TODAY’S SPORTSTAT — Cavaliers join ‘dubious’ collection of sports teams

By JERRY TAPP

With their third championship in four years, basketball fans are looking at the Golden State Warriors as one of the game’s dynasties. But Cleveland Cavaiers, with their third loss in the title series in the last four years, had a performance that puts them among the most dubious in all of sports.

The LeBron James-led Cavs became the first pro sports team this century (of the four major sports, NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA) to lose the championship three times over the course of four years. The last pro team to lose a title three times in four years was the Buffalo Bills who lost in the Super Bowl in four straight years, 1991-94. The Cavs also became the first NBA team to lose the Finals series three times in the span of four years since the Los Angeles Lakers lost in the NBA Finals three consecutive years: 1968, 1969 and 1970.

Here are the teams in the four major pro sports leagues that lost in the championship series/game three times over the course of four years.

MLB
Detroit Tigers, 1907, 1908, 1909
New York Giants, 1911, 1912, 1913

NFL
Cleveland Browns, 1951, 1952, 1953
New York Giants, 1958, 1958, 1961, 1962, 1963
Minnesota Vikings, 1974, 1975, 1977
Denver Broncos, 1987, 1988, 1990
Buffalo Bills, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994

NBA
New York Knicks, 1951, 1952, 1953
Los Angeles Lakers, 1962, 1963, 195, 1966
Los Angeles Lakers, 1968, 1969, 1970
Cleveland Cavs, 2015, 2017, 2018

NHL
Toronto Maple Leafs, 1933, 1935, 1936
Toronto Maple Leafs, 1938, 1939, 1940
Montreal Canadians, 1951, 1952, 1954, 1955
Detroit Red Wings, 1961, 1963, 1964
St. Louis Blues, 1968, 1969, 1970

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