ESPN Insider Request: LeBron's 2-4 Finals record is one of his greatest achievements

[tpols]

lol.. bran stans reaching so hard.

yall will be celebrating 2/7 huh?

[gigantes]

lol.. bran stans reaching so hard.

yall will be celebrating 2/7 huh?

why wouldn't they?

it would be a massive achievement no matter who the star player was.

[tpols]

why wouldn't they?

it would be a massive achievement no matter who the star player was.

what is a massive achievement?

[gigantes]

what is a massive achievement?

leading a team to the finals seven times.

and not just "leading" in the traditional sense. more like, you ARE the team. it sinks or swims based on you.

not many players had that level of crucial importance. shaq and young kareem are maybe the only ones i can think of right now. even jordan and wilt are probably behind them.

[fourkicks44]

leading a team to the finals seven times.

and not just "leading" in the traditional sense. more like, you ARE the team. it sinks or swims based on you.

not many players had that level of crucial importance. shaq and young kareem are maybe the only ones i can think of right now. even jordan and wilt are probably behind them.

This is just getting stupid. Celebrating a finals loss? Really? This is what it has come to?

[gigantes]

This is just getting stupid. Celebrating a finals loss? Really? This is what it has come to?

not understanding the difference between carrying your team to the finals and losing in them?

agree... it's getting kind of stoopid.

[BlazerRed]

2. Michael Jordan "failed" earlier

Critics of James will point to 2-4 as both an indictment on his career and a nod of praise to Michael Jordan and his sterling 6-0 record. By slighting James, it props up Jordan's legacy as the G. O. A. T. (Greatest of All-Time).

But a fact that's rarely brought up is that James has missed the Finals just four times in his postseason career. By comparison, Jordan reached the Finals in just six of his 13 postseasons. Framing it another way, James is 7-4 in getting to the championship round while Jordan was 6-7.

What a loser that Jordan guy was! Missed the Finals more times than he made it!

(Sidenote: It's true that James didn't make the playoffs in the first two seasons in the NBA. If we really want to blame a teenager for not going deep into the NBA playoffs, we can, while noting that Jordan didn't even arrive in the NBA until age 21. James still has reached the Finals more often already -- seven in 13 overall seasons -- than Jordan did his entire 15-season career.)

Of course, citing Jordan's 6-7 finals-appearance record is incredibly unfair to Jordan, just like 2-4 is to James. But it points to the contradiction at hand. Would we rather James lose in the Eastern Conference finals or the first round instead of competing for the title? No, we should credit James for getting so far so many times.

After all, James has never lost in the first round of the playoffs either (something Jordan suffered three times). And James has never been swept in the first round either (something Jordan endured twice).

Looking at the Finals, Jordan didn't ever have to face a 65-win team, while James has faced two in the last two seasons alone. Furthermore, Jordan enjoyed homecourt advantage in five of his six appearances, a luxury that James has only had in two of his six Finals trips, underscoring that James has overachieved in getting to the Finals with subpar rosters.

Looking at the whole picture, James has a career record of 127-65 (.661) in the playoffs, while Jordan was 119-60 (.665). Quite the difference, huh?

And yet, people scream and shout that James is a championship bust.

That's all irrelevant when you look at the competition James has faced though. The East was a lot tougher back then.

[fourkicks44]

not understanding the difference between carrying your team to the finals and losing in them?

agree... it's getting kind of stoopid.

Not as stupid as not knowing the difference between winning and losing though.

[Mr Feeny]

2/7 incoming doe.


I don't care how much you fluff him up, if he wants to be regarded as one of the 10 best ever to play, you should lead your team to more championships than the half you've played.

Tbf if you want to be regarded as a non-terrorist, you shouldn't make threats about blowing up people's planes.

If you want to be regarded as a non-pu $$y , you shouldn't let a kid mentally eviscerates you online

[Mr Feeny]

This league would of been a lot different had Kobe not being accused of rape in 04. The media has had to to go all in on James.... propping him up failure after failure.

One of Kobe's biggest sins to basketball. May god forgive him.

Nobody can manage to prop up Kobe as an elite player. The world wouldn't take seriously any argument for a career 44% scorer, 40% finals scorer and career 25% finals game 7 scorer being considered a great player

[gigantes]

Not as stupid as not knowing the difference between winning and losing though.

not sure what you're trying to get at, but if you have an actual point to make, i'll be around for a little while.

[Mr Feeny]

not sure what you're trying to get at, but if you have an actual point to make, i'll be around for a little while.

Going deep

[tpols]

leading a team to the finals seven times.

and not just "leading" in the traditional sense. more like, you ARE the team. it sinks or swims based on you.

not many players had that level of crucial importance. shaq and young kareem are maybe the only ones i can think of right now. even jordan and wilt are probably behind them.

not to be rude, but if you put russel westbrook on his own stacked team in the east by himself, or durant, or chris paul, or kawhi / curry etc they should all be able to do something similar, assuming they are always handpicking all stars for their teams.


Lebron is one of the top GOATs .. but he never embraced challenge. You are a Nets fan right? Even Jason Kidd led teams to back to back Finals and this was with no dwayne wade and chris bosh, or kyrie irving and kevin love. Nobody jumps up and down for that. Kidd was great, but he was not much better than a steve nash who never even made the Finals.


You're giving way too much credit to the individual when circumstance should have a much bigger play in the discussion.

[fourkicks44]

not sure what you're trying to get at, but if you have an actual point to make, i'll be around for a little while.

What I'm trying to get at is if leBron and the Cavs lose. Why would that be something to celebrate?

Making 6 finals in a row is immpressive, especially this day and age. But there is no second prize.

Not winning a championship, is not winning a championship, no matter how many times you do it in a row.

[ILLsmak]

This reminds me of an old homeboy I used to chill wit...Dude could never get no pusse n we clowned him about. Then one day he got serious and said some ole be kinda like this, he was like.."I don't need to fuq none of these b!tches neway, think about it, wat if the dikk too good n she get attached and stalks me on some crazy sh!t? What if the condom break and she gets pregnant or worse, wat if she has aids? Naw I'm good, I don't need these hoes I got xvideos".

N we was like

haha, myman.

-Smak