Lebron James won the two hardest championships... or did he (part 1)?

Recently the 4-time NBA finals champion, Lebron James, made some interesting comments about his championships. During an episode of Road Trippin, Lebron James claims to have won the two hardest championships in NBA league history. The championships he's referring to are the 2016 and 2020 NBA championships. Lebron's quote was "The one thing that I know for sure is that I've been a part of two teams (that have) won the two hardest championships in NBA league history." I think we all can agree that what Lebron James accomplished in 2016 was magical in coming back from a 3-1 lead deficit. Also, what he and the Lakers was able to do this year due to the outside circumstances of COVID-19 and the BLM movement was certaintly amazing. In my opinion, I believe that the 2020 year NBA championship may have a case to be the hardest (although I believe it's weak), but the 2016 championship has very little weight for the hardest NBA championship in history.

First, let's take a trip back to the 2015-2016 Cleveland Caviliars team. The Cavs finished that season 57-25, which was good for first in the Eastern Conference. The Cavs were lead by all-star Lebron James (regarded as the best player in the league), Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. Kyrie Irving was seen as a young elite point guard in the NBA, while Kevin Love was seen as one of the best power forwards in the game. This star-studded trio went to the NBA finals last season and lost to the Golden State Warriors in 6 games (a big reason due to Kevin Love getting hurt against the Celtics in round one and Kyrie getting injured in game one of the NBA finals).

Going into the playoffs that season, the Cavs matched up against the Detroit Pistons in the first round. Detroit finished the regular season with a solid 44-38 record and were led by young star center Andre Drummond. With the exception of Drummond, Detroit was completely outmatched by the star power that the Caviliars had as Detroit got swepted 4-0. 8th seed teams are normally outmatched facing the number 1 seed, but this Piston team was a far cry in talent from other 8th seed teams like the 2009-2010 Oklahoma City Thunder or the 2000-2001 Portland Trailblazers.

Their 2nd round match-up was against the Atlanta Hawks, who were the 4th seed. Atlanta finished the season with a 48-34 record in the Eastern Conference and were led by the all-star frontcourt of Al Horford and Paul Millsap. The Hawks were different from the Pistons in terms of being more talented and arguably more well-coached. However, they share the same problem with Detroit as not having nearly as much talent as the Cavs. You can make the argument that the Cavs third best player, Kevin Love, is better than the Hawks two best players in Horford and Millsap! To compare this Atlanta team to another 4th seeded team, the Los Angeles Clippers, in the same season, finished with a 53-29 record and they were lead by elite point guard Chris Paul and star forward Blake Griffin. If you know anything about Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, you know that they are on a different level than Al Horford and Paul Millsap respectively.

In the Eastern Conference finals, the Cavs were met by the Toronto Raptors (2nd seed). They finished with a record of 56-26 and were lead by the all-star backcourt of DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry. This Raptor team was well constructed with solid role players like Jonas Valanciunas, DeMarre Carroll and Bismack Biyombo. In terms of all-around depth and star power, they were the Cavs toughest challenge in the East. However, as youknow the story, the Raptors did not have the talent that Cavs possessed with their big three. Think of it like this: the San Antonio Spurs had a record of 67-15 (which was the second best in the league and not just the Western Conference) and they were led by superstar Kawhi Leonard and all-star LaMarcus Aldridge. They didn't even make it to the Western Conference finals because of the great duo of Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant in Oklahoma City. Imagine how potentially challenging that could have been if the Cavs were to face either one of those teams on there way to the NBA finals (not saying the Cavs would lose but the talent they would've faced would have been exponentially better).

As mentioned before, the Cavs faced the 73-9 Golden State Warriors in the NBA finals. That Warriors team did have a 3-1 lead on the Cavaliers, but it's important that we add context to this situation. Stephen Curry had suffered a sprain knee in the first round of the playoffs. It didn't help that that injury was made worse by an ankle and elbow injury he sustained once he returned. Draymond Green got suspended for game 5 and Andrew Bogut sustained a season-ending knee injury in the same game Draymond missed. Just like the previous year, but in reverse, the Warriors dealt with injuries (albeit to a lesser extent) that held them back from being at full strength for the whole series.

Now some people may say that it isn't Lebron's fault on who he faces in the playoffs and that he's not responsible for the lack of talent on other Eastern Conference teams. And I'm here to say, that's true! It's not his problem that the other Eastern Conference teams didn't have the talent to match up. That being said, it would be ignorant to ignore the competition or lack there of that he had to face when comparing his run to other NBA players. I'm not saying that his title run isn't valid and that he should be penalized for facing them. I just think that you should look at the road to the NBA finals when talking about a player's run and not only look at the finals on its own.

People may ask "What about overcoming the 3-1 deficit?" Lebron and the Cavs overcoming that was quite impressive and cannot be taken away from them. However, no one intentionally goes down 3-1 (at least I hope not) just so that they can show the world that they can win three straight. When comparing to other players championships, I believe it's not fair to essentially penalize a player for sweeping a team in the NBA finals and not for winning in a fashion that involved the winners coming back from a deficit. If anything, sweeping and/or beating an elite team in 6 or less games is harder to accomplish than coming back from a deficit where you the team that's down shows great vulnerability and the that's up gets hit with an unfortunate dose of injuries.

This is only part one of a two part series. Lebron James path to the finals and winning the 2016 championship should be celebrated and it's valid. However, in terms of level of competition, you should really take that into account when evaluating a difficult path and a not so difficult path. In the next part, I will detail how the 2020 NBA championship is also not one of the hardest championships won in league history.

(All informationin this article is used from basketball referrence and Road Trippin)