Using Numbers To Find The Most Difficult NBA Championship Ever Won 

So basically, if the Heat won this year's finals, they would have had the second hardest path to a championship EVER, with an SRS rating of 23.15. Thats crazy af

Jxmy “I made a chart” Highroller back with another video

Happy to see that Hakeem’s second ring has been confirmed as the toughest championship since ‘84. That team is incredibly underrated.

The early 2000’s is the most defensive era in basketball. A 20ppg scorer means much more then than now

Imagine being Jimmy's friend. You get in an argument about the NBA and this man pulls a graph out on you.

Jxmy: "I crunched the numbers" We know bruh, we know

The Spurs would have been in like 15 NBA finals on the last 20 years if they were an eastern conference team.

LeBron made it to the finals with a team that had an srs score less than 1 lmao

Jxmy's titles in the near future: "Using numbers to predict when will the greatest nba player be born and how long will the NBA last" edit: y'all gotta stop fighting about a joke lmao

"They aren't build the same, but all shine just as bright" True af

Lmao Lebron just said he has played in the 2 hardest championships in NBA history i had to come watch this video again 😂

One could argue that the league having “good teams” could actually just be a reflection of the league having bad teams

When Jxmy really wants to emphasize his point: “Look at this graph”

If Skip Bayless sees this, we'll never hear the end of it...

"It doesn't matter if you win by an inch or a mile, winning's winning." -Dominic Toretto

Watching this I have so much more respect for Kobe. People say he was carried by shaq but in the 01 playoffs dude drops like 45 and 10 whil posterizing Tim Duncan and then like 48 and 15 on the kings

This was the first NBA season I completely followed. I knew only Michael Jordan, Kobe and LeBron before I started following this channel. There's just something so captivating about you. You helped me discover love for this sport. Thank you for that man. More power to you.

JxmyHighroller’s next video: using numbers to determine if The championship trophy this season is more expensive than last season.

2022 Golden State Warriors Playoff Opponent SRS - 17.67 Nuggets - 2.16 Grizzlies - 5.37 Mavericks - 3.12 Celtics - 7.02 This would rank #11 all time and by far the Warrior dynasty's hardest championship. If they played the Suns (6.94) instead of the Mavs (3.12), it would've been 21.49 and ranked #3. 2021 Bucks playoff opponent SRS was 11.99, ranking #26.

This graphic shows how underrated Kobe is

Am I the only one who’s missing the trap sax start music?? 😭😭😭

“It doesn’t matter whether you win by an inch or a mile, winning is winning” Dominic Torreto 2001

As some comments have already said, one potential flaw of this calculation is that it doesn't take into account the champ's own SRS. E.g. the Warriors' 2017 championship might not have actually been that difficult given that they had freakin Steph, Klay AND Durant! (tbf this depends on how you define "difficulty"; do you define it like video-game difficulty where it's just based on how good your opponents are, or do you take into account your own skill as well?) Anyways, I redid the calculations, taking into account the champ's SRS. I wasn't sure what was a better way to incorporate the champ's SRS; whether to divide the sum of their opponents' SRS by their own SRS ( (a+b+c+d)/C ), or to subtract the champ's SRS for each opponent they defeated ( a-C + b-C + c-C + d-C ), so I tried both. Here's the (a+b+c+d)/C results (sorry for uneven formatting): YEAR TEAM DIFFICULTY SCORE 1995 Houston Rockets 10.33 2001 Los Angeles Lakers 5.92 1994 Houston Rockets 4.26 2011 Dallas Mavericks 4.18 2006 Miami Heat 3.85 2010 Los Angeles Lakers 3.54 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers 3.37 2019 Toronto Raptors 3.09 2003 San Antonio Spurs 2.94 2002 Los Angeles Lakers 2.90 1993 Chicago Bulls 2.87 2012 Miami Heat 2.39 2004 Detroit Pistons 2.30 2018 Golden State Warriors 2.27 2014 San Antonio Spurs 2.27 1998 Chicago Bulls 2.25 2000 Los Angeles Lakers 2.23 1989 Detroit Pistons 2.22 2009 Los Angeles Lakers 2.20 1997 Chicago Bulls 1.95 2005 San Antonio Spurs 1.94 2007 San Antonio Spurs 1.84 1990 Detroit Pistons 1.82 1988 Los Angeles Lakers 1.45 2020 Los Angeles Lakers 1.43 1996 Chicago Bulls 1.40 1985 Los Angeles Lakers 1.39 1984 Boston Celtics 1.37 1999 San Antonio Spurs 1.35 2021 Milwaukee Bucks 1.27 2015 Golden State Warriors 1.26 2017 Golden State Warriors 1.21 2008 Boston Celtics 1.21 1992 Chicago Bulls 1.19 2013 Miami Heat 1.16 1986 Boston Celtics 1.13 1991 Chicago Bulls 1.05 1987 Los Angeles Lakers 0.36 Here's the a-C + b-C + c-C + d-C results: YEAR TEAM DIFFICULTY SCORE 1995 Houston Rockets 14.68 2001 Los Angeles Lakers 7.19 1994 Houston Rockets 1.10 2011 Dallas Mavericks 0.79 2006 Miami Heat -0.54 2010 Los Angeles Lakers -2.20 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers -3.42 2019 Toronto Raptors -4.97 2003 San Antonio Spurs -6.00 1993 Chicago Bulls -6.99 2002 Los Angeles Lakers -7.83 2004 Detroit Pistons -8.58 2012 Miami Heat -9.19 2018 Golden State Warriors -9.99 1989 Detroit Pistons -11.08 1990 Detroit Pistons -11.82 1988 Los Angeles Lakers -12.25 1998 Chicago Bulls -12.65 2009 Los Angeles Lakers -12.79 2014 San Antonio Spurs -13.84 2000 Los Angeles Lakers -14.85 2020 Los Angeles Lakers -16.14 2005 San Antonio Spurs -16.15 1984 Boston Celtics -16.89 1985 Los Angeles Lakers -16.94 2007 San Antonio Spurs -18.04 1999 San Antonio Spurs -18.85 2013 Miami Heat -19.96 1997 Chicago Bulls -21.98 1991 Chicago Bulls -25.29 2021 Milwaukee Bucks -25.65 2008 Boston Celtics -25.95 1986 Boston Celtics -25.98 2015 Golden State Warriors -27.39 1992 Chicago Bulls -28.27 1987 Los Angeles Lakers -30.27 1996 Chicago Bulls -30.70 2017 Golden State Warriors -31.63 Hope you can find something interesting in these slightly-different results.

I appreciate how you keep things as objective as possible and give credit where it's due. It's very refreshing to see people like you speaking on sports as opposed to mainstream sports media that's extremely and outwardly biased on their positions.

When Jxmy's future son needs help with his math homework Jxmy: "So look at this graph"

Breakfast and jimi let’s go 😄👌

Just rewatched the “when a man becomes a legend” vid on Kobe before this and realized Kobe also has 5 of the 16 most difficult championship runs based on SRS. He really was the man

No matter the difficulty or the numbers, the 2016 Finals were the sweetest for me personally. I’m glad I was able to watch it.

“Even though they’re not built the same, they still shine just as bright”🤧

Hakeem is criminally underrated. That finals run was absurd

Hey keep making these awesome videos man. I love how you study the game.

I understand it’s one of the easiest paths to the finals based on opponents but I don’t think you can fault them because the other good playoff teams like the the clippers and the bucks lost to those weaker opponents while the lakers sustained all the way.

If Miami won this year, their SRS score would be No.1 all time probably

I think the stat doesnt make sense because if the Bucks would have made the finals the Lakers’ championship would have been harder? They just lost to a better organized team but the stat makes it seem like a better opponent because of the regular season.

I’m gonna be honest I can’t watch someone’s vids all day when a person can admit he was wrong previously. Props to u. I subbed

Bro is always on the case, so analytical and so informative, appreciated.

If anything this shows how underrated Dirk and Hakeem were

Srs is flawed because it's just about the teams regular season. So Portland cuz they had injuries would have a low SRS but we know they were healthy and better in the playoffs

I love your videos always setting the record straight on all the media and fans narratives

Man, that’s a PERFECT video. Congrats!

Mavs run coming in at #6 shows how incredible Dirk was that season

Imagine how much hate MJ would get if he played in this social media era

LeBron James: "That one right there made me the best player of all time." Okay, bro.

Regardless of how difficult a championship was based on these stats a ring is a ring and it will always be an incredible accomplishment that you can never discredit

This stat only looks good on paper. Since Bucks have a higher “srs” but heat with a lower “srs” were definitely better.

Who's the goat? People: MJ People: LeBron People: Kareem Me: Jxmyhighroller

2000-2001 Lakers were probably my all-time favorite single season team to watch. Greatest playoff run I've ever seen. Kobe and Shaq as a dynamic duo in that playoff run especially, I believe reached the absolute pinnacle that you can reach as 2 all-time greats in or near the prime of there ability could be able to accomplish together. They literally were an overtime loss to that year's MVP Iverson and the overachieving scrappy Sixers in game 1 of the Finals, from being the only team ever to go undefeated in the playoffs.

And some people really say that Mike had it easy in the 90's. He was just too dominant and Bulls worked good together

Jimmy: This stat has a lot of flaws Also jimmy: Continues to base the entire video off of it

I'd consider 1985 and 2011 both were on in the tough circumstances. Edit: Kareem at age 38 FMVP at Boston Garden (85) competition-wise, toughest I've seen.

"Rarely that the best 2 teams ever met in the finals" This statement helps Kobe's case in the goat debate tremendously imo. Coz 2 out the 3 championship run he had with Shaq, Kobe was arguably the MVP against the best overall team they faced in the playoffs. Based on their SRS all the teams they faced in the Western Conference Finals were far better than who they faced in the NBA finals. No one in their right mind would argue that the Pacers, Sixers and Nets were a better team than the TrailBlazers, Spurs and Kings in those particular years. Plus Shaq having the much more favorable match ups against guys like a 33 yr old Rick Smits, 34 yr old Mutombo and a role player in Jason Collins favored him to put up bigger numbers which secured him as the 3x FMVP during those runs, while Kobe were matched up against Miller, Iverson and Kidd. The average fans wont even look at these details, and jump in that "Shaq carried Kobe" bandwagon. This disrespect need to stop!

Love this video ! Great work !

Damn it's crazy how the 01 Lakers had the second hardest run and also went 16-1 in those playoffs. This shows what a great team they were.

I think the bubble had alot to do with it. No fans no travel no media. Just basketball. And because of that teams with bad records were able to shine and play better basketball. Ie - the suns - the heat - the nuggets beating clippers. The bubble really showed us who the real hoopers are. When its just pure basketball no distractions and no extra stuff the real hoopers showed up.

I REALLY appreciate your knowledge, research, and work ethic bro. DRAFT JIM!

Love the content on this channel

Man.. Kobe and MJ eat adversity for breakfast 🥞 🍴

This is also assuming that players aren't taken out during the last mins of a game. For example, a team could be up by 20 to a shitty team and the coach pulls out their starting 5 and plays bench players. The game ends up being won by 10 or 8 then the SRS looks horrible. Or the other way around, a team starts fouling at the end usually giving up more points. To what would've been a closer game now is lost by 8 or 10 points.

Excellent channel, thank you for all your hard work and enlightment.Peace to all.

Didn't know Kobe first 3peat with Shaq was a hell of a journey

One reason this could be though is parity. Point differential will be lower if teams are better so maybe the more top heavy the league is, the more difficult the chip looks.

Jmxy: "I crunched the numbers" Man used one stat he didn't calculate

JxmyHighroller / Dom2k / Andy Hoops. Mount Rushmore of TOP TIER quality NBA videos. Also I was thinking could there be another way to total the SRS? Since a 0.59 in the finals might make it seem like it's a cakewalk for the opposing team but that 0.59 team also "defeated Indiana 1.18, swept top seeded Toronto 7.29 and eliminated Boston 3.23 in 7 games" With this factoring everything in mind, it'll be nice to see a diff chart.

This is maaaad interesting. Good shit!!

There are flaws to every stat but this one is full of them. And the thing is, some of them are easily fixable. 1) SRS by itself clearly doesn’t work as a metric. If you want to use something like this you need to have your own SRS adjusted upwards once you beat a team with higher SRS. When the Heat beat the bucks, their SRS should improve. How much it should improve should also take into account how easily or difficultly one team beats another team. 2) There needs to be some higher weighting towards the highest SRS team you won when you add up the SRS. I may have three easy rounds but one round where I beat the theoretically best team of all time. That ain’t an easy championship but would still land me around 15-20. It’s hard to weigh properly because it’s going to be arbitrary, but it needs to be captured. 3) My own SRS should matter. If I have SRS of 6 and I beat a team with SRS of 12, not only my SRS should be then adjusted upwards but my win should matter more than if my own SRS was 11 and I beat a team with 12. An easy fix for this is to use SRS ratios rather than absolute SRS. 4) Injuries. SRS needs to be adjusted for injuries during the playoffs. In theory last year’s Raptors beat the GSW who may have had a high SRS but had two of their star players injured during that match up. There are many more flaws that I’m too lazy to talk about. But this metric is absolutely flawed. So much that I don’t think it can be safely used even just to give any sense of direction. To give an example, if I had the greatest SRS of all time with a score of 82-0 and say an SRS of 15, I could sweep 4 equally worse teams with SRS of 6 each team and with everyone of these teams getting their players injured and this would be considered the toughest championship of all time.

I feel like this stat is kind of misleading. I mean the Heat essential reinvented them selves going to the finals and in Cleveland, LeBron didn’t play his hardest until the playoffs and this stat is based on regular season.

His content is on another level every video is great keep grinding

You know, I found this by searching 'lakers mickey mouse ring'...

“A ring is a ring”-jxmyhighroller

I mean, coming back from a 3-1 is realistically the hardest championship to win. But damn that Kobe Shaq 3-peat finals were all pre damn difficult

id love to see the updated one for 2021 warriors run haha

Every single one of your videos are so good

Nevermind all that this just told me how underrated Hakeem is as a centre... Everyone says he is very good but has 2 of the hardest rings and back to back

One day jxmy gonna say “until next time” but there won’t be a next time...

Good one Jimmy! Keep it up.

These videos are incredibly well done

Just so you notice..... AD's Pelicans were better than Cavaliers.

Just remember that this doesn’t take into account what actually happened during the runs. For example the Cavs were going against a 73-9 team and down 3-1 are lower than a Lakers team who went up against only AI.

Who is here after lebron said it was hard for him to win in 2020? 🤦‍♂️

This content! Jesus this stuff is gold. Keep going bro you are better than a 30 for 30

"KD was skinny, Russ can't shoot" is still the funniest thing I've read all week Edit: now that I got y'all likes, MJ is the goat

So many people wanted the Heat to win but Lebron and AD are a amazing dynamic duo. Also Jimmy thank you for the great content.

Would like to mention 4 of Kobe’s 5 rings rank top 12 highest difficulty THATS WHY HES THE GOAT THE GOOOOAAAT 💜💛🖤

Your voice is sooooo smooth jimmy boy 🙌❤️

Missing one key factor: SRS of champion vs competition on average. Sure, beating a 5 SRS team in every round adds up to a monster title run... unless the team that won posted an SRS of 12. That in fact would be a relatively easy title run although the total SRS would be 20. Alternatively, a 2 SRS team beating a 5 SRS team in every round would be amazing. In every round you beat a team that was statistically better than you.

Even if a team's SRS score is a reliable indicator of how good that team is, you can't measure the difficulty of a path to finals victory just by adding up the SRS scores of the four teams that were defeated on that path. Consider: it would be a LOT harder to beat one team with an SRS score of 24 and three teams with SRS scores of zero, than it would be to beat four teams each with SRS scores of 6. But both "paths" add up to 24.

Great analysis!

This is the best basketball video that I ever seen in my life .

It was so easy that the team, who almost everyone thought would win choked on a 3-1 lead. Nature of being a fan - a fanatic.

When he loses he is weak,when he wins his opponents are week.

The 2000 and 2001 Lakers had the hardest championship runs I've ever seen. one of those teams which only won 56 games in regular season because they were coasting, had to go through 3 50 win teams to get their championship. I think the Lakers may actually have had to go through every round of that playoffs facing a 50 plus win team.

I subscribed Bc this video was so well done. And you know basketball. Your right not every championship is equal

“The Mickey Mouse Mouse Rec Championship”

Can’t judge a playoff run off of regular season stats (SRS), teams can perform better or worse once you get to the playoffs i.e 2007 Mavs and 1999 Knicks

Top notch, as always.

Beautiful video. And very true aswell. Happens with esports all the time aswell.

For me i think 2011 Mavs has the toughest tittle run.. Beating Roy aldridge batum kobe pau artest bynum durant westbrook harden wade bosh and lebron all in their prime.

This makes me appreciate what Kobe achieved just a little more. RIP Mamba.

i think we have to give more appreciation to the team that has a low average score but entered the final, their struggle was crazy

Do a sequel vid "USING SRS TO FIGURE OUT THE GOAT..."