2015 NBA Finals Update And Major Sports Triple Crown

See April 26th post original post for playoff predictions here.

Pre finals May 28th comment: "We are there as predicted. Should be a great series, sticking with Golden State, perhaps in 6 or less, and a sweep would not surprise me."

Copy that, as it took six games for the Golden State Warriors to collect their fourth NBA title. Excepting LA Clippers over San Antonio, we accurately predicted the result of every playoff series for a 14-1 record (.934 winning pct).

40 years ago, Rick Barry led the 1975 Golden State Warriors to their third NBA title (Philadelphia Warriors 46-47; 55-56). Ex-player and coach Al Attles brilliantly utilized his bench depth to wear down opponents. The Warriors overcame large deficits in many of their 17 PLAYOFF GAMES.

That team has the distinction of being the ONLY NBA champion in history to achieve a certain level of overall player participation or contribution in the PLAYOFFS. Before and since, only three other NBA Champions with these players in particular, have come close:

96-97 Chicago Bulls - Pippen, Jordan

88-89 Detroit Pistons - Thomas, Dumars

60-61 Boston Celtics - Russell, Cousy

It is after all a TEAM sport with usually 14 individuals and 5 starters. Given the hints above, can you ascertain the statistic?

Answer: The three teams above are the only teams to win an NBA championship with ONLY TWO players averaging 30 minutes or more per game during their playoff run.

The ONLY team to win an NBA championship and have ONLY ONE player average over 30 minutes per game during their playoff run, the 1975 Golden State Warriors with Rick Barry. With a 12 man roster, 10 men averaged double digit playing minutes per game!!!

To put this in perspective, the 2015 NBA Finals Champion Warriors with a 14 man roster had 8 men average double digit minutes and FIVE players average over 30 minutes per game during the playoffs.

Interesting Codicil: With the SF Giants 2014 World Series and Golden State Warriors 2015 NBA Finals Championships; the SF Oakland Bay Area becomes the 16th metropolitan area to win multiple major sports championships (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL) in the same season (in a calendar year this has occurred 13 times).

Major Sports Triple Crown: In 1980 all four Philadelphia franchises played in a championship: The 1980 Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series, the 1980 Philadelphia Eagles lost Super Bowl XV, the 1979-80 Philadelphia 76ers lost the NBA Finals, while the 1979-80 Philadelphia Flyers lost the Stanley Cup Finals.

New York came close to winning a triple crown with the 68 Jets, 69 Mets and 69-70 Knicks, and only one city has ever managed the trifecta (in both calendar year and season!). Can you name the year, city and teams?

Doubtful as most reading this were not even alive at the time. Answer: 1935 Detroit Lions, Tigers and Red Wings.