Some of the greatest teams in NBA history backed up their success with extensive playoff winning streaks.

HIGHLIGHTS

 The 2017 Golden State Warriors have the longest playoff winning streak in NBA history.
 No team in NBA history has gone 16-0 in the playoffs. The 2001 Los Angeles Lakers and 2017 Golden State Warriors came closest.
 The 2016-17 Cleveland Cavaliers, led by LeBron James, won 13 straight playoff games but didn’t win the NBA title.

The ultimate goal of an NBA team is to win the Larry O’Brien Trophy and to do so, a team has to get hot at the right time.

Numerous underdog teams that just managed to squeeze into the playoffs have gone on to defeat higher-seeded opponents and make deep runs into the postseason. In other cases, dominant teams came, saw, and conquered.

While no team has ever gone undefeated in a single postseason, the most successful teams can string together consecutive wins, and in the case of powerhouse dynasties, those win streaks can stretch across multiple playoff runs.

While racking up winning streaks in the regular season usually is a catalyst for reaching the playoffs, only the greatest teams have done so in the postseason itself.

GIVEMESPORT Key Statistic: In the 2008 playoffs, the Boston Celtics played an NBA-record 26 games. Their first two series were won in seven games, and their final two were won in six. Boston defeated the Lakers in the Finals.

12017 Golden State Warriors

The Warriors won 15 straight playoff games

Widely regarded as one of the best teams in NBA history, the closest an NBA team has ever come to an undefeated postseason was the 2017 Golden State Warriors. During their dynasty, the Warriors steamrolled their way to the top of the Western Conference, with a 67-15 record.

They became the earliest team to ever clinch a playoff spot, doing so on February 25, 2017.

The Warriors would continue their regular season dominance into the playoffs, where they would start the playoffs 15-0. The streak began on April 16 of that year, when they swept the Portland Trail Blazers in four games, and then swept the Utah Jazz and San Antonio Spurs in the subsequent rounds.

2017 Golden State Warriors – Playoff Results

Round
Opponent
Result

First
Trail Blazers
Warriors in 4

Conference Semifinals
Jazz
Warriors in 4

Conference Finals
Spurs
Warriors in 4

NBA Finals
Cavaliers
Warriors in 5

In a rematch with the Cleveland Cavaliers, who got the edge in the previous year’s finals, the Warriors almost completed a perfect 16-0 sweep. However, at 15-0, Golden State would lose Game 4 to the Cavaliers in a 137-116 blowout. Kevin Durant put up 35 points in that affair but was outdone by Kyrie Irving’s 40 points.

This loss on June 9, 2017, ended the Warriors’ playoff win streak and dashed all hopes of the first-ever undefeated postseason. The Cavaliers would avoid the sweep, but would still go down in five games as the Warriors would go 16-1 in the postseason to notch their then-fifth championship title.

22016-17 Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cavaliers won 13 straight playoff games

As dominant as Golden State was during the mid-2010s, the Cleveland Cavaliers were also a force to be reckoned with.

While the Warriors would get the upper hand in most of their Finals contests, the Cavaliers got their only championship in 2016, at the hands of the 73–9 Warriors. It was during this playoff run that the Cavaliers began their historic playoff winning streak, starting with a game three NBA Finals victory over Golden State on June 13, 2016. They would then go on to win the next two games to take the series in seven, after being down 3-1.

2017 Cleveland Cavaliers – Playoff Results

Round
Opponent
Result

First
Pacers
Cavaliers in 4

Conference Semifinals
Raptors
Cavaliers in 4

Conference Finals
Celtics
Cavaliers in 5

NBA Finals
Warriors
Warriors in 5

Since the Cavaliers were already stacked with the likes of LeBron James, Kevin Love, and Irving, their dominance continued into the 2017 playoffs.

They would sweep the first series against the Indiana Pacers, and then sweep the second series against the Toronto Raptors. Finally, on May 21, 2017, the streak would end during game three of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Boston Celtics.

The Cavaliers would still finish off the Celtics in five games, but the streak would end at 13 wins. Not only that, but the Cavaliers would go 1-4 in the Finals against Golden State, resulting in the Warriors’ sixth championship.

31988-89 Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers won 13 straight playoff games

It would be almost a full calendar year that the Los Angeles Lakers would go without a playoff loss. The Lakers of the 1980s were another force to be reckoned with and had a few more games gone their way, they could have picked up a few more championships in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

On June 19, 1988, the Lakers would notch their first win of the eventual 13-game postseason win streak. This would come during Game 6 of the 1988 NBA Finals when the Lakers narrowly defeated the Detroit Pistons by a score of 103-102.

Isiah Thomas led the game with 43 points for the Pistons, but it would not be enough as the Lakers would take the game, and then Game 7 for the Finals win.

1989 Los Angeles Lakers – Playoff Results

Round
Opponent
Result

First
Trail Blazers
Lakers in 3

Conference Semifinals
SuperSonics
Lakers in 4

Conference Finals

NBA Finals
Pistons
Pistons in 4

Los Angeles would then start the 1989 playoffs 11-0, sweeping their best-of-five opening-round series against the Trail Blazers in three games. The Lakers would then sweep the Seattle SuperSonics in the second round, and then the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference Finals.

However, the Lakers’ luck would end there as they would be swept in the 1989 NBA Finals by the Pistons, the team that the Lakers began the streak against. This resulted in the Pistons’ first championship in franchise history, and the Lakers’ playoff win streak would be snapped on June 6, 1989, ending at 13 games.

41989-90 Detroit Pistons

The Pistons won 12 straight playoff games

The team that ended the Lakers’ playoff winning streak in 1989 would go on to form a playoff winning streak of their own. The Pistons of the late 1980s and early 1990s were dominant, featuring the likes of Isiah Thomas, Dennis Rodman, and Vincent Johnson.

Their win in Game 4 of the 1989 Eastern Conference Finals against the Chicago Bulls would be the first of 12 straight victories.

The Pistons would go on to win the next three games against the Bulls, defeating them in that series in six games, followed by the aforementioned sweep of the Lakers in the Finals to extend that streak to seven. In the 1990 playoffs, the streak would continue as they would sweep the Pacers in the first round, and then take the first two games of the next round against the New York Knicks.

1990 Detroit Pistons – Playoff Results

Round
Opponent
Result

First
Pacers
Pacers in 3

Conference Semifinals
Knicks
Pistons in 5

Conference Finals
Bulls
Pistons in 7

NBA Finals
Trail Blazers

However, the Knicks would take Game 3 versus the Pistons on May 12, 1990, by a score of 111-103. While it snapped their win streak at 12 games, this did not deter the Pistons as they would take the next two games, winning the series in five games – before eventually going on to capture their second-straight NBA Championship.

52000-01 Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers won 12 straight playoff games

The Lakers of the early 2000s would be another dynasty in the franchise’s illustrious history. Winning three straight championships between 2000 and 2002, the Lakers would also earmark that run with playoff dominance, engaging in a 12-game playoff winning streak during that stretch.

The streak began on June 19, 2000, in the last game of the 2000 NBA Finals against the Indiana Pacers. Shaquille O’Neal led the game in both points and rebounds, with 41 and 12 respectively, leading the Lakers to the first chip of the new dynasty.

2001 Los Angeles Lakers – Playoff Results

Round
Opponent
Result

First
Trail Blazers
Lakers in 3

Conference Semifinals
Kings
Lakers in 4

Conference Finals
Spurs
Lakers in 4

NBA Finals
76ers
Lakers in 5

The 2001 playoffs would see the Lakers get off to a dominant 11-0 start. They would sweep the Trail Blazers in three games in the first round, the Sacramento Kings in four games in the second round, and the San Antonio Spurs in four games in the Western Conference Finals.

The Lakers would lose the very first game of the 2001 NBA Finals to the Philadelphia 76ers, 107-101, ending the streak. However, Los Angeles would go on to take the next (and final) four games of the season, defeating the 76ers in a gentleman’s sweep.

The 2001 Lakers therefore also came one game shy of an undefeated postseason, finishing the campaign at 15-1.