LeBron James: History Within Reach
LeBron James led the Cleveland Cavaliers to a monumental victory in Game 2 against the Golden State Warriors. Outgunned and undermanned, he led his hometown squad against the team with the league MVP and the best-record in the regular season.
And the Cavaliers won.
James has always put up big numbers, that much is not a surprise. But even by his incredibly critiqued standards, “The King” is putting together a special series for himself regardless of whether the Larry O’Brien trophy makes it to Cleveland.
While the championship would go down as one of the greatest accomplishments in basketball history, his individual play is something that hasn’t been witnessed (see what I did there) in many years.
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His performances in less than a week leave him trailing only one Los Angeles sports icon.
While the Laker fateful hope to keep the record, the fact is that James is on his way to breaking them.
First, the comprehensive performance he has averaged in the post-season has to be ranked among the best ever.
James has the second-most 30/10/10 games in playoff history, with seven. It is hard to imagine him not breaking the record as Oscar Robertson leads him by only one game with eight.
Take into account that this includes averaging nearly a triple double in the Conference Finals with 30 points, 11 assists, and 9 rebounds.
That is against the elite competition of the Eastern Conference. His performances against the Warriors have been nothing short of spectacular.
In Game 1, James used his physical dominance and basketball IQ to become an offensive machine. In what has been hailed as one of the best opening games in a Finals series, James turned in 44 points, six assists, and eight rebounds.
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It is very easy to criticize the Cavaliers effort in overtime in that game; it is considered all for not without the ‘W’ in the bigger picture.
However, on its own his performance is on par with some of the best games of his career. In terms of points, it is just short of his personal best of 49.
Game 2 saw James operate on all facets of the floor to make up for the loss of Kyrie Irving.
A fact that in and of itself should be understood to be appreciated. The second-leading scorer of the franchise was removed from the series and James stepped up to handle both ball-handling duties and offensive output to keep his team competitive.
Playing as a point-forward, the Akron native put up another triple-double with 39 points, 16 rebounds, and 11 assists.
It is the fifth triple-double that he has recorded in the Finals and the number puts him alone at second place. Lakers Hall-of-Famer Magic Johnson has the most in NBA history with eight.
The performance also put him as the second player in NBA Finals history to have at least 35 points, 15 rebounds, 10 assists.
Only another Laker, James Worthy, has had a similar effort.
LeBron James at the end of the day is one man; basketball is a team sport. The Cleveland Cavaliers would not have won had it not been for the efforts of his supporting cast. Timofey Mozgov, Tristan Thompson, and Matthew Dellevedova have now seen incredible minutes in the place of the injured Varejao, Love, and Irving.
They are not the players that the city of Cleveland may have wanted, but they are the players that they are glad to have as their effort is instrumental in the Cavs success at this critical juncture.
Tomorrow may hold a different future for the Cavaliers. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson may rain threes upon the Quicken Loans Arena without impunity in a way that blows out the Eastern Conference champions.
James is often derided by statements fueled by nostalgia. The idea that for all his prowess he will forever be considered the lesser to Michael Jordan. Or the notion that his success pails in comparison to Kobe Bryant when evaluated only by the rings on their fingers. The truth he is the most overexposed basketball player in the world.
Bottom Line: History Beckons King James in the Finals.
The four-time MVP is without his most talented teammates in arguably the toughest series of his career. Those who would deride his failure would claim that it is once again because he is less than the greats that have come before him. Were he any other player it would all be white noise.
But it is LeBron James.
For all the reasons he shouldn’t win, he makes it appear as if he can.