I try preaching this to the lemmings that tout things such as a perfect record in the Super Bowl or NBA Finals, but they never get it.
For example, I have a friend that loves to brag that Joe Montana was 4-0 in the SB and Michael Jordan was 6-0 in the Finals (I’m a huge MJ fan fwiw).
I try to educate him that every season those two weren’t in the championship game they were busy losing in an earlier round — or not even qualifying for the postseason.
Hence I ask, why is losing in the Conference Finals, Semi-Finals, First Round or Regular season never taken into account? (I know the answer, but still ask)
I also try to educate that these are “team sports” and neither of those 2 players have individual championships. I always point to Jim Kelly — who had a teammate let his team down in a game-winning situation — and John Elway — whose team was 0-3 in SB’s during his prime but 2-0 when he was half the player — as prime examples how the team aspect works. But I digress.
Circling back to your point, losing in the SB is not somehow worse than losing in an earlier round. That’s just a ridiculous way to look at it. Of course a player or team wants to advance as far as they possibly can.
Lastly, a 4-4 record in a title game is a much better accomplishment than a 4-0 record simply because the player and/or team advanced to the game 4 more times while the other was defeated in an earlier round.
Because of that factor, and the fact that the entire goal every season is to win a title, I tend to look at players/team careers like this:
Michael Jordan and Joe Montana both played 15 seasons in their respective leagues. MJ‘s teams were 6-9 (.400) and Montana’s were 4-11 (.267) with regard to title runs.
Fwiw, Tom Brady‘s teams are 7-14 (.333).
Bill Russell‘s teams still reign as the greatest champion as they were 11-2 (.846).