This thread examines LeBron's teams' performance in the playoffs relative to their regular-season performance.

This is a *TEAM* stat.

A better *INDIVIDUAL* stat is examining how a star's teammates actually played in POs.

Here's four TEAMMATES-in-POs comparisons using WS/48:

Thread examining LeBron's teams' relative playoff performance.

@HunidLikeWilt
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This thread:

Takes LeBron's teams' regular-season SRS.

Compares this SRS to RS SRS of each PO opponent.

Uses SRS difference between teams and Pythagorean theory to calculate EXPECTED WINS in each playoff series.

Compares EXPECTED WINS vs. ACTUAL WINS in playoffs.

For example:

In LeBron's first PO series, 2006 vs. Wizards, Cavs had 2.17 SRS & Wizards had 1.56 SRS.

SRS difference was 0.61. Teams with 0.61 SRS win % is .521 on average.

So in 6 games, Cavs should win 3.1 games. In fact, Cavs won 4. So Bulls 0.9 WINS ABOVE EXPECTED.

In 260 games in 49 PO series, LeBron's teams OVERPERFORMED by 33.2 games!

31x: Lebron's teams OVERPERFORMED (+0.5 wins or more) in POs vs. regular season.
12x: Lebron's teams PERFORMED AS EXPECTED (-0.5 to + 0.5 wins).
6x: UNDERPERFORMED (-0.5 wins or fewer than expected)

Playoff Wins Above Expected (WAE):

Player: WAE, WAE/Game
LeBron: 33.2, 0.128
Jordan: 19.5, 0.109
Russell: 6.8, 0.041
Wilt C: 6.7, 0.042

PO series:

LJ, MJ, BR, WC
31, 20 13, 12 Overperformed
12, 13, 8, 11 As Expected
6, 4, 8, 6 Underperformed

LBJ, MJ, BR, Wilt
63%, 54%, 45%, 41% Overperformed
24%, 35%, 28%, 38% As Expected
12%, 11%, 28%, 21% Underperformed

How about just in the Finals?

Player: WAE, WAE/G, Over, Exp, Under
Jordan: +4.1, +0.116, 3, 3, 0
Russell: +1.1, +0.016, 5, 3, 4
LeBron: -0.9, -0.016, 2, 4, 4
Wilt C.: -2.0, -0.057, 1, 4, 2

Finals:

Expected W% vs Actual W% (Difference)
Russell .627 vs .643 (+.016)
Jordan .570 vs .686 (+.116)
Wilt C .514 vs .487 (-.057)
LeBron .416 vs .400 (-.016)

Better SRS-Worse SRS vs. W-L in Finals
11-1, 11-1 Russell
5-1, 6-0 Jordan
3-3, 2-4 Wilt
3-7, 4-6 LeBron