I took a look at all champions since the 1990 (will keep adding more later). I used SRS to calculate the toughest and easiest championship road. SRS is basically average margin of victory + strength of schedule. As Lakers fans, we already knew this. Anyway, here are the results. Toughest overall road: 1. (1994-95) Rockets 2. (2000-01) Lakers 3. (1996-97) Bulls 4. (2001-02) Lakers 5. (1999-00) Lakers Easiest overall road: 1. (2012-13) Heat 2. (1990-91) Bulls 3. (1989-99) Spurs 4. (1989-90) Pistons 5. (2007-08) C Bags Since 2000, not a single team has had to face a tougher set of teams than those 3peat Lakers / Lakers went 15-1! If you go all the way back to 1990, Lakers are bumped down a bit since the Rockets actually faced the toughest set of teams because they were a 6th seed. The 3peat Lakers are still in the top 5 though. LeBron naturally was gifted a ring as he had the easiest road, dating all the way back to 1990. The 91 Bulls had the second easiest road, and the Spurs during the lockout season also had one of the easiest roads. Spoiler: Finals Toughest Finals opponents: 1. (1996-97) Bulls over Jazz 2. (1995-96) Bulls over SuperSonics 3. (2007-08) C Bags over Lakers 4. (1991-92) Bulls over Blazers 5. (2010-11) Mavericks over Heat Easiest Finals opponents: 1. (1998-99) Spurs over Knicks 2. (2004-05) Spurs over Pistons 3. (2006-07) Spurs over Cavaliers 4. (2009-10) Lakers over Magic 5. (2000-01) Lakers over 76ers Spoiler: Conference Finals Toughest CF opponents: 1. (2000-01) Lakers over Spurs 2. (2002-03) Spurs over Mavericks 3. (2001-02) Lakers over Kings 4. (2004-05) Spurs over Suns 5. (2007-08) C Bags over Pistons Easiest CF opponents: 1. (2011-12) Heat over C Bags 2. (1989-90) Pistons over Bulls 3. (2006-07) Spurs over Jazz 4. (1990-91) Bulls over Pistons 5. (2008-09) Lakers over Nuggets Spoiler: Second Round Toughest second round opponents: 1. (2006-07) Spurs over Suns 2. (1992-93) Bulls over Cavaliers 3. (2001-02) Lakers over Spurs 4. (2000-01) Lakers over Kings 5. (2010-11) Mavericks over Lakers Easiest second round opponents: 1. (2007-08) C Bags over Cavaliers 2. (1990-91) Bulls over 76ers 3. (2012-13) Heat over Bulls 4. (1989-90) Pistons over Knicks 5. (2005-06) Heat over Nets Spoiler: First Round Toughest first round opponents: 1. (1994-95) Houston over Jazz 2. (2000-01) Lakers over Blazers 3. (2009-10) Lakers over Thunder 4. (2001-02) Lakers over Blazers 5. (1999-00) Lakers over Kings Easiest first round opponents: 1. (1991-92) Bulls over Heat 2. (2007-08) Boston over Hawks 3. (2012-13) Heat over Bucks 4. (1992-93) Bulls over Hawks 5. (1990-91) Bulls over Knicks
This is really cool can you go further back to like the early 1980s as well? I'd be curious to see they all stack up. We all knew our 3 peat team as incredible but this just make it even greater.
I added up to 1990. I'll add some more later when I have time. Yes, LeBron and the Heat still had the easiest schedule. Lol. Other things I noticed. During these runs, Lakers never faced an opponent with a negative SRS, despite the number of playoff runs that we've had. Bulls, C Bags, and Heat have all faced teams with a negative SRS multiple times. Rockets had the hardest first round opponent by far (against the Jazz). Lakers take the next 4 against the Blazers 2x, Kings, and Thunder.
Really cool stuff! There were also a couple of times Lebon faced a team with an awesome regular season record yet completely fell off in the playoffs due to injury or whatever happened to Indy a couple years ago.
Indy had problems, but the biggest joke record-wise were last year's Hawks. I've never seen such a bad 60-wins team since I watch basketball. They were really good at the beginning, but ran out of gas and were horrible through most of the second half of the season. By the time the Playoffs came, they weren't even a 50-wins team in terms of level of play. Pretty cool stats, and I can understand seeing the 76ers or Magic among weak final opponents (Sixers won a game only because Iverson is really good and got inspired), though I'm surprised to see the 2009 Nuggets there. I still think the gave a great fight and would be champion if not for us. Melo played some great basketball because he got caught in Kobe's competitiveness and he was honestly fantastic at that time.
Every team the Lakers played in the 01 playoffs was a 50+ win team. I knew that was one of the hardest schedules. To go 15 - 1 against those teams is incredible.
I wish there was some way of taking that into consideration. I'll try to see if there is some way to do this. Definitely true. Hawks were 43-11 pre all-star break and 17-11 post all-star break. A lot of players were banged up, and they didn't have Thabo because of the incident with the cops. They were 43-9 with Thabo and 17-13 without him. As for the Nuggets, I was surprised to see that too, but several players missed 10+ games during the regular season. For example, Melo missed 16 games, and they barely played above .500 ball during his absence. That probably contributed to the weaker ranking. I think they also had bigger margins of victories toward the end of the season / were playing much better ball during the playoffs.
