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| That's right LeBron, you are the best. |
Let's play a game. Listed below are the stats (FG%, Points, Rebounds, Assists, Steals, Blocks) of 3 different players. Take a look & decide which of these players you would want to build a team around.
A) .467 28.3 6.3 5.4 1.8 0.5
B) .484 26.7 7.3 6.2 1.6 0.6
C) .496 30.1 8.0 3.5 1.4 1.2
It's a tough call isn't it? C is the best scorer, rebounder, & shot blocker but he's also last in steals & his ability to create for his teammates is much more limited than the other 2. Meanwhile A & B are fairly similar but with B probably getting a slight edge. I'm now going to tell you who these 3 players are. A is Kobe Bryant, B is LeBron James, & C is Kevin Durant. Here's the thing though, those are Kobe & Durant's best stats in each category over the last 5 years, & LeBron's worst over that same time span. That's right, LeBron is so good that his worst stats are equal to that of Kobe & Durant's best. Ah, but what about the playoffs? Sure LeBron has 3 MVPs in that span but once the games really matter he's a full time choke artist while Kobe & Durant raise their games in the post season. Alright then, let's take a look at the career playoff averages of our 3 men & throw in Dwyane Wade for fun too. (I'm changing the letter correspondence).*
*In order to be fair I'm subtracting Kobe's 2 seasons as a backup, in order to boost his numbers, as the other 2 have never been backups, as well as Durant's first playoff series as he was only 21 & the other 2 have had much longer to raise their numbers beyond their early struggles.
A) .474 28.1 7.8 3.4 1.2 1.2
B) .449 27.4 5.1 5.4 1.5 0.7
C) .466 28.3 8.4 6.8 1.7 1.0
D) .482 25.5 5.6 5.4 1.7 1.2
Pretty clear that player C is the best player, isn't it? If you hadn't already figured that player in none other than the great playoff failure LeBron James (Durant is A, Kobe-B, Wade-D ).
Yea, but those are just averages the skeptic says. When LeBron's back is against the wall he crumbles. Au contraire my friend. The seven times LeBron has faced elimination he has averaged 28.7 points, 6.7 assists, & 8.7 rebounds. In 2008 LeBron found his Cavaliers down three games to two in the second round against Boston & their brand new big 3. In game 6 he led the Cavs to a 74-69 victory with 32 points, 12 rebounds, & 6 assists. In game 7, on the road, LeBron gave one of his greatest performances. He scored 45 points (1 shy of half his team's points) as they fell 97-92 to the eventual champions. When Kobe Bryant, the reigning MVP, found himself in the same situation, down 3-2, against the Celtics in that year's finals how did he respond? With a 22-3-1 performance on 7 for 22 shooting. The Lakers lost by 39 (39 POINTS!) at home as the Celtics starters celebrated from the bench in the fourth quarter. Remind me again, who's the clutch one?
Now it used to be common knowledge, among those not busy worshiping at the alter of Kobe, that LeBron was the best player in the world & that he was indeed clutch. This was after all the guy who won back to back MVP's for leading a Cavaliers team whose second best player was Mo Williams to 66 & 61 wins, a winning percentage of .774, & two straight one seeds. In comparison Williams was the third guy on this year's Clippers, a team that featured the best point guard in the NBA in Chris Paul & human dunk machine Blake Griffin, & they only managed 40 wins, a .606 winning percentage, & a five seed. Just so we're clear on the math that's LeBron>CP3+Blake Griffin.
In all of this though I've still failed to mention LeBron's greatest accomplishment. In game 5 of the 2007 Easter Conference Finals against the Detroit Pistons (the great defensive team of the era, the only team to beat the Shaq & Kobe Lakers in the finals), with the series tied 2-2, LeBron scored 29 of his team's final 30 points, including 25 straight & the game winner with 2.2 seconds left in the Cavs 109-107 double overtime victory. They eliminated the Pistons in the next game to reach the NBA Championship. MJ needed Scottie, Kobe & Wade needed Shaq (or Pau), while LeBron did it on his own (of course the Cavs got swept by the Spurs in the finals, the man is only human after all). In case you're so jaded you don't believe that he actually did any of this here's LeBron's 25 straight (which you really should watch, it's amazing).
So what happened? Well he took his talents to South Beach of course. Then the world turned against him. Even as he remained the most statistically dominant player in the NBA he lost his MVP crown to Derrick Rose. After dismissing Rose & the Bulls in the eastern finals it seemed the world has once again been set right, but then he crumpled in the finals. It was terrible, & there was no excuse for it. That said the year before Kobe Bryant shot 6-24 in game 7 of the NBA Finals, he just happened to be lucky enough to play with three 6'10 all-star caliber players who could bail him out. It should also be remembered that while Wade struggled to find his shot (19 points per game on 41% shooting) in the Conference Finals LeBron carried the Heat to victory in 5 games by averaging a ridiculous by anyone else's standard 26-7-8-2-2 stat line. When the roles reversed in the Finals, & Wade had to try to carry the team, everyone cried out how Wade was clutch & LeBron wasn't. This was the wrong lesson, after all if LeBron had not carried Wade's ass the round before they'd have never made the finals. No, the lesson people should have learned was that LeBron at his best is simply better than Wade at his. The Heat could overcome a mediocre showing by Wade, but not from the best player on the planet.
That's right, the best player on the planet, and don't you forget it.
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