I’m with you. Lebron’s ability to utterly dominate every facet of the game is simply unprecedented in NBA history. A lot of casual fans only look at scoring and team achievements (I.e. rings), but if you look at all aspects of basketball (scoring, rebounding, passing, defense) and consider championships within the context of the teams each guy played on, it’s pretty obvious that Lebron is the GOAT.
A lebron triple double is almost guaranteed, but how many points does he score? Celtics keep him under 40 i think they win the game.
Oh yeah, I don't see any way Cavs can win with him scoring less than 40, unless JR Smith hits about 10 threes. Korver and Smith probably need to combine for 40+ for them to have a chance, even with 40+ from him, since they might not get 15 points from everyone else.
Man, I hate to pull the "if your life depended on it" card but I have to. Yes, Jordan had great teammates and a great coach. Best sidekick maybe in history. One of the best rebounders and defenders in the game. Also a great bench with Kukoc and Kerr on it. His first 3 peat also had Horace Grant and BJ Armstrong, great role players. His coach won 11 Championships. That's why he went 6-0 and LeBron is 3-5 at the moment. Always hard to compare generations but it's hard to deny that today's league is more offense-friendly. Jordan had to do deal with so much more shit. Yes, he wasn't able to drag bad Chicago teams to the Finals in the 80s, but that 80s era had some of the most dominant teams in history. Jordan had to go through loaded Boston and Detroit teams, LeBron went through who exactly? One last thing, Jordan is an Alpha and LeBron is a Beta. If you were to ask me who takes the lost shot if my life depends on it? Jordan, hands down. What about winning a game if my life depends on it? Again, Jordan hands down. I don't think the discussion is even close to be honest and I am far from a Jordan fanboy. And it was Kyrie Irving who made the biggest shot in Cavs history, not Lebron.
Agree completely. The way I like to put it is: If I had the top pick in the draft and both guys were available, I would draft a 21 year old Lebron over a 21 year old Jordan. If I were playing game 7 of the NBA finals tomorrow and had the choice of adding one of them to my team, I'd pick Jordan.
Note to JVG — the Lebron block may have been exciting in real time, but you can’t call it incredible over the replay that clearly shows he fouled the shit out of him.
Well, JVG went from saying a big truth (that this is one of the greatest single player performances ever in NBA history, and certainly James' best performance) to saying a ridiculous untruth (that the national media needs to give Lue credit for the great job that he's done).
Lebron has to go through a team that went 73-9 and added Kevin Durant. Also please look at Lebrons game 7 numbers
Wrong. "Contact which occurs on the hand of the offensive player, while that hand is in contact with the ball, is legal." (See NBA rulebook) It was a clean block.
Wrong. He hacked him across the entire forearm. That rule applies solely to contact on the hand and ball simultaneously.
Who did he go through in the East? The knock on Jordan when it comes to Jordan vs LeBron is that Jordan never took the 80s Bulls to the Finals. That's because he had to go through some of the greatest teams of all time in the 80s Celtics and Pistons. So tell me what great East teams LeBron beat en route to the Finals? None. KD was not on the 73-9 team. KD was on last years Dubs team that beat LeBron in 5. Irving hit the biggest shot in Cavs history to beat the 73-9 team lol.
79 points, that's disappointing. Lebron with less than 40 and no triple double... great postseason for the C's, just a shitty way to go out.
It was simultaneous. Send that play to the NBA to complain. 100 out of 100 people you ask will tell you that play was called correctly. FYI, the refs can generally not differentiate between simultaneous and non-simultaneous in real time, anyway. Typically, guys are taught to look for contact with the ball, and assuming there is no foul with the legs or other lower body parts, call it a clean block.
Hmmm. I would argue that the Garnett-Pierce-Allen-Rondo Celtics were better than any 90s knicks, Pacers, heat, or washed up pistons team that Jordan got through.
It wasn’t simultaneous. If you want to argue that he got the ball first and thus the subsequent hack across the forearm was irrelevant and thus shouldn’t be called; I would disagree on the premise that plenty of fouls get called on subsequent contact after a ball is blocked. This was simply a situation in which the refs did not do so. But it wasn’t an issue of hitting the ball and hand simultaneously.
Lol, yes it was. Also, regardless, you are not going to see that called very often in game 7 of a conference final. If they consistently made that call against Olajuwon, Ewing, Shaq, or Mourning, those guys would all have a lot more career fouls and a lot less career blocks. Van Gundy and Jackson are as open about bad calls as any NBA color commentators you will find. (Van Gundy in particular) Both coached in the NBA playoffs. Both clearly thought it was a clean block.
Funny how the narrative is about Lebron tonight, when truly the Celtics were embarrassingly bad. Similar to the Warriors in Game 4 and 5. I want to credit the Rockets, or credit the Cavs tonight, but bad shooting is bad shooting. Having said that, going to the NBA Finals 8 years in a row, and you are the only constant during that run, is truly impressive and likely will never be duplicated again. The East is weak though. What was the best East team Lebron has beaten in this 8 year stretch on the way to the Finals? I really can't even think of a quality team. I expect the Finals to go 5 games tops, no matter if the Rockets or Warriors win tomorrow. He's not, but definitely the best of this current era of NBA.
The narrative is about Lebron because he has just carried a team to the finals that is not even a playoff team without him, for the second time in his career (the other occurrence of this amazing feat was in 2007). It's just an insane achievement. It's fine to not believe that he's the GOAT (you're probably wrong), but he's right up there with anyone else you want to give me. And that's really all that matters. When you're in the discussion for GOAT status in a team sport, there is nothing left to prove. Determining who is actually the GOAT in any meaningful objective way is obviously impossible, but the point is that a cogent argument could be made on Lebron's behalf.
