The drought is over, long live the King. King James, of course.
The Cleveland Cavaliers won the 2016 NBA championship and they did it the hard way, winning three games in a row against a team that hadn’t lost three consecutive games in a long long time. They beat the defending NBA champions and they beat them on their own home floor twice in a row, including in game seven. They did it against the two-time reigning MVP. They came back from a 3-1 deficit, the first time it has happened in NBA finals history.
Cleveland is once again a city of champions.
Another champion was crowned recently, just a short two and a half hour drive from Cleveland. The Pittsburgh Penguins added to that city’s lore by bringing home another championship defeating the still champion-less and still only one sports team city of San Jose.
The composite index that I have put together really and truly rewards recent success. Cleveland vaulted from fifth from the bottom to fifth from the top. A championship will do that. It purges all the losses, it soothes all the pain. It even vanquishes demons, both citywide and individual (LeBron).
Pittsburgh had no demons to vanquish, just Sharks. Their victory moves them into first place in my rankings. Below is the updated information. Remember this is just for fun, do not use these rankings as the basis to make or settle any bets. Remember also, that the rankings may change markedly as soon as this fall when some city will celebrate a World Series championship.
Trivia question: which professional team (NHL, NBA, NFL, MLB) finished the season with more post-season losses than regular season losses.
Bonus trivia question: which professional teams (two) finished the season with as many post-season losses as regular season losses.
Answers below.
| City (# of franshises) (1950-2015) | Champships | Seasons since last champship | Cumulative seasons since last champship | Composite |
| San Diego (4) | 1 | 53 | 110 | 9 |
| Vancouver (2) | 0 | 46 | 50 | 16 |
| Buffalo (3) | 2 | 51 | 104 | 16 |
| Milwaukee (3) | 2 | 44 | 88 | 20 |
| Atlanta (4) | 1 | 19 | 76 | 24 |
| Ariz./Phoenix (4) | 1 | 15 | 60 | 28 |
| Cincinnati (3) | 3 | 26 | 52 | 30 |
| Washington (6) | 4 | 25 | 87 | 30 |
| Minn./Minn. (5) | 5 | 25 | 100 | 31 |
| Brooklyn (2) | 1 | 61 | 6 | 33 |
| Nashville/Tenn. (2) | 0 | 19 | 19 | 35 |
| Charlotte/N.C. (3) | 1 | 11 | 33 | 37 |
| Tampa (3) | 2 | 12 | 44 | 39 |
| Houston (4) | 4 | 22 | 45 | 39 |
| Toronto (4) | 7 | 23 | 67 | 40 |
| New Jersey (2) | 3 | 14 | 28 | 46 |
| New Orleans (3) | 1 | 6 | 12 | 50 |
| Indianapolis (2) | 4 | 10 | 20 | 55 |
| Montreal (2) | 18 | 24 | 36 | 55 |
| Philadelphia (5) | 8 | 7 | 28 | 64 |
| Detroit (4) | 15 | 8 | 32 | 66 |
| Seattle (4) | 2 | 2 | 4 | 67 |
| Dallas/Texas (6) | 8 | 5 | 20 | 69 |
| St. Louis (5) | 7 | 4 | 12 | 70 |
| Miami/Florida (4) | 7 | 3 | 12 | 72 |
| New York (8) | 33 | 4 | 28 | 77 |
| Baltimore (4) | 8 | 3 | 6 | 79 |
| Kansas City (4) | 3 | 0 | 1 | 82 |
| Los Angeles (9) | 22 | 2 | 12 | 82 |
| Denver/Col. (4) | 5 | 0 | 2 | 87 |
| Oakland (3) | 8 | 1 | 3 | 89 |
| Cleveland (3) | 5 | 0 | 0 | 90 |
| Chicago (7) | 13 | 1 | 4 | 91 |
| San Francisco (3) | 8 | 1 | 1 | 91 |
| Boston/N.E. (5) | 27 | 1 | 4 | 95 |
| Pittsburgh (3) | 13 | 0 | 0 | 100 |
The only team with fewer regular season losses than post-season losses is the New England Patriots, who went undefeated until losing Super Bowl XLVI.
This year’s Warriors lost nine games in the regular season and nine games in the post season. The 2012-13 Chicago Blackhawks lost seven games in the regular season and seven games in the post season.