47 percent. It was a really close vote, but it’s safe to assume Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played vital roles in the Lakers narrow victory.

In the Old School Region Final, the greatest New York Knicks team in history, led by Walt Frazier, Bill Bradley and Willis Reed, defeated yet another Boston Celtics team. With a 57-25 record during the legendary 1972-1973 Knicks took 52 percent of the vote in the smallest victory in the Elight 8, over the Bill Russell-led 1964-1965 Boston Celtics. Considering that Red Auerbach’s squad won 10 consecutive NBA Championships during this span, this has to be considered a major upset.

NBA.com: 1973 NBA Champion Knicks, 40 years later.

Second Final Four Matchup – The 1986-1987 Los Angeles Lakers vs the 1972-1973 New York Knicks

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