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Miami Heat: Top 3 defenses who won an NBA Championship

By Jack Simone

LeBron James of the Miami Heat looks to pass under pressure from Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs during game 5 of the NBA finals on June 16, 2013 in San Antonio, Texas., where the Spurs defeated the Heat 114-104 and now lead the series 3-2. AFP PHOTO/Frederic J. BROWN (Photo credit should read FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)
LeBron James of the Miami Heat looks to pass under pressure from Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs during game 5 of the NBA finals on June 16, 2013 in San Antonio, Texas., where the Spurs defeated the Heat 114-104 and now lead the series 3-2. AFP PHOTO/Frederic J. BROWN (Photo credit should read FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images) /
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Ben Wallace #3 (R) and Richard Hamilton #32 of the Detroit Pistons fight for control of the ball against Udonis Haslem #40 of the Miami Heat (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images) /

Defensive juggernauts the Miami heat should study: 2. 2004 Detroit Pistons

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The Detroit Pistons are an outlier in the sense that they didn’t actually lead the league in defensive rating this season. That title went to the Spurs, ironically enough, but the Pistons still managed to win it all.

Detroit allowed 90.2 points in the 2003-04 season, which ranked third-best in the NBA. The league average for points per game that year was 93.1.

This Pistons team is one of the most intriguing championship teams in the past 50 years, and it’s because they didn’t really have a superstar. They won by committee, with Ben Wallace and Chauncey Billups leading the way.

Weirdly enough, Wallace was the only member of this team to be named to an All-Defensive team. He was placed on the second team this season.

He averaged a whopping 3.0 blocks and 1.8 steals per game. Those are absolutely ridiculous numbers, and he finished top-ten in both categories.

The thing that was particularly impressive about this Pistons team was the number of points they allowed during the playoffs. They only let up 88.5 points per game in the postseason, which improved upon their regular-season numbers.

Also, considering that this Pistons team had a below-average offense and still won a title, the Heat should definitely be taking notes. They are one of three teams to achieve this feat in the last 50 years.

The Miami Heat have been a team that wins by committee in recent years, so this is actually a good team to study. The teams are actually more similar than one might think.

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