Bingo. Kawhi really deserved the FMVP too...how he was just able to defend Lebron 1v1 allowing Spurs to cover everyone else on the Heat team. He was such a cog in this series win defensively. You could see Pop really distressed when he got his 4th foul even with a 15+ lead on the 3rd qtr. Lebron was not to blame for this loss, far from it....Media and fans are just really harsh on him because he was taunted as the next Jordan. But if you take off that goggle, you can see how well he really played. His best finals series by far.
He couldn't forecast the erosion of Dwyane Wade's basketball skills. He thought he had a Robin to his Batman but ended up with Aqualad instead.
Love Lebron, but the best comment i heard: "Well, at least Lebron got to spend Father's Day with his daddy....the Spurs."
Well, he's probably a better all around player than MJ, Kobe, Bird etc..But he just doesn't have the WILL to not lose on nights where the team isn't performing. He's a great player. But he's also a high profiled stat sheet stuffer. He'll put up all these astronomical numbers but still under perform when it counts.
And neither does Kobe by the logic som3 of you are using on LeBron so why does he keep being mentioned
Why is Kobe in that sentence, let alone used as an example against Lebron. I don't see how shooting <40% in the Finals or going 6 for 24 in a close-out game helps Lebron WILL the Heat to victory.
Last night clearly demonstrated that the guy doesn't have the mindset to be GOAT. He didn't even go down swinging. I'm really perplexed by his mental approach to big games. He knows he will get the blame for the loss no matter what and he knows he is the best player on the planet so why not go out there and try to hang fifty on the Spurs? I also wonder how much of his mind is distracted by his own stats. He seems more focused on being efficient on paper than winning the game. After last night, how can anyone dispute that.
I agree with the mindset but I think he has pretty bad cardio as well. I think dropping 10 pounds of muscle mass this summer would work wonders for him.
Maybe he doesn't like jacking up 40 shots. He was trying to pass it his teammates. I don't know why they didn't give him the ball more often in 2nd quarter. Even if he had scored 50 points would they have beat the spurs?
Basketball is a team game as defined by the Spurs last night. Why anyone is suggesting that if Lebron dropped 50 points a game the outcome of this series is beyond me. The Heat play best when the ball is moving and their defense is relentless. Their D dropped off tremendously this season as compared to the last several years. Read some of Shane Battiers quotes from last night, very telling. Not only did the D drop off but Wade and Bosh played like role players when they have to play like All-Stars.
I love the "he's too efficient" critique, especially as part of an unspoken Jordan comparison. You do know back when Jordan was shooting like crazy and doing it all, the Bulls were lousy, right?
It's not the "he's too efficient" argument. It's the "why is the best player on the planet not taking more shots in the NBA Finals when he is on fire from the field and no one else on the team can buy a bucket?" argument.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrqXDEPu6v8[/youtube] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrqXDEPu6v8 for me the highlight of this clip, other than the best buddies giving each other a bunch of high fives for colluding, was Lebron using ebonics to connect with the new fans... don't want to sound too intelligent now , do we? might lose some marketability $$$
Video didn't work for me, but I'm assuming you posted the video where LeBron was like "not 1, not 2... etc." That doesn't sound like a guarantee to me. Sounds like someone just trying to hype up a crowd. That's like me saying "I was put on this earth to play in the NBA." Is that a guarantee? No. It's me believing I'm going to do something.
Probably because he tried doing that in Cleveland and it didn't work out so great. Honestly how many more shots did he pass up and what difference would it have made? He led the playoffs in FGA the past two seasons, this season he was 4th. I love that the Spurs are celebrated for playing the right way, team game, system, unselfish etc, and then, often from the same people, LeBron is crucified as not a true GOAT, blah blah blah - for not being selfish enough or taking enough shots. Make up your minds.
Going 2-3 in the NBA finals isn't a half bad record. Also, 5 finals in 11 years is also quite inspired as well.
