No matter how an NBA championship is earned, the banner hangs the same. Winning a title is both the ultimate goal and the greatest prize for players and coaches around the league. Also, it's fair to acknowledge that no path is identical—and some, quite simply, are relatively easier.
For example, the Boston Celtics just toppled the Dallas Mavericks to claim the 2024 NBA Finals. Boston managed to avoid taking on a top-three seed throughout the entire postseason. Don't throw stones just yet, Boston fans.
One year earlier, the Denver Nuggets had an even more favorable path to a ring. The order is subjective because it needs to also account for injuries. However, the bulk of the ranking is based on a champion's list of their opponents' regular-season winning percentage and playoff seed.
Opponent average winning percentage: 0.63 Opponent average seed: 5 On the road to the final championship of Kobe Bryant's career, the Los Angeles Lakers played four 50-win teams. That sentence, in a vacuum, might make it seem unfair that Los Angeles is included.
But the Lakers never played the best teams. Look, they're not supposed to apologize for that. It's not Los Angeles' fault the second-seeded Dallas Mavericks and fourth-seeded Denver Nuggets lost in the opening round or that the Cleveland Cavaliers—the No.
1 team in the Eastern Conference—didn't survive the second round. That's the long version of saying the Lakers took on the No. 3 Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference Finals and No.
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