Every successful team had one. All potential-filled teams are creating one. They're the reason franchises are temporarily promoted to champions. That reason is the angle of choice, the algorithm, the blueprint, and the battle plan. No champion in the history of the league would have donned that envied name had it not been for strategy.
We all here the clichés whether it's San Antonio's approach that the NBA season is not a sprint, rather it is a marathon, or Boston's now famous strategy and motto ubuntu.
But is there one game plan that is superior to all others?
If you are a big fan of the NBA then, without a doubt, the most common over-used phrase is: Defense wins Championships.
Just look at the two teams I listed above. Combined they have five championships in the past eleven years thanks to one simple strategy of (say it with me) defense.
Now its time to throw a wrench in the seemingly perfect strategy of (once more) defense.
This past post-season has showed us numerous occasions of where offense triumphed. The Spurs defense couldn't contain the Mavericks in round one, the gritty Denver team couldn't stop the scoring outbursts of the Lakers' Kobe Bryant in the WCF, and in fact Cleveland the leagues best team (record-wise) was no match for the Magic's offensive explosion in the Eastern Conference Finals capped off by Dwight Howard's 40 points. The NBA's two best teams were offensively powered groups of the Kobe-Pau duo and the inside-outside combination of Orlando.
Even looking back at one of the highest scoring squads, the Suns, we can see where an offensive outline can take you. A year of having the best record in the league (2004) and second best record in 2006. In 2005 they went all the way to the Western Conference Finals losing to San Antonio in five games. As Tommy Beer can tell you, Amare was just a monster in the series (Question 4), and had it not been for a broken nose that Joe Johnson received, the outcome of the series might have been different. Johnson was averaging 19.0 points per game before that series then had to miss game one (Spurs win) while also not being fully healthy and being forced to wear a face mask. The following year the Suns rallied back from a 3-1 deficit to the Lakers (*tear*) before being ousted by the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals. If anyone can remember, this Suns team was radically different from the prior year because Joe Johnson was traded and Stoudemire missed the season due to micro fracture surgery. The next year the Suns made it to the semi-finals before losing to the Spurs ocne again. This series was very controversial because of the suspensions to Boris Diaw and Amare Stoudemire. In 2008 it was San Antonio yet again; with Tim Duncan making a game tying three pointer (What do you mean you've never seen it!) Each year was freak bad luck that held the Suns back from possibly winning the big prize. If these strange occurrences hadn't happened would their offense have taken them to a championship?
In addition, theoretically speaking, shouldn't good offense always beat good defense? I mean look at all of Kobe's "hand in my face" swishes. And let's not forget that no matter how good a defender is, the player with the ball in his hands (offensive) will always know when he will make an attack and he will always explode for the shot before the defensive player will. Finally, an NBA game is won by the team with the most points no matter what.
I am not saying that offense is better then defense because clearly history proves me wrong, but what I am saying is that offense should never be taken lightly. Especially with the NBA's new rules that promote offensive strategies and the change to a scoring philosophy we have seen from teams this year (VC to Magic, RJ to Spurs, and Hedo to the Raptors) Notice the defensive power house we know as the Spurs traded for more offensive bang by trading their super-star stopper Bruce Bowen. Teams this year are more offensively stronger then in years past, and maybe groups like Boston and Cleveland might not be able to contain all the scoring frenzies they will see from the Wizards or Magic.
The idea of a perfect strategy is far from a given. Defense will have a run for its money, particularly this season with the influx of offensive emphasis. Will a team that likes to score ever triumph the age old cliché of "Defense wins Championships"?