I expect GS to close the show in game 6. The Cavs as a team just look spent. Credit to Lebron though - as this likely go down as the best individual finals performance in a losing effort.
Prime Jordan on this Cavs team might beat the Warriors alone. Or if not win, force 7 games. I mean for Christ sake, who on the Warriors is capable of containing a young Mike? He'd make Iggy look like a 3rd rate bum, and be would averaging 40 as he did in the 93 finals. He basically DID beat the Suns by himself that year. Pippen, from what I remember, was nothing special in that series.
The Eastern Conference wasn't garbage like it's been the past 10 plus years. Jordan went up against great Celtic and Piston teams in the playoffs. Many forget the Pistons went to three straight NBA Finals (won the second two) before Jordan finally beat them. You'd be hard pressed to label any Eastern conference team "great" that Lebron has faced in any of his playoff series. The closest you could get would be the Celtics that went to two consecutive finals and split wins with the Lakers.
This is correct. I mean HONESTLY..... HONESTLY..... are the fuckin current Bulls and Hawks beating a team with a young Jordan???? Jordan would have torched the entire 2015 east by himself. Only Bron groupies would think otherwise.
Finals MVP shouldn't go to a guy on the losing team in my opinion. Kurt Warner has the three best QB Super Bowl performances in NFL history and yet the only MVP he's won was the SB he actually won.
What people forget about the the 90's Bulls is that Pippen and the role players were an integral part of the REGULAR season. They allowed Mike to stay in 2nd/3rd gear during the reg season. In the playoffs, Mike always kicked it into 4th gear and more/less carried them to the rings. I mean, it's not like we're talking the Bad Boys Pistons where the rings were a total TEAM effort. Mike had help, but always did the HEAVY lifting.
Getting back to my point about the comparisons.... In my eyes there are different levels of great. Guys like Charles Barkley, John Stockton and Karl Malone are great players; HOWEVER, they aren't on the same level as Lebron. Lebron has multiple rings. Then there's a level of guys like Wilt and Lebron. Dominant players with multiple rings and honestly should have more. Facts are facts...at best LeBron finishes this season at .500 in NBA finals. At worst he's sub .500. Bill Russell won 10 out of 13 Finals Kobe 5 of 7 final appearances. Shaq 4 of 6 Tim Duncan 5 of 6 appearances. Magic won 5 of 9 appearances. Bird won 3 of 5. Jordan 6 for 6. It's not like I'm shitting on LeBron. He is a great player. The best in the world regardless of who wins the MVP each season. I'm of the opinion that when you've reached the top 1% of the elite players, championships is the final separator. Having a great series in a losing effort is honorable...but it's still a loss. To now go on about how bad his team is is a counterproductive argument to me. Immediately raises the question of how shitty is the competition if despite having a shit team how did you make it to the finals before running into a test?
55 as you said. I know basketball history. But they weren't good enough to go deep without Jordan. It's all relative, because as Muzse said the East has been shit for YEARS now. Lebron would NOT carry a team full of scrubs past the early 90s East superpowers.
Lebron is in a position to possibly finish as high as 3rd all time. Which his groupies should be very proud of. The only two he's never passing are Jordan and Jabbar.
My top 2 all time are Jordan and Jabbar. After that, the top 5-6 gets highly debatable between guys like Wilt, Shaq, Lebron, Russell, Magic, Bird, and Hakeem.
If he doesn't win 5 rings he's not above Kobe or Duncan. If he wins 4 he could be in Shaq's realm. If he wins 3 he could be in Bird's realm. If he averages triple doubles in MULTIPLE seasons like Oscar Robertson he'll climb above Oscar. Lebron has a top 10 spot arguably right now but basketball and greatness is about winning. I don't care about physical attributes, how high he jumps, how strong he is...how he dunks. At the "crème de la crème" winning and championships are what matters most. Lebron has 4 MVP's to Kobe's one. I bet Kobe wouldn't trade in a single ring for another MVP. Hell...Steve Nash has more MVP's than Kobe.
Lebron James is plain and simple a better/more dominant player than Duncan, Bryant, and Bird. Some people overrate him, others underrate him. I think you're underrating him.
I dont think James is greater than Duncan at this point, but he has already had a greater career than bryant. the lakers would have won more than 3 titles if james played with oneal for 8 seasons
It's way too early to start assigning ranks. James will get his recognition once he retires. He's one of the best to ever play the game, just like Kobe and Duncan.
Have more respect for Bryant. When he was in his groove he was the 2nd most unstoppable scoring wing behind Jordan. But he simply didn't have Lebron's OVERALL game. The gap of Lebron's playmaking and defense between him and Bryant is pretty wide. Whilst the scoring ability gap between he and Bryant isn't as big in Kobe's favor. Bryant got a bit unlucky though. His true PEAK years were 06 and 07, and both those years he was surrounded by zero talent.
It's my opinion, no more no less. I'd rather have five rings. BTW...I don't hate nor dislike LeBron. I do in fact hate Kobe. I wish he'd torn his Achilles at 23 so I wouldn't be forced to have him in this conversation.
Duncan has always played out West which has been the most dominant conference during his entire career.
Spurs have, Duncan, Ginobli, Parker, Leonard, Green and Pop. Funny thing is that Lebron could play everyone of those positions effectively and Coach.
He had Wade and Bosh in an inferior conference and was still .500 in Finals. Who's to say he would have fared better with the guys Duncan had in a tougher conference? Or if he would have made the finals.
Yeah but he didn't have them when he took Cleveland to the finals the first time and he doesn't have anybody right now in his fight to win a title. Also in his last final with Miami, he was basically doing shit himself again with all the injuries. If Lebron had Pippen, Rodman, Kerr, Harpor Kukoc and Phil Jackson they would have won all the titles Jordan won. If Lebron had Parker, Ginobli, Green, Leonard, Bonner and Pop he would have been the ring every year.
Sure, I'm ok with giving Bron his dues, but get off that cloud GF, Bron had a stacked team and lost to the Mavs back in 2011 in an embarrassing performance.
That team just got put together and reached the finals. They had not found a groove and still reached the finals. Pretty Good IMO
