One golden rule that has still held up: Every champion but one for the last 44 years has been a top-three seed with at least 52 wins (prorated to 82 games) and a plus-3 net rating; that will hold up if Boston prevails in the NBA Finals, but not if Dallas wins. (The three teams in the West that met this criteria, Oklahoma City, Denver and Minnesota, have all been eliminated; the Mavs beat two of them.)