LeBron is might be better now than ever before ...

[CTbasketball92]

LeBrob's last peak year was technically 2014, but honestly, I don't think other versions of him are capable of his 2015 and 2016 finals. This LeBron is more resolute than the others. He's not afraid of being a chucked to win games anymore, and in retrospect, had he played this way instead of how he did against Dallas in 2011 and the Spurs in 2014, he might've won both times. I guess that "mentally tough" idea had more merit than I thought it did in the past. He's still top 3 ever though.

[Kool Boy]

LeBron is so good, I'm glad I'm a witness

[Screamin A Smit]

Wade was already aggressive in the 2011 Finals, therefore LeBron did the correct thing by playing passive and working on his all-round game.



You can't have two players playing aggressive in a Finals series, thats a recipe for disaster, ala 2004 Shaq and Kobe



And 2014 LeBron had no help, he was still aggressive and attacking in Game 2, the 1st quarter of Games 3 and 5 (when the games were still close)


So dont know why you're referring to his 2014 Finals, dude had no help

[CTbasketball92]

Wade was already aggressive in the 2011 Finals, therefore LeBron did the correct thing by playing passive and working on his all-round game.



You can't have two players playing aggressive in a Finals series, thats a recipe for disaster, ala 2004 Shaq and Kobe



And 2014 LeBron had no help, he was still aggressive and attacking in Game 2, the 1st quarter of Games 3 and 5 (when the games were still close)


So dont know why you're referring to his 2014 Finals, dude had no help

I don't blame him for the 2014 finals loss, but I do think he should be averaging 35 ppg in a losing effort if he's shooting 57% from the field. Maybe it was the illusion that he did sort of have help with DWade and chris bosh, even though they disappeared, so he kept trying to pass it. It also seemed like the spurs would build such big leads, there wasn't even a point anymore. Either way, it just "feels" like the Cavs would've had a better chance because, look what they did when Kyrie and Love were out in 2015? Not scientific at all. Just a feeling. 2011 though? nah, i think he should've shot more. What separates LeBron from Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala is that he;s a superstar scorer, which in my mind, what separates a really good player from a superstar, or the superstars from the GOAT tier players. LeBron needed to play more recklessly or something. He just didnt have a jumper or a post game, so he couldnt.

[egokiller]

LeBrob's last peak year was technically 2014, but honestly, I don't think other versions of him are capable of his 2015 and 2016 finals. This LeBron is more resolute than the others. He's not afraid of being a chucked to win games anymore, and in retrospect, had he played this way instead of how he did against Dallas in 2011 and the Spurs in 2014, he might've won both times. I guess that "mentally tough" idea had more merit than I thought it did in the past. He's still top 3 ever though.

It's not the first negative statement made about lebron that you didn't think had merit when it was said and it certainly won't be the last.

You can't be top 3 after what happened in 2011. People need to stop pretending that:

-2011 didn't happen
-Lebron played in the more difficult conference
-Lebron didn't play on the best team in his conference for all his finals appearances
-3/7 isn't as bad as it sounds when discussing top 3 all time

[Da_Realist]

Lebron's 2015 NBA Finals is so overrated. Typical. He dominated every possession so of course he posted high numbers in everything. It was the perfect setup for him. Once Kyrie went down there was no pressure on him because no one expected him to win. So he could rack up stats to distract his people from remembering he shot 20% from the floor.

[warriorfan]

Lebron's 2015 NBA Finals is so overrated. Typical. He dominated every possession so of course he posted high numbers in everything. It was the perfect setup for him. Once Kyrie went down there was no pressure on him because no one expected him to win. So he could rack up stats to distract his people from remembering he shot 20% from the floor.

That was the definition of empty stats.

[AintNoSunshine]

Wade was already aggressive in the 2011 Finals, therefore LeBron did the correct thing by playing passive and working on his all-round game.



You can't have two players playing aggressive in a Finals series, thats a recipe for disaster, ala 2004 Shaq and Kobe



And 2014 LeBron had no help, he was still aggressive and attacking in Game 2, the 1st quarter of Games 3 and 5 (when the games were still close)


So dont know why you're referring to his 2014 Finals, dude had no help

This is so fking stupid

[LostCause]

If Bron played like he did in ANY Finals outside of 2007 in 2011 they would've won the ring. If he just played like he did in prior series, they would've won the ring

That said, I think he was far more driven this time around than in others due to the weight of winning for his hometown. He has very clearly declined physically and the mileage shows, but he's still a top athlete in the world and when locked in he's unstoppable. I don't believe he did anything this time that he COULDN'T do in prior years, just that he was more driven to do so

[TheWinningFam]

It's not the first negative statement made about lebron that you didn't think had merit when it was said and it certainly won't be the last.

You can't be top 3 after what happened in 2011. People need to stop pretending that:

-2011 didn't happen
-Lebron played in the more difficult conference
-Lebron didn't play on the best team in his conference for all his finals appearances
-3/7 isn't as bad as it sounds when discussing top 3 all time

-Nobody cares, the only people who constantly bring it up is lebron haters.
-How is that lebrons fault? thats the east's fault for not getting better, he just dominates.
-And jordan/kareem other top 5s didn't play on the best team in his conference for there finals appearances? , Lebron makes every team stacked apparently.
-Its like saying jordan isn't top 5 because 1-9 , when you look at shit into context you will understand.
-

[SamuraiSWISH]

Lebron's 2015 NBA Finals is so overrated. Typical. He dominated every possession so of course he posted high numbers in everything. It was the perfect setup for him. Once Kyrie went down there was no pressure on him because no one expected him to win. So he could rack up stats to distract his people from remembering he shot 20% from the floor.

On one hand I agree.

But it's not the perfect set up considering he likely wouldn't win without Kyrie or Love. Let a lone both being out.

This season was the perfect set up, especially narratively after GS won 73 games and was overwhelming favorites. Particularly after the first 2 games. And Bron had both of his 2 next best players still along side him, while note being expected to win under any circumstances.

As for 2015?

Stealing two games from a 67 win team with Mozgov, and Delladova as your next best players, on some quality performances is nothing to sneeze at ... I agree if he was more clutch and/or shot better, they could've won game 1 in regulation. Kyrie never gets hurt and anything can happen from then on in terms of series out come.

But, even sans the pressure of expectation when Kyrie went down, what he did was still impressive. And IMO should've been Finals MVP regardless.

[SouBeachTalents]

It's not the first negative statement made about lebron that you didn't think had merit when it was said and it certainly won't be the last.

You can't be top 3 after what happened in 2011. People need to stop pretending that:

-2011 didn't happen
-Lebron played in the more difficult conference
-Lebron didn't play on the best team in his conference for all his finals appearances
-3/7 isn't as bad as it sounds when discussing top 3 all time

I'm pretty sure that was the case for the majority of every all time greats Finals appearances. You're telling me Jordan, Russell, Magic, Kobe etc. weren't on their conferences best team every time they made the Finals?

[SamuraiSWISH]

Removing Jordan ... within conference

'91 Pistons

'92 Knicks, '92 Cavs
'93 Hawks, '93 Cavs, '93 Knicks

'94 Knicks, '94 Pacers
'95 Pacers, '95 Magic

'96 Magic
'97 Bullets, '97 Hawks, '97 Heat
'98 Hornets, '98 Pacers

would, and could all beat Chicago without MJ.

So no he wasn't always on the best team or most talented roster outside of himself.

[SouBeachTalents]

Removing Jordan ... within conference

'92 Knicks, '92 Cavs
'93 Hawks, '93 Cavs, '93 Knicks

'94 Knicks, '94 Pacers
'95 Pacers, '95 Magic

'96 Magic
'97 Bullets, '97 Hawks, '97 Heat
'98 Hornets, '98 Pacers

would, and could all beat Chicago without MJ.

So no he wasn't always on the best team or most talented roster outside of himself.

Ok, you could do the same shit for LeBron's team the last 3 seasons. You could even include 2013 considering how awful Wade/Bosh were in the playoffs, and 2012 with Bosh missing almost two series

[RedBlackAttack]

On one hand I agree.

But it's not the perfect set up considering he likely wouldn't win without Kyrie or Love. Let a lone both being out.

This season was the perfect set up, especially narratively after GS won 73 games and was overwhelming favorites. Particularly after the first 2 games. And Bron had both of his 2 next best players still along side him, while note being expected to win under any circumstances.

As for 2015?

Stealing two games from a 67 win team with Mozgov, and Delladova as your next best players, on some quality performances is nothing to sneeze at ... I agree if he was more clutch and/or shot better, they could've won game 1 in regulation. Kyrie never gets hurt and anything can happen from then on in terms of series out come.

But, even sans the pressure of expectation when Kyrie went down, what he did was still impressive. And IMO should've been Finals MVP regardless.

I would argue Tristan Thompson was our second best player in last year's Finals for all of the problems he gave the Warriors with his energy and defense, but I agree that winning two games without Kyrie and Love was an accomplishment.

The Cavs were a deeper team in 2016 and actually were better set up to deal with injuries, interestingly enough. In 2015, the team had sort of been cobbled together quickly in the offseason and at the deadline. In 2016, we had upgraded from Marion to Jefferson, and added Channing Frye and Mo Williams.

People think back to the 2015 Finals and it feels like the Cavs were up 2-1 and then it was all Warriors, but the games were actually close in the last three for the most part. In Game 5 with the series tied 2-2, the Warriors were clinging to an 85-84 lead with 4 minutes left in the game. It was within 4-7 points right down to the last 20 seconds when the Cavs were forced to foul and the lead became a little misleading.

Hell, even in the series-clinching Game 6, it was just a 6 point lead with about a minute left in the game.

It's pretty amazing that, basically playing with a 6-man rotation, James and the other five guys left in the rotation were able to play the Warriors so closely.


That's why I never really understood why the Cavs were being so disrespected in the lead-up to the 2016 Finals. Not only were Kyrie and Love healthy, but the team was deeper and just better, all the way around. To be fair, the Warriors were better too, but people put a little too much stock in the Christmas Day massacre.

The Cavs were dealing with internal problems that obviously came to a head with Blatt being fired a couple weeks later.

That series was always going to end up being close as long as both teams stayed relatively healthy.