How Much Does Defense Matter in the N.B.A. Playoffs? Defense wins championships, so they say. It's an adage so cliched that it is not really clear what sport it was meant to reference. But when a sports commentator (or 40) uses that phrase to refer to the N.B.A., are they being accurate? Somewhat. More than half of the teams that won an N.B.A. championship in the last 40 seasons have been top five squads defensively, but the team that leads the league in defensive efficiency has lost in the first round as often as it has taken home the title. This season, the best defensive team in the league was the Indiana Pacers by a solid margin. Looking at the makeup of their team, it's not hard to see why. The defense starts on the perimeter, with three players of above-average athleticism and length. George Hill's a nagging point with unnaturally long arms, Lance Stephenson's the Coney Island kid who grew up as a scoring point but turned into a defense-oriented shooting guard, and although Paul George earned the most improved player award for picking up the offensive slack with Danny Granger out for most of the season, the 6-8 wing also earned a reputation for shutting down opposing scorers and got eight first place votes for defensive player of the year. Each is capable of staying in front of their marks and recovering quickly to contest shots, resulting in teams shooting the second-fewest 3-pointers against them - and hitting just 32.7 percent of them, the worst percentage in the league. Inside the arc, things don't get much easier: Roy Hibbert, the Pacers" 7-2 center, had his best season as a defender, finishing second in the league with 2.8 blocks per game. Throw in a grinding pace that gets teams out of their offensive rhythm and some solid role players, and you have a team that stood out as the best in the league at defense. Per basketball-reference.com, the Pacers allowed just 99.8 points per 100 possessions, half a point better than the second-best team, the Memphis Grizzlies, and six points better than the league average. But what does that mean for Indiana going forward? They've taken a 2-0 lead in their first-round series against a sluggish Atlanta Hawks team, with George recording a triple-double in Game 1 and adding 27 points Tuesday night. But despite the trope about rings and defense, you'd be hard-pressed to find people talking about Indiana making a run to a championship. We took a look at teams that led the league in defensive efficiency and tracked how they finished in the playoffs. We also took a look at how the eventual champions each year finished in defensive efficiency. Defensive efficiency data goes back to the 1973-4 season. Defensive efficiency leaders since 1973-74 by eventual finish (39 seasons, plus five ties): Champions: Seven Runners-up: Seven Conference finals: Seven Conference semifinals: 11 First round: 12 N.B.A. champions since 1973-74 by defensive efficiency ranking: First: Seven Second: Four Third: Five Fourth: Five Fifth: Three Sixth or seventh: Seven Eighth or ninth: Four 10th and higher: Four Some tidbits: The Pacers are a great defense for leading the league, but they aren't historically great. Defensive leaders on average are .89 points per 100 possessions better than the next-best team, and 5.61 points per 100 possessions better than the league average. The Pacers" .5 and 6.0 are slightly worse and slightly better than those averages. Truly elite defenses do tend to shine. Only nine teams have ever finished 6.5 points per 100 possessions ahead of the league average, four of those won the championship, none lost in the first round. Of the 10 teams to finish 1.5 points per 100 possessions better than the second-best defense in the league, three have won championships, although one lost in the first round. Teams with the league's best defense have had more success in the more modern N.B.A.: five of the last 17 winners have led the league in defensive efficiency. Only one team-the 2000-1 Lakers-has won the N.B.A. championship despite having a below-average defense, which finished 21st. That's bad news for four teams in this year's playoffs: the Lakers, Rockets, Nets, and the Knicks. How do teams with the best offense in the league fare? Better, but only slightly - eight of them have won the championship. And it hasn't happened in a while: Michael Jordan's Bulls teams would lead the league in offense for four of their six championships, but no top-ranked offense has won the title since Chicago's 1997 win. The Pacers should take pride in being the league's best at keeping opponents off the scoresheet, and they're halfway to avoiding one of those ugly first-round exits. But being the staunchest, stingiest squad on paper doesn't mean as much as an old saying might make it seem.