History of the NBA

The National Basketball Association (NBA) was formed after the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and the National Basketball League merged in 1949. The league started out with 17 basketball franchises, but by 1954 that number had declined to just eight. Thankfully that was just a blip, and since then the NBA has grown to include 30 clubs and is considered the premier basketball league in the world.

There have been 18 different winners of the NBA Championship but the most successful side are the Boston Celtics. The Celtics have won an extraordinary 17 Championships. Even more incredibly, they won eight straight titles between 1959 and 1966. During this era the club broke the record for most points in a basketball game, with 173. However, the side are no longer the behemoth that they once were; they have added just one NBA title to their trophy room since 1986, the 2008 Championship. Boston were lucky to have Bill Russell in their midst. The 6'10" center was the cornerstone behind the Celtics' incredible success in the NBA, and in total Russell won 11 NBA Championships with the club as well as 5 MVP rings.

Just behind Boston are the LA Lakers, who have 16 Championship wins. As the Celtics went into decline in the 1980s, the Lakers emerged as the elite team of the NBA, winning five titles during the course of that decade. With the free-scoring Kareem Abdul-Jabber (all-time leading NBA points scorer) and the playmaker Magic Johnson, the Lakers proved to be too strong for the opposition. By the turn of the century, Kobe Bryant had emerged as the new star basketball player for the Lakers, with a 25.5 points-per-game average. He helped the Lakers to a further five titles. While the Celtics have won the most Championships, the Lakers have competed at 10 more championship finals than their Boston rivals.

You know Michael Jordan is a good basketball player when you see other professionals wearing his trainers. His side Chicago Bulls have won six titles in their history. All of these titles came when Jordan was playing for the club. In total Jordan scored 32,292 points in the NBA, second only to Abdul-Jabber, and won five MVP rings. There is no disputing the fact that Jordan is the greatest basketball player who has ever lived.

The Chicago Bulls' 1995-1996 season saw them set the NBA record for best season with 72-10, while the Charlotte Bobcats have the unwanted achievement of possessing the worst season record with a 7-59 posting. Ironically, the Bobcats are owned by Michael Jordan. The LA Lakers' 33 game winning streak between November 5 1971 and January 7 1972 is also a record.

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