Fun Facts About the NBA Finals and Cleveland Sports Futility

The NBA Finals tip off tonight, pitting the top seed in the West, the defending champion Golden State Warriors, against the top seed in the East, the defending runner up Cleveland Cavaliers.  With the way that the Warriors just came back from a 3-1 deficit (and with how well they have played all year) and the way that the Cavs have been playing in the playoffs, this has the chance to be a really good NBA Finals.

So, as you may know from my posts about March Madness every year, I find sports statistics very interesting.  Here are some fun (for me, anyway) stats about this year's NBA Finals, as well as sports futility across cities.

LeBron plays in his 6th Finals in a row

This is the sixth year in a row that LeBron James has played in the NBA Finals, which is pretty remarkable (and only bettered by several players on the Celtics' dynasty of the late '50s and entire '60s).  Of course, as a Bulls fan who grew up in the heyday of the Bulls dynasty, I will note that, had Jordan not retired to play baseball for two years, the Bulls would have made the Super Fans' prediction of a "minimal eight-peat" come true.  James, on the other hand, still has to win two more rings to match how many Will Perdue has.

The Best in the West Against The Best in the East

This is the 28th time in NBA history where the finals will feature two 1-seeds, although only the second time it has happened this millennium.  The Eastern Conference holds a 18-9 advantage, although the Celtics in the '60s and Bulls in the '90s accounted for a combined 10 of the East's wins.  Here are the previous 27 times the NBA had a 1-seed vs. 1-seed finals:

1953:  Minneapolis Lakers (W1) over New York Knicks (E1)

1954:  Minneapolis Lakers (W1) over Syracuse Nationals (E1)

1955:  Syracuse Nationals (W1) over Fort Wayne Pistons (E1)

1956:  Philadelphia Warriors (E1) over Fort Wayne Pistons (W1)

1957:  Boston Celtics (E1) over St. Louis Hawks (W1)

1958:  St. Louis Hawks (W1) over Boston Celtics (E1)

1960:  Boston Celtics (E1) over St. Louis Hawks (W1)

1961:  Boston Celtics (E1) over St. Louis Hawks (W1)

1962:  Boston Celtics (E1) over Los Angeles Lakers (W1)

1963:  Boston Celtics (E1) over Los Angeles Lakers (W1)

1964:  Boston Celtics (E1) over San Francisco Warriors (W1)

1965:  Boston Celtics (E1) over Los Angeles Lakers (W1)

1967:  Philadelphia 76ers (E1) over San Francisco Warriors (W1)

1971:  Milwaukee Bucks (W1) over Baltimore Bullets (E1)

1974:  Boston Celtics (E1) over Milwaukee Bucks (W1)

1979:  Seattle SuperSonics (W1) over Washington Bullets (E1)

1983:  Philadelphia 76ers (E1) over Los Angeles Lakers (W1)

1984:  Boston Celtics (E1) over Los Angeles Lakers (W1)

1985:  Los Angeles Lakers (W1) over Boston Celtics (E1)

1987:  Los Angeles Lakers (W1) over Boston Celtics (E1)

1989:  Detroit Pistons (E1) over Los Angeles Lakers (W1)

1992:  Chicago Bulls (E1) over Portland Trail Blazers (W1)

1996:  Chicago Bulls (E1) over Seattle SuperSonics (W1)

1997:  Chicago Bulls (E1) over Utah Jazz (W1)

1998:  Chicago Bulls (E1) over Utah Jazz (W1)

2000:  Los Angeles Lakers (W1) over Indiana Pacers (E1)

2008:  Boston Celtics (E1) over Los Angeles Lakers (W1)

Finals Rematches

This is the 13th time in NBA history that is a rematch of the previous year's finals.  In the previous 12 finals rematches, the defending champion is 6-6, although the '98 Bulls are the only team to win a finals rematch since the Nixon administration.  Here are

1953:  Minneapolis Lakers over New York Knicks (Lakers won in '52)

1958:  St. Louis Hawks over Boston Celtics (Celtics won in '57)

1961:  Boston Celtics over St. Louis Hawks (Celtics won in '60)

1963:  Boston Celtics over Los Angeles Lakers (Celtics won in '62)

1966:  Boston Celtics over Los Angeles Lakers (Celtics won in '65)

1969:  Boston Celtics over Los Angeles Lakers (Celtics won in '68)

1973:  New York Knicks over Los Angeles Lakers (Lakers won in '72)

1979:  Seattle SuperSonics over Washington Bullets (Bullets won in '78)

1983:  Philadelphia 76ers over Los Angeles Lakers (Lakers won in '82)

1985:  Los Angeles Lakers over Boston Celtics (Celtics won in '84)

1989:  Detroit Pistons over Los Angeles Lakers (Lakers won in '88)

1998:  Chicago Bulls over Utah Jazz (Bulls won in '97)

2014:  San Antonio Spurs over Miami Heat (Heat won in '13)

Warriors Looking to Win Two in a Row

If the Warriors win, they will be the 7th franchise in NBA history to win back-to-back titles.  Here is who else has done it (in chronological order):

Los Angeles/Minneapolis Lakers:  1952-1954, 1987-1988, 2000-2002, 2009-2010

Boston Celtics:  1959-1966, 1968-1969

Detroit Pistons:  1989-1990

Chicago Bulls:  1991-1993, 1996-1998

Houston Rockets:  1994-1995

Miami Heat:  2012-2013

Cavaliers Looking to Win their Franchise's First Championship

The Cavaliers' first season in the NBA was the 1970-1971 season.  If the Cavaliers win, it will be the first championship in their franchise's history.  Amazingly, 45 years would not be the longest an NBA franchise has gone before winning its first title.  Here are the other NBA franchises that took (or are currently taking) more than 25 years to win an NBA title after joining the league (some franchises won ABA titles prior to joining the NBA, which is noted).  For the years, I'm counting the year in which the season ended (i.e., the 1996-1997 season would be considered 1997).  Anyway, here you go:

Detroit Pistons:  49 years (1950-1989)

Phoenix Suns:  47 years (1969-present)

Cleveland Cavaliers:  45 years (1971-present)

Los Angeles Clippers/San Diego Clippers/Buffalo Braves:  45 years (1971-present)

Utah Jazz/New Orleans Jazz:  41 years (1975-present)

Brooklyn Nets:  38 years (1977-present; but won two ABA titles prior to joining NBA)

Denver Nuggets:  38 years (1977-present)

Indiana Pacers:  38 years (1977-present; but won three ABA titles prior to joining NBA)

Dallas Mavericks:  30 years (1981-2011)

Minnesota Timberwolves:  26 years (1990-present)

Houston Rockets/San Diego Rockets:  26 years (1968-1994)

Orlando Magic:  26 years (1990-present)

Major Sports Whole City Futility

And now, let's turn to some broader sports stats.  So, a few weeks ago, I saw the Believeland 30 for 30 on ESPN, which was about Cleveland sports' agonizing last several decades, from The Drive to The Fumble to The Shot to the Indians' Game 7 loss in the '97 World Series to LeBron leaving.  It was rough to watch, and I'm not even from Cleveland.

With that as a backdrop, I'd like to run through some championship futility statistics for entire cities.  I am considering the championship year to be the year in which the championship was won.  For example, Super Bowl XX was played after the 1985 season, but it took place on January 26, 1986, so I will consider that to be 1986 for purposes of the stats below.  There are 52 cities that currently have a professional sports team in at least one of the four major sports leagues (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL), and for purposes of this, I'm going to count the AFL and ABA as "major" sports.

Droughts of at least 25 years between major sports championships for cities

For this one, I am including all cities that currently have a major professional sports franchise, and only cities that have won a major sports championship in the past.  For instance, in 2001, the Arizona Diamondbacks won the first championship for the city of Phoenix, but I'm not going to include all the years before 2001 in which Phoenix had a professional sports team but had not won a championship. 

-Ottawa:  89 years (1927 Senators to present – Ottawa did not have a hockey team between 1934 and 1990, so this one is somewhat skewed)

-San Diego:  53 years (1963 Chargers to present)

-Cleveland:  52 years (1964 Browns to present)

-Buffalo:  51 years (1965 Bills to present)

-Milwaukee:  45 years (1971 Bucks to present)

-Salt Lake City:  45 years (1971 Stars to present – there was a three year gap between 1976 when the Stars folded and 1979 when the Jazz moved to Salt Lake City)

-Portland:  39 years (1977 Trail Blazers to present)

-Washington:  36 years (1942 Redskins to 1978 Bullets)

-Cincinnati:  35 years (1940 Reds to 1975 Reds)

-Pittsburgh:  35 years (1925 Pirates to 1960 Pirates)

-Seattle:  35 years (1979 SuperSonics to 2014 Seahawks)

-Indianapolis:  34 years (1973 Pacers to 2007 Colts)

-Houston:  33 years (1961 Oilers to 1994 Rockets)

-Minneapolis:  33 years (1954 Lakers to 1987 Twins)

-Kansas City:  30 years (1985 Royals to 2015 Royals)

-Green Bay:  29 years (1968 Packers to 1997 Packers)

-Calgary:  27 years (1989 Flames to present)

-Cincinnati:  26 years (1990 Reds to present)

-Edmonton:  26 years (1990 Oilers to present)

-Oakland:  26 years (1989 Athletics to 2015 Warriors)

-Minneapolis:  25 years (1991 Twins to present)

-Philadelphia:  25 years (1983 76ers to 2008 Phillies)

-Toronto:  25 years (1967 Maple Leafs to 1992 Blue Jays)

Current major sports championship drought of 20+ years for cities with at least two professional sports teams

There are eleven cities with two or more professional sports teams who have current championship droughts of over 20 years, with Cleveland leading the way.  To the extent there are cities whose last championship came at a time when the city only had one major sports team, but the city has since gained a second major sports team, the drought below only starts from the point there were at least two major sports teams in the city.  For instance, the Buffalo Bills won the AFL title in 1965, but were the only sports team in Buffalo until the Sabres and Braves came along in 1970.  With that, here are the cities with at least two professional sports teams with current championship droughts of at least 20 years, with the year of the last championship or the year in which the city gained a second major sports team:

-Cleveland:  1964 (Browns)

-San Diego:  1969 (Padres founded in 1969; last championship was 1963 Chargers)

-Buffalo:  1970 (Sabres and Braves founded in 1970; last championship was 1965 Bills)

-Milwaukee:  1971

-Cincinnati:  1990

-Minneapolis:  1991

-Washington: 1992

-Toronto:  1993

-Atlanta:  1995

-Houston:  1995

-Charlotte:  never (1995-present)

Number of times a city has made it to a major sports championship game or series and lost between winning a major sports championship. 

Since the Browns won Cleveland's last professional sports championship in 1964, Cleveland sports teams have made it to their respective league's title games or series five times, which is the tenth time a city has been to at least five championship games or series across all major sports between winning a title in any sport.  Here are the others (FYI, I'm counting Brooklyn teams as part of New York):

Seven title game appearances between championships

-Minneapolis:  1954 Lakers to 1987 Twins (Lakers – 1959; Twins 1965; Vikings 1970, 1974-1975, 1977; North Stars 1981)

-Philadelphia:  1983 76ers to 2008 Phillies (Phillies – 1983, 1993; Flyers – 1985, 1987, 1997; 76ers - 2001; Eagles - 2005)

Six title game appearances between championships

-Buffalo:  1965 Bills to present (Bills – 1991-1994; Sabres - 1975,1999)

-Los Angeles:  1965 Dodgers to 1972 Lakers (Dodgers – 1966; Lakers – 1966, 1968-1970; Stars – 1970)

-New York:  1905 Giants (baseball) to 1921 Giants (baseball) (Giants (baseball) – 1911-1913, 1917; Brooklyn Robins – 1916, 1920)

-Toronto:  1932 Maple Leafs to 1942 Maple Leafs (Maple Leafs – 1933, 1935-1936, 1938-1940)

Five title game appearances between championships

-Boston:  1941 Bruins to 1957 Celtics (Bruins – 1943, 1946, 1953; Red Sox – 1946; Braves – 1948)

-Cleveland:  1964 Browns to present (Browns – 1965; Indians - 1995, 1997; Cavaliers - 2007, 2015)

-Los Angeles:  1972 Lakers to 1980 Lakers (Lakers – 1973; Dodgers – 1974, 1977-1978; Rams – 1980)

-San Diego:  1963 Chargers to present (Chargers – 1964-1965, 1995; Padres – 1984, 1998)

So there you have it:  a bunch of stats with which you can undoubtedly impress or depress your friends.