Why does LBJ get no respect on these boards??

[popathon]

I'm not really arguing with you guys. I agree Lebron needs help, and that he has an average supporting cast. and I also think he's the best player in the league at carrying his team, better than Kobe.

But I'd like to know what you said about the Cavs-Magic series before it started. I'm betting you would have tipped the Cavs like everyone else. How could you not? There hadn't lost a playoff game up till that point. They were looking awesome. Lebron had me convinced, like many others, that he could lead his team to a championship.


Dude, obviously Lebron had a brilliant series. But in the game that counted, Dwight was dominant and Lebron went quiet. FACT. Thats all I'm saying. Don't put words in my mouth.

Footylover, agree Kobe whined and bitched, and that the Lakers chemistry was crap. Worlds apart from Lebron last year who did an outstanding job and got everyone involved. No argument from me there. But as for who had the crapper team, it has to be Kobe. Go look at his roster in 2005-2006. It is laughably bad. Although not too much worse than the team Lebron took to the Finals in 2007.

I was dreading playing the magic, they were a terrible match up for us. If the Cavs had've palyed the Celtics in the ECF they would have most likely gone on to the finals. But again we didn't match up too well with the Lakers and probably would've lost against them in 6.

 

[peternorth]

Unbelievable play.

Was trying to find a link this morning to show a mate, does anyone have one (didn't make the game highlights on nba.com due to being disallowed)?

i think stern made sure it wouldnt make their highlights cause it makes lecrab look bad

 

[footylover18]

Did anyone see James steal the ball yesterday from the Suns and make a huge 3, then celebrate like it was the game winning shot only to have it disallowed???

I guess I can see why people think he is a dick BUT i still love watching plays like that.

He's a "dick" because he celebrated? half time steal and half court shot, i think it's normal to be somewhat excited. was his celebration a little over the top? sure it was, but that just shows that he actually gives a crap and that his emotions are for real as opposed to someone like Kobe, the best he can do is to copy Jordan's one arm fist pump.

 

[peternorth]

He's a "dick" because he celebrated? half time steal and half court shot, i think it's normal to be somewhat excited. was his celebration a little over the top? sure it was, but that just shows that he actually gives a crap and that his emotions are for real as opposed to someone like Kobe, the best he can do is to copy Jordan's one arm fist pump.

so you're saying kobe doesnt give a crap or his emotions aren't real? hmm, perhaps, maybe you should have a look at any of the 4 championships he's won and the finals seconds of the winning game.

perhaps it just shows that kobe is focused and unless its a game winner he wont go OTT.

 

[footylover18]

so you're saying kobe doesnt give a crap or his emotions aren't real? hmm, perhaps, maybe you should have a look at any of the 4 championships he's won and the finals seconds of the winning game.

nah, kobe gives a crap alright. no doubt about that, why else would he throw his teammates under the bus? he cares about winning, not disputing that. im saying his emotions are generally held in check and when they do come out it's in a "im too cool for school fashion".

 

[footylover18]

I was dreading playing the magic, they were a terrible match up for us.

Exactly. People are forgetting that the Cavs lost 2 of 3 regular season games against Orlando. So exactly why is it such a failure that they lost to them in 6 in the ECC? Orlando clearly matched up well against the Cavs, they had their measure during the reg season, the Cavs could not afford to play less than their A game. LBJ brought his A+ game, unfortunately for the Cavs the rest of the team didn't play their part, Orlando did play their best, the game shouldn't have even gone 6 games.

 

[robd]

I seem to recall a Lakers v Suns series in 2006, in which the Lakers were 7th and the Suns 2nd in the conference. Kobe was phenomenal in that series and the Lakers somehow stretched it to 7 games, and ultimately lost. That Suns team was title-worthy and should have beaten the Lakers in 4 or 5 games. And you know what happened? Fans and the media completely ripped on Kobe harder than any other player I've ever seen before. He was eaten alive by everyone, saying how he disappeared late in Game 7, and how someone like MJ would have never put up a performance like that in a deciding game. And I mostly agreed.

Now, Lebron fails against the Magic, and even though his team has the #1 record in the league, and even though he's the MVP, and even though it didn't even get to a 7th game, we're somehow making excuses for him? Why not hold him to the same standards as Kobe?

Oh thats right, because Lebron is untouchable and he's the chosen one. He is so protected right now, as evident by many Lebron-lovers here. Nothing wrong with sticking up for your man, I would do the same. Just saying, it's no fun if we can't rip the dude every once in a while. And it's no fun if you make excuses for him all the time. Because someone like Lebron, who is striving to be the GOAT, has to be held to very high standards. So when I say Lebron "blew it", I mean it, cos I didn't see him step up in that deciding game to take over. That's just what I expect great players to do. Instead he had his worst game of the series - certainly not his A+ game.

So in a weird twisted way, you can take that as a sign of respect I have for Lebron, in that I hold him to those very high standards.

 

[footylover18]

I seem to recall a Lakers v Suns series in 2006, in which the Lakers were 7th and the Suns 2nd in the conference. Kobe was phenomenal in that series and the Lakers somehow stretched it to 7 games, and ultimately lost. That Suns team was title-worthy and should have beaten the Lakers in 4 or 5 games. And you know what happened? Fans and the media completely ripped on Kobe harder than any other player I've ever seen before. He was eaten alive by everyone, saying how he disappeared late in Game 7, and how someone like MJ would have never put up a performance like that in a deciding game. And I mostly agreed.

Now, Lebron fails against the Magic, and even though his team has the #1 record in the league, and even though he's the MVP, and even though it didn't even get to a 7th game, we're somehow making excuses for him? Why not hold him to the same standards as Kobe?

Oh thats right, because Lebron is untouchable and he's the chosen one. He is so protected right now, as evident by many Lebron-lovers here. Nothing wrong with sticking up for your man, I would do the same. Just saying, it's no fun if we can't rip the dude every once in a while. And it's no fun if you make excuses for him all the time. Because someone like Lebron, who is striving to be the GOAT, has to be held to very high standards. So when I say Lebron "blew it", I mean it, cos I didn't see him step up in that deciding game to take over. That's just what I expect great players to do. Instead he had his worst game of the series - certainly not his A+ game.

So in a weird twisted way, you can take that as a sign of respect I have for Lebron, in that I hold him to those very high standards.

To put it simply, the answer to your questions lies in the fact that LBJ actually gets along with his teammates, his teams have great chemistry and LBJ gets his teammates involved, he makes them better. At the time you're talking about this whole concept was completely foreign to Kobe. Don't believe me? Compare LBJ's game 7 box score last season to that of Kobe's in the series you allude to.

LBJ 25 7 7 on 8 of 20 shooting
Kobe 34 4 1 on 13 of 33 shooting

1 assist Kobe? Really? See that's the difference between LBJ and what Kobe was back then, LBJ gets his teammates involved he makes others around him better (thus leading to the issue of people actually thinking LBJ has talented teammates), Kobe thought to win a game he'd have to hog the ball and jack up 34 shots.

 

[robd]

So let me see if I understand this... Because LBJ is such a great guy, and gets along with his teammates, and makes them better, he is immune to taking criticism from disappearing down the stretch in a huge series-deciding game? Is that what you're saying?

And he must really get along with his teammates to storm off and leave them to answer the media after the game.

 

[Hodges]

So im sure everyone saw LeDouche dancing and pissing off the Bulls and Joakim Noah in particular. LBJ's quote from the incident:

LeBron, not surprisingly, insisted that he wasn't trying to show up the Bulls.

"It's nothing against the Bulls and it's nothing against Joakim or none of those guys," he said. "It's nothing about showboating on a team. I've seen it happen all last year. I think he (Noah) was more frustrated about the way he played as an individual. He didn't help his team win."

Douchey McDouche strikes again.

 

[PHX]

To put it simply, the answer to your questions lies in the fact that LBJ actually gets along with his teammates, his teams have great chemistry and LBJ gets his teammates involved, he makes them better. At the time you're talking about this whole concept was completely foreign to Kobe. Don't believe me? Compare LBJ's game 7 box score last season to that of Kobe's in the series you allude to.

LBJ 25 7 7 on 8 of 20 shooting
Kobe 34 4 1 on 13 of 33 shooting

1 assist Kobe? Really? See that's the difference between LBJ and what Kobe was back then, LBJ gets his teammates involved he makes others around him better (thus leading to the issue of people actually thinking LBJ has talented teammates), Kobe thought to win a game he'd have to hog the ball and jack up 34 shots.

And he was correct. Without him taking over in that 06-07 series there was no way in hell they were going to get the win. I think you're looking at the wrong series above though, the epic Suns series against LA was 2005-06 and you've looked at the 06-07 series that was far more of a sweep for the Suns.


Even so the 2005-06 LA team, apart from Odom, had Walton, Kwame and Smush Mush Parker as their starting 5, and epic bench players in the Cookie Monster, Devean George and Vujacic. That's 3 starting scrubs before the bench even gets a chance to show itself. That team is no where near as good as what was beside LeBron last year and Kobe averaged 5 assists in that series. Not a bad effort.

I also entirely disagree about chemistry. Give Kobe a winning team and he'll march it as far as it can go. He's not a home wrecker, he's not a cancer, he's just a man that will do whatever he thinks it takes to win and rallies his team mates to do the same even if it isn't with outward show-pony antics or a better assist average. And that is no different to what LeBron does, and how LeBron failed, and how Kobe has failed. But Kobe will work as hard as he can with what he has got to deliver the best result for the team he has beside him. If you don't believe that you clearly look away when he is directing his team on game day and see what you want to see.

 

[walkers a legend]

Lebron's stats make him look better than he is IMO so using stats is hard to do when comparing him and someone else.

BTW Lebron needs to grow up and stop with all his childish antics

 

[footylover18]

Lebron's stats make him look better than he is IMO so using stats is hard to do when comparing him and someone else.

No, he's hard to compare to others because 28 8 8 players don't grow on trees. There's simply noone to compare him to. Incredibly unique player.

 

[Borgsta]

Magic Johnson

 

[footylover18]

Magic Johnson

exactly. gotta go back into NBA history to find players that compare to him statistically. Larry Bird and Oscar a couple others that put up similar numbers.

as i said, they don't grow on trees.