Which year did LeBron's team have the toughest road to the finals?

[Quotatious]

Which year did LeBron's team have the toughest road to the finals? In other words, when was the Eastern conference at its toughest in the first three playoff rounds?

[JulesWinnfield]

I almost feel like this answer needs to be two part... Lebrons teams have been hit hard by injuries in many postseasons, and some runs have been harder than others not necessarily because the competition was better but because Lebrons cast was compromised. For instance, just look at Miami... 2012 and 2013 were very tough runs for the Heat in the East, they were pushed to the brink and almost knocked out.... but I wouldn't rank either of those seasons in consideration for the toughest run in Miami. The competition in 2011 was certainly tougher, but Miami was healthier (not to mention had a much better Wade) and rolled through with less trouble.

If we are only looking at level of competition and not the difficulty it actually took for these various teams to make it through, I'd rank it...

2011
2015
2016 (I could flip flop this or 2015)
2007
2014
2012
2013

And while it may look weird to have 2011 as the toughest when the Heat only lost 3 games in 3 rounds, I believe if we are just judging level of opponent it was

The other 3 Heat runs were tough to rank but I have 2014 as tougher than 13 or 12. Indiana was their best version in 14. The Nets were also amazing that season after New Years and were eyter than their 44 win record. They actually swept Miami that season

[Blazers-1977]

2012


They played a really physical pacers team without any big men(no bosh in this series and pacers played great) , and lebron 40 18 9 saved them from going down 3-1


Then the ECF was without a doubt the toughest eastern conference series Miami faced in the lebron era and basically needed lebron to have a legendary 45 15 5 to not be defeated in that series


If I have to rank it , here's how I would rank it


1.2012
2. 2007
3. 2013
4. 2015
5. 2016
6. 2014
7. 2011

[Blazers-1977]

I almost feel like this answer needs to be two part... Lebrons teams have been hit hard by injuries in many postseasons, and some runs have been harder than others not necessarily because the competition was better but because Lebrons cast was compromised. For instance, just look at Miami... 2012 and 2013 were very tough runs for the Heat in the East, they were pushed to the brink and almost knocked out.... but I wouldn't rank either of those seasons in consideration for the toughest run in Miami. The competition in 2011 was certainly tougher, but Miami was healthier (not to mention had a much better Wade) and rolled through with less trouble.

If we are only looking at level of competition and not the difficulty it actually took for these various teams to make it through, I'd rank it...

2011
2015
2016 (I could flip flop this or 2015)
2007
2014
2012
2013

And while it may look weird to have 2011 as the toughest when the Heat only lost 3 games in 3 rounds, I believe if we are just judging level of opponent it was

The other 3 Heat runs were tough to rank but I have 2014 as tougher than 13 or 12. Indiana was their best version in 14. The Nets were also amazing that season after New Years and were eyter than their 44 win record. They actually swept Miami that season

Toughest doesn't mean how good their competition was but how much they struggled to beat them

[rcontador]

Toughest doesn't mean how good their competition was but how much they struggled to beat them

The OP asked which year the Eastern conference was toughest.

No question, it was 2011.

[NO-KG-AI]

Beating Detroit with his Cleveland team is probably the toughest thing he's ever done.


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[Joao Saraiva]

2007
2012
2015
2011

I think these have to be the top 4. 2012 and 2015 because of injuries on his team. Bosh going down in 2012 and Love in 2015 while Kyrie played the ECF on one leg have to be taken into account.

2007 he had no business making the finals.

2011 had two great opponents in Boston and Bulls. Those were really hard series.

2016
2013
2014

Just felt like he would get there all the time in these 3 years.

I think there is a clear gap between the 1st 4 and the last 3.

[RSCD3_]

I almost feel like this answer needs to be two part... Lebrons teams have been hit hard by injuries in many postseasons, and some runs have been harder than others not necessarily because the competition was better but because Lebrons cast was compromised. For instance, just look at Miami... 2012 and 2013 were very tough runs for the Heat in the East, they were pushed to the brink and almost knocked out.... but I wouldn't rank either of those seasons in consideration for the toughest run in Miami. The competition in 2011 was certainly tougher, but Miami was healthier (not to mention had a much better Wade) and rolled through with less trouble.

If we are only looking at level of competition and not the difficulty it actually took for these various teams to make it through, I'd rank it...

2011
2015
2016 (I could flip flop this or 2015)
2007
2014
2012
2013

And while it may look weird to have 2011 as the toughest when the Heat only lost 3 games in 3 rounds, I believe if we are just judging level of opponent it was

The other 3 Heat runs were tough to rank but I have 2014 as tougher than 13 or 12. Indiana was their best version in 14. The Nets were also amazing that season after New Years and were eyter than their 44 win record. They actually swept Miami that season

Gotta disagree with the 2014 pacers being the best pacers lebron faced

While it is true that on the whole of the year it was the best, they were a very Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde team having something like a 7 SRS half the year, looking like they were a coin flip before imploding into a mid 3 SRS by the end. They regrouped a bit before the playoffs after their tailspin but they never had miami threatened and short of the most unfair game lebron has been reffed as a part of they would have closed it out in 5

[JulesWinnfield]

I almost feel like this answer needs to be two part... Lebrons teams have been hit hard by injuries in many postseasons, and some runs have been harder than others not necessarily because the competition was better but because Lebrons cast was compromised. For instance, just look at Miami... 2012 and 2013 were very tough runs for the Heat in the East, they were pushed to the brink and almost knocked out.... but I wouldn't rank either of those seasons in consideration for the toughest run in Miami. The competition in 2011 was certainly tougher, but Miami was healthier (not to mention had a much better Wade) and rolled through with less trouble.

If we are only looking at level of competition and not the difficulty it actually took for these various teams to make it through, I'd rank it...

2011
2015
2016 (I could flip flop this or 2015)
2007
2014
2012
2013

And while it may look weird to have 2011 as the toughest when the Heat only lost 3 games in 3 rounds, I believe if we are just judging level of opponent it was

The other 3 Heat runs were tough to rank but I have 2014 as tougher than 13 or 12. Indiana was their best version in 14. The Nets were also amazing that season after New Years and were eyter than their 44 win record. They actually swept Miami that season

Gotta disagree with the 2014 pacers being the best pacers lebron faced

While it is true that on the whole of the year it was the best, they were a very Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde team having something like a 7 SRS half the year, looking like they were a coin flip before imploding into a mid 3 SRS by the end. They regrouped a bit before the playoffs after their tailspin but they never had miami threatened and short of the most unfair game lebron has been reffed as a part of they would have closed it out in 5

It's true the Heat had an easier time with the pacers in 2014 than in 2013, but Wades improved health had a lot to do with that. He was a way different player in 2014

Wade vs Indy in 13: 15.4 ppg .496 TS%
Wade vs Indy in 14: 19.8 ppg .615 TS%

It is true that Indiana was a different team late in that season and wasn't playing nearly as well as they did to start that year... but they still won 56 games, got the 1 seed, and led the league in defense (not only that, but their 99.3 D rating was only beaten by the 08 Celts and 16 Spurs among teams in the last decade, excluding lockout 2012) and they found their way to the conference finals. I think in 2014 they just ran into a healthier Miami team

[lorak]

Which year did LeBron's team have the toughest road to the finals? In other words, when was the Eastern conference at its toughest in the first three playoff rounds?

This are two different questions. How tough was East in a vacuum might be described by W-L vs West or by average SRS and so on. However how tough was road to the finals for particular team depends on other things: mostly matchups and injures. Thus it's very likely in some years road through conference might be tougher for LJ's teams despite playing worse opponents. To evaluate when road was the toughest to a given team we should look at 3 things: loses, pts diff and number of elimination games. For LeBron it's:

Code: Select all

YEAR   L   DIFF   EL Gs
2012   6   7,9   2
2007   4   4,2   0
2013   4   9,6   1
2011   3   4,7   0
2014   3   7,0   0
2015   2   8,8   0
2016   2   12,6   0


So 2012 look like the toughest road to the finals, because Heat played the most games, including two elimination. Pts diff was significantly worse a couple of times, but Cavs/Mia also played less games then and never were so much in danger of losing like in 2012.

[JordansBulls]

Probably 2011. 2012 was rather easy as they didn't even play a 50+ win team even when you prorate and project up to 82 games and they also didnt have to play the #1 seeded team with it's best player who would have beaten them that year as they gave the indication they would have. 2013 wasn't much comp in the East. Again no 50+ win team to beat in a series and nearly still lost and beat a Chicago team with 3 starters out for the series and struggled to do so at that.

[Joao Saraiva]

Probably 2011. 2012 was rather easy as they didn't even play a 50+ win team even when you prorate and project up to 82 games and they also didnt have to play the #1 seeded team with it's best player who would have beaten them that year as they gave the indication they would have. 2013 wasn't much comp in the East. Again no 50+ win team to beat in a series and nearly still lost and beat a Chicago team with 3 starters out for the series and struggled to do so at that.

In 2012 they faced Indiana without Bosh and Boston without Bosh for a big part of both series. And basketball is about matchups, not winning records. It was a very difficult year.

In 2013 the Heat didn't almost lose to Chicago. It was 4-1 and every single win was blowout after blowout. Your lies are really funny. That would be almost like me saying: the Jazz almost beat the Bulls in game 4 of the 98 finals. Sounds absurd doesn't it? Well, maybe on the other side you'll understand.

[JulesWinnfield]

A lot of people in Bulls circles will tell you Derrick Rose tore his ACL on purpose to avoid Lebron in 2012, and milked it so he could sit out the 2013 series too even though he was cleared by then. He was getting hardcore PTSD from Lebron locking him down so hard in the 2011 ECF (was it 1 for 23 or something head to head in the series?) and couldn't face his demons with another round against him. It didn't help matters that Rose shot 1 for 13 in his final meeting against the Heat in April of that 2012 regular season, a couple of weeks before he tore his acl. It basically sent him into nervous breakdown mode and gave him all sorts of flashbacks. He wanted out.

[JordansBulls]

A lot of people in Bulls circles will tell you Derrick Rose tore his ACL on purpose to avoid Lebron in 2012, and milked it so he could sit out the 2013 series too even though he was cleared by then. He was getting hardcore PTSD from Lebron locking him down so hard in the 2011 ECF (was it 1 for 23 or something head to head in the series?) and couldn't face his demons with another round against him. It didn't help matters that Rose shot 1 for 13 in his final meeting against the Heat in April of that 2012 regular season, a couple of weeks before he tore his acl. It basically sent him into nervous breakdown mode and gave him all sorts of flashbacks. He wanted out.

I only remember him guarding Rose for like 3 plays in 2011.

[JulesWinnfield]

A lot of people in Bulls circles will tell you Derrick Rose tore his ACL on purpose to avoid Lebron in 2012, and milked it so he could sit out the 2013 series too even though he was cleared by then. He was getting hardcore PTSD from Lebron locking him down so hard in the 2011 ECF (was it 1 for 23 or something head to head in the series?) and couldn't face his demons with another round against him. It didn't help matters that Rose shot 1 for 13 in his final meeting against the Heat in April of that 2012 regular season, a couple of weeks before he tore his acl. It basically sent him into nervous breakdown mode and gave him all sorts of flashbacks. He wanted out.

I only remember him guarding Rose for like 3 plays in 2011.

If only Derrick Rose could erase it from his memory as you have, his life would be a lot easier.

After going 0-for-5 from the floor with a turnover when guarded by LeBron James in Game 4, Derrick Rose struggled against him once again Thursday, going 1-for-10 with two turnovers in Game 5. Rose shot 6.3 percent from the floor in the series when defended by James, lowest among any player that defended him on five or more plays.

http://nba.nbcsports.com/2011/05/27/who-is-mvp-lebron-shut-down-rose-during-series/