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WINNING
In our following analysis for the G.O.A.T. criteria, we will look at these two players' championships. Jordan seems to take the lead with six championship wins while LeBron trails not too far behind with four titles. Looking at the Playoff Numbers graph, we see that LeBron made the finals 10 times compared to Jordan's six, but let's not pretend that making the finals is the same as winning the whole series. As an example, in the National Football League, the Buffalo Bills are the only team to make the Super Bowl four consecutive times while not winning any of those years. People will say that they were a great football team in those years, but they will never be known for finishing the job. Like Herm Edwards said, "You play to win the game. Hello. You play to WIN THE GAME."
Looking at their records in the NBA Finals, Jordan is 6-0 while LeBron is 4-6. Yet this doesn't even reveal how lopsided their records really are. When looking at individual finals’ games, Jordan was 24-11, while LeBron is 22-33. This is due to Lebron being swept twice in a four-game series and two other times losing four games to one in a five-game series. In Lebron's case, he did play some pretty tough competition, including teams such as the 67-15 Golden State Warriors and the 62-20 San Antonio Spurs.
Despite LeBron facing a lights-out shooting team like the Warriors in the finals, Jordan had his fair share of intense competition. In the NBA finals, Jordan went up against the 1993 Phoenix Suns, who were led by MVP Charles Barkley, and the 1997 Utah Jazz under the leadership of MVP Karl Malone. Looking at the average wins of their finals opponents, we can see that it’s a close contest, with LeBron's finals opponents averaging 60.8 wins per season and Jordan's finals opponents averaging 61.2 wins per season. As it turns out, both players played some pretty tough competition in the finals, but who has more Larry O'Brien Championship Trophies? Michael Jeffery Jordan.
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