find the smallest subtree that contains all of the tree's deepest nodes

Given a tree, find the smallest subtree that contains all of the tree's deepest nodes.
                  a
               /  |  \
             b   c   d
           /   \       | . 1point3acres.com/bbs
         e      f      g
       /       /  \
      h      i     j . more info on 1point3acres.com
depth of tree: 4
deepest nodes:[h,i,j]
least common ancestor of [h,i,j]: b

return: b

public TreeNode minSubtreeDeepestLeaf(TreeNode root) {
		// record the deepest depth under each node in a map
		// for a parent, if left and right subtree have the same
		// deepest depth, return the parent node itself,
		// otherwise, return the subtree with deepest child
		if (root == null) {
			return root;
		}
		Map<TreeNode, Integer> map = new HashMap<>();
		return helper(root, map, 1);
	}

	private TreeNode helper(TreeNode root, Map<TreeNode, Integer> map, int depth) {
		if (root.left == null && root.right == null) {
			map.put(root, depth);
			return root;
		}
		if (root.left == null) {
			return helper(root.right, map, depth + 1);
		}
		if (root.right == null) {
			return helper(root.left, map, depth + 1);
		}
		TreeNode leftResult = helper(root.left, map, depth + 1);
		TreeNode rightResult = helper(root.right, map, depth + 1);
		if (map.get(leftResult) == map.get(rightResult)) {
			map.put(root, map.get(leftResult));
			return root;
		}
		return map.get(leftResult) > map.get(rightResult) ? leftResult : rightResult;
	}