When talking about the best players in the world, legacy is a word that often comes up. A person’s legacy can be determined in multiple ways based on off-court actions, respect/likability, but most importantly, it is based on postseason performance.
LeBron James has often been criticized for his NBA Finals record in his career since he is currently 2-4. However, what some people fail to realize is that his teams were underdogs in just about every Finals matchup.
The 2007 Cavs were just happy to be there with San Antonio. Out of the four times James went in Miami, he won twice. Once against a Spurs team they had no business beating, and the other against an OKC team that features two of the current top-five players in the world.
Case and point, LeBron has been very successful in the postseason even if he has a losing finals record. This is his sixth straight finals appearance, which hasn’t been seen in over 65 years! The man has absolutely dominated the Eastern Conference and people should expect that to continue.
Even without the other two thirds of the big three, he managed to carry last year’s Cavaliers into Game 6 of the NBA Finals against the Warriors. The case was made for him to win the Finals MVP award even though he was apart of the losing team.
I’m here to tell you that as great as last year was for LeBron, nothing can top what he is doing right now. Back-to-back 40 point games, while dishing out a bulk of the assists, leading rebounder, shot blocker, steals leader, what doesn’t this guy do?
Facing arguably one of the greatest teams in NBA history in the Golden State Warriors is hard enough, but putting yourself in a 3-1 hole seems nearly impossible to overcome. A team that won 73 games in the regular season, the defending NBA champs, a team who only lost consecutive games once all year, and here we sit waiting for Sunday night’s winner take all game 7.
If the Cavaliers can pull out a victory in Oakland, not only would it be one of the greatest comebacks in NBA history, but in the history of all four major sports. Golden State pummeled Cleveland in the first two games, making this series appear early on to look more like a sweep than a seven game series. Not on the King’s watch. The Cavs have since rattled off three of the last four games to pull even in this best-of-seven series.
Games 5 & 6 were dominated by LeBron in all facets of the game: Offense, defense, rebounding, and yes…. Perimeter shooting. An area of James’ game in which he struggled much of the season has suddenly come alive at the perfect time for Cleveland. If LeBron has a similar performance at Oracle Arena, it’s hard to imagine him not holding the Larry O’Brien trophy postgame.
It truly is a special time in the NBA. With the ever increasing dependability of the 3-point shot, the Cavaliers and Warriors are proving to the rest of the Association just how great both teams are. Just when you think one of them is down, they get right back up. As an avid supporter of the Knicks, I haven’t had much to cheer about lately, but these last two NBA Finals have been thrilling while leaving me on the edge of my seat.
As most of my close friends and family know, I’ve been labeled as a “LeBron hater” throughout his career and that is correct. However, I respect him more than anyone in the game of basketball and our generation is currently seeing a once in a lifetime player.
Curry can be characterized in the same way, but for a totally different reason. We will never see a shooter come close to the level that Steph is at right now. The difference with LeBron, is that we will never see someone dominate every other facet of the game the way “The King” has done it.
Is he Michael Jordan? No. He is already one of the best of all-time though and he’s in the prime of his career. So my suggestion is to sit back and watch Sunday night because chances are something special is about to happen.
