oh, and one more thing. harden doesnt belong to the finals conversation. at least not yet. he's a notch below lebron. the other day i asked a question in another thread that if this version of lebron we saw in the finals was the ceiling for harden since many were talking about harden's ceiling. and no one answered me.
Its pretty disrespectful to mention Lebron and Harden's name in the same sentence. He is top 4 already and might be #2 when it is all said and done. As of now, Curry is a level above Harden and lebron is slightly above Curry at that.
They got sooooo lucky with injuries. To me 5 teams can still come out in the west. GS, Houston, San Antonio, LA Clippers, Memphis. And depending where LMA goes possibly 6.
Golden State did get an easier road on all of their opponents but that's what Championship teams do they beat you no matter what. I think Memphis was missing Conley 1 game and Allen another and won in 6. We didn't have Beverley which in this series could have made the difference in our fight and definitely the ease with which Curry scored, also didn't have Motiejunas which was a considerable blow considering how well he was playing (definitely could have used his D and free throw shooting in that series) and then they beat Cleveland who was without Irving and Love. It's not their fault they had it easier than they should have but they got the job done. That's all that matters. Just goes to show we are #2 or #3 team in the league even with 2 starters out. Imagine if we were healthy.
He was absolutely amazing in the Finals. No one is even denying that. Its the fact that LeBron has a legacy now of winning the championship game, the one that truly matters, 2 times out of 6. His team is typically there every year and people praise him for his tenacity to "single-handedly" get his team to the Finals so its only appropriate to not praise him when he can't do it for the last round. I would say that the Finals loss wouldn't count only if LeBron suffered some injury that kept him out of the game. Seriously, LeBron was incredible but I am in that group that thinks he could have done more (I know, right?!?). He claims he could score 60 points if he took 30 shots per game...proceeded to take 30+ shots in every single Finals game and never eclipsed 60 points...missed crucial free throws and had inefficient nights in the last 3 games. He is regarded as the best basketball player who ever lived and he didn't show us that he was in the series against the Warriors...only that he is just an amazingly good basketball player. He could have gone down in NBA lore...he would have been a mythological creature like Wilt if he pulled this series off. He didn't. He made bad decisions in the worst times and he turned the ball over and shot too low of a percentage to be efficient and ultimately didn't win games for the Cavs when they depended on him the most.
I agree 100% Space Ghost. With the lone exception of the 2004 Pistons, the only ways an Eastern Conference Team has won the title (since Jordan won it in 1998) was either by forming a "super-team" or had major help from the refs in their Finals series. 2006: Heat (Refs) 2008: Celtics (Super-Team) 2012: Heat (Super-Team) 2013: Heat (Super-Team)
Thank You tinman, LBJ had NO POST GAME whatsoever, until he went to Hakeem. Is that really coincidental that LBJ went to Dream right after losing to Dallas in that 2011 Finals and then immediately won 2 straight rings??? I think not; and now LeBron LIVES in the paint posting up much more often then before that 2011 series vs DAL. He truly turned a weakness into a major strength. I've stopped hating on him for good because he clearly did give it his all, his all, in this last series vs GSW; GSW was simply the better team and there is no shame in saying that. The only time the LBJ-dislike comes back out is when he plays against the Rockets, and that's it.
Lebron is today's Wilt Chamberlain. Insane 1 man stats. If stats is all that mattered Wilt would come up more frequently in the GOAT conversation but it doesn't because winning is all that matters. Rings matter.
People claim that Jordan had way more help and that's why he is 6/6 from Finals. I think that even with a great team around him the fact that Michael Jordan commanded that team as an alpha and still took matters into his own hands and destroyed teams offensively and defensively is a testament to his greatness.
