The funny thing is people will credit him for making 5 straight finals (or more). Playing in the awful eastern conference, people will still credit him with that stat. Then in the NBA finals, his teams usually lose because they aren't as good as the team coming out of the west. Just funny how it's never a two way street when it comes to crediting and criticizing.
I hate Lebron but how did he choke in this one? Carried a team without 2 of its best 3 players and takes them to a game 6. Golden State got lucky. Durant injury, Holiday gets hurt. Then Conley and Allen get hurt, then a Rockets team witout Beverly and Dmo, then Cavs without Carejo, Irving and Love. This isn't about Lebron choking, it is about the Warriors getting lucky.
No trade LeBron for Harden and the Cavs would probably have still lost in the Finals and Houston might not have even made it to the WCF. GSW is just a deep team. If Curry and Thompson can have multiple sub-par games and the Warriors can still win, that clearly speaks to their depth. Now I'm not blaming LeBron for the loss, because most thought the GSW would win, BUT I tell you one thing: if Harden took 28 shots per game (shot 41 FG% and 22 3FG%) to avg 30PPG along with 4.1TOVs he woulda been KILLED on this board Let's not disregard the fact that LeBron, took a 2 week vacation during the season, because well they play in the East and he could afford it. For most of the year LeBron played with 2 other All-Stars in Love and Irving. And now consider the road to the Finals - BOSTON; an injured BULLS team that wasn't a contender to begin with; HAWKS, who played like crap the entire playoffs (and were injured too). I get that the Cavs were injured in the Finals and yeah it was pretty much a one man show, but that is exactly what Harden has had to deal with the entire season and during much of the playoffs. Harden got the Rockets to a better regular season record than LeBron did and he did it in the tough West with an injured team missing 3 starters at times. Out of all the teams that made the playoffs, no team has had to deal with more injuries than the Rockets. LeBron was well defended by the Warriors and Iggy. Makes you really appreciate how good of an offensive player Harden is. At times he took over the game for stretches and torched whoever the Warriors threw at him. Yes Harden needs to mature further, but let's not forget that this was Harden's 3 year as the #1 option. LeBron has played 12 years as the #1 option and has had way more time to mature into the player he is - and yet he could not get past GS. Who cares if you lose in 5 or 6 - it wasn't like the Rockets lost to GS in blowouts. The Rockets could have been up 2-0 in WCF and then the series woulda been a different one - it just didn't happen.
Not a lebron fan but it was him and scrubs for the most part against the deepest team in the league. Jordan nor hakeem couldn't win with that cavs team against golden state.
Pretty impressive that the series went 6 gms without Irving. LeBron didn't choke. He just needed more help.
You know what's astonishing? That Delly, Shump, JJ and Smith were 0/21 with James of the court for the series. That just shows how much he had to do for the team. He basically played the whole series minute wise it seems.
James on this team would of won the whole thing. Look what he did with the Cavs scrubs. Doubt Harden could even pull that off. Remember James has to play D as well.
Not if Harden also averaged 13 rebounds 9 assists. And btw the 4.1 TOVs was lower than the 4.6 Harden had against Golden State.
that's just embarrassing. they need to donate their finals bonus to charity because they didn't earn it.
Lebron could of taken over in game 6 and won but it seems he was tired. I agree that golden state was very lucky and will not be winning another championship anytime soon
Do people even know what choke or clutch means in sports anymore? Seems like everyone just throws these terms around when a team loses or wins. You can only choke a series or game if you are up substantially that you are EXPECTED to win. So how did LeBron choke if most basketball heads expected him to lose? The Finals Cavs team is a Lottery team without LeBron... A LOTTERY TEAM!
Did you watch these games? LBJ tried to take over. Golden State was the better team, hands down. They're young, healthy and well coached- they aren't going anywhere. Don't be surprised if we see a repeat of the finals next year.
LeBron didn't play too much defense this series, the offensive load on him was simply too great so he spent a lot of time missing rotations and watching guys roam free to the basket. I don't blame him for it at all. Still - it just illustrates how all great players EVER ALWAYS conserve energy on defense at times.
This is a joke right? He carried that team. That squad without Lebron wouldn't have made the playoff much less the nba finals. Some people are just haters, I'm not a Lebron fan but I can give credit where it was due, he led the finals in points, rebounds and assists. Doesn't sound like a choker to me
