Golden St. Warriors 14-15...
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Klay could miss at least game 1 cuz of a concussion. Good thing game 1 is not until Thursday
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:ab: and :ab:
He retired as the league's all-time leader in three-point shooting percentage for a season (.524 in 1994-95) and career (.454) and has 5 rings......
Point is, Kerr was better than any of the scrubs Lebron had around him in 07. Jordan always had good or great players around him and the best coach of all time, Lebrons best teammate in cleveland was loppy ass varejao and they played for sorry ass mike brown....put jordan without pippen and phil jackson with mike brown and varejao and I bet they dont get to the finals
Point is, Kerr was better than any of the scrubs Lebron had around him in 07. Jordan always had good or great players around him and the best coach of all time, Lebrons best teammate in cleveland was loppy ass varejao and they played for sorry ass mike brown....put jordan without pippen and phil jackson with mike brown and varejao and I bet they dont get to the finals
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52% the year he took 2 a game? All time great!!! Robert Horry has 7 rings, all time great? Mark Price is 4 1000th of point behind Nash for all time free throw percentage, all time great?
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BASEDVATO and BASEDVATO
Bron is a freak of nature, much like Shaq was. They're able to create mismatches at will because of the way they were built, their size, and versatility. I still think many teams who already have decent to good defenders often make the mistake to double him. I'd rather just play him 1 on 1. Dude has never been a great shooter, so if it was up to me, let him have his shot. Better that than having JR and co spot up wide open shots. As far as Jordan, he was always a scorer first. If Jordan truly wanted to play unselfishly, he could easily do that. I mean has Bron ever had 7 straight triple doubles?? I also know who I would trust in the clutch. This is a no contest imo. Jordan all the way
Remember all those hours and words spent debating whether LeBron James was clutch? The idea that LeBron -- a four-time league MVP who as a 23-year-old scored 25 straight points in a conference finals game against the Detroit Pistons -- couldn't perform in big moments was always asinine. But for myriad reasons, ones which we won't waste time going into here, Is LeBron clutch? was a divisive NBA topic for numerous years.
Sunday's Cavaliers-Bulls game should have finally put that conversation to rest. By now you've seen the play. LeBron receives the inbounds pass deep in the left corner with 1.5 seconds remaining and the game tied at 84. As he fades to his left he effortlessly rises up over the outstretched arms of Bulls guard Jimmy Butler and drains the jump shot as the buzzer sounds. The basket gave the Cavaliers an 86-84 win and allowed them to even their second-round series with the Chicago at two.
This was the third time in his career that James hit a game-winning shot at the buzzer during a postseason game, according to ESPN Stats & Info. That's the same number that Michael Jordan hit in his career. LeBron has also now made four go-ahead shots in the "final seconds" of playoffs games, per ESPN Stats & Info. Over the past 15 years no one has hit more.
In the playoffs LeBron has now taken 10 potential go-ahead shots in the final five seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime. He's connected on six of them, according to ESPN's Brian Windhorst. Jordan was 5-of-11 in such situations during his career.
And let's not leave Kobe Bryant out of this conversation either. LeBron is now 8-of-19 on potential game-tying or go-ahead shots taken in the final 24 seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime during postseason games, per ESPN's Aloki Pattani. Bryant has hit less (7) despite taking more (28).
LeBron has now played 166 total playoff games. In total he's averaging 27.9 points, 8.5 rebounds and 6.5 assists while shooting 48 percent from the field. Jordan played in 179 playoff games and averaged 33.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 5.7 assists and shot 49 percent from the field.
LeBron's postseason Player Efficiency Rating is 27.4; Jordan's was 28.6.
When LeBron's been on the floor during the playoffs his teams have scored 115 points per 100 possessions and surrendered just 101, per Basketball Reference. For Jordan those numbers were 118 and 104.
As for Kobe, he's played in 220 playoff games. His averages are 25.6 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.7 assists. He's connected on 45 percent of his postseason shots. His postseason Player Efficiency Rating is 22.4. His offensive rating is 110 and his defensive rating is 106.
LeBron James may not be the greatest player of all time and he's certainly not infallible. One thing he has proven himself to be, though, is one of the best clutch performers the NBA has ever seen. Sunday's shot wasn't an aberration. It was just the latest chapter in the yet-to-be completed book.
Sunday's Cavaliers-Bulls game should have finally put that conversation to rest. By now you've seen the play. LeBron receives the inbounds pass deep in the left corner with 1.5 seconds remaining and the game tied at 84. As he fades to his left he effortlessly rises up over the outstretched arms of Bulls guard Jimmy Butler and drains the jump shot as the buzzer sounds. The basket gave the Cavaliers an 86-84 win and allowed them to even their second-round series with the Chicago at two.
This was the third time in his career that James hit a game-winning shot at the buzzer during a postseason game, according to ESPN Stats & Info. That's the same number that Michael Jordan hit in his career. LeBron has also now made four go-ahead shots in the "final seconds" of playoffs games, per ESPN Stats & Info. Over the past 15 years no one has hit more.
In the playoffs LeBron has now taken 10 potential go-ahead shots in the final five seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime. He's connected on six of them, according to ESPN's Brian Windhorst. Jordan was 5-of-11 in such situations during his career.
And let's not leave Kobe Bryant out of this conversation either. LeBron is now 8-of-19 on potential game-tying or go-ahead shots taken in the final 24 seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime during postseason games, per ESPN's Aloki Pattani. Bryant has hit less (7) despite taking more (28).
LeBron has now played 166 total playoff games. In total he's averaging 27.9 points, 8.5 rebounds and 6.5 assists while shooting 48 percent from the field. Jordan played in 179 playoff games and averaged 33.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 5.7 assists and shot 49 percent from the field.
LeBron's postseason Player Efficiency Rating is 27.4; Jordan's was 28.6.
When LeBron's been on the floor during the playoffs his teams have scored 115 points per 100 possessions and surrendered just 101, per Basketball Reference. For Jordan those numbers were 118 and 104.
As for Kobe, he's played in 220 playoff games. His averages are 25.6 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.7 assists. He's connected on 45 percent of his postseason shots. His postseason Player Efficiency Rating is 22.4. His offensive rating is 110 and his defensive rating is 106.
LeBron James may not be the greatest player of all time and he's certainly not infallible. One thing he has proven himself to be, though, is one of the best clutch performers the NBA has ever seen. Sunday's shot wasn't an aberration. It was just the latest chapter in the yet-to-be completed book.
The signature event of LeBron James’s first stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers was probably his 48-point outburst against the Detroit Pistons in Game 5 the 2007 Eastern Conference finals.
His performance in that game said everything about the team James carried to the NBA Finals that year. In a game that was 3.1 times as important as the average playoff contest, James used 43 percent of the team’s possessions and scored 29 of its final 30 points en route to victory. He essentially rendered his supporting cast superfluous: Aside from James, the ’07 Cavs still rank among the least-talented teams ever to reach the brink of an NBA title.
Upon joining the Miami Heat in 2010, James of course enjoyed a far better set of teammates, including future Hall of Famers Dwyane Wade and Ray Allen (and borderline candidate Chris Bosh). But now James is back with the Cavaliers — and back to carrying a mediocre set of teammates through the playoffs.
While we speculated last August that this year’s Cavs might actually represent the best group of players James has ever taken the court with (All-Star Games and the Olympics notwithstanding), that was before Kevin Love and Anderson Varejao were lost for the postseason, and before Kyrie Irving was hobbled with a knee injury. As a result, James’s best teammates of late have been the solid-but-unspectacular trio of Tristan Thompson, J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert — a far cry from Wade, Bosh and Allen.1
If we look at a multi-year Statistical Plus/Minus talent projection for every NBA Finals team,2 this Cavs team ranks as the ninth-least talented NBA finalist since 1985. (By contrast, Cleveland’s opponents, the mighty Golden State Warriors, rank as the 14th-most talented.) Remove James, and things get even more dire; his supporting cast ranks as the third-worst team carried by its best player3 to the NBA Finals since 1985.
For James, though, this year’s supporting cast still eclipses the group he dragged to the Finals in 2007 — if barely so. Replacing James with a league-average player (rated 0.0) would drop this season’s Cavaliers from a +5.4 talent rating to -0.1. Yanking James off the 2007 Cavs would make a +6.2 team play to a rating of -0.2. James’s own rating was marginally better that year, but the 30-year-old has also relied more heavily on his teammates this season, playing 10 percent fewer minutes per game (weighted by the leverage of each game) than when he was an up-and-coming 22-year-old.
Either way, these are not the types of teams Lebron took to the Finals as a member of the Heat. Then again, it also bears mentioning that his supporting cast in Miami in last year’s playoffs wasn’t much better. That team was soundly beaten in the Finals by the San Antonio Spurs — as were James’s 2007 Cavs — so there’s a reason the Warriors are favorites in Vegas this year. But it’s also a testament to James that he’s carried the load for two of the bottom three — and three of the bottom eight — Finals supporting casts of the past 30 years.
His performance in that game said everything about the team James carried to the NBA Finals that year. In a game that was 3.1 times as important as the average playoff contest, James used 43 percent of the team’s possessions and scored 29 of its final 30 points en route to victory. He essentially rendered his supporting cast superfluous: Aside from James, the ’07 Cavs still rank among the least-talented teams ever to reach the brink of an NBA title.
Upon joining the Miami Heat in 2010, James of course enjoyed a far better set of teammates, including future Hall of Famers Dwyane Wade and Ray Allen (and borderline candidate Chris Bosh). But now James is back with the Cavaliers — and back to carrying a mediocre set of teammates through the playoffs.
While we speculated last August that this year’s Cavs might actually represent the best group of players James has ever taken the court with (All-Star Games and the Olympics notwithstanding), that was before Kevin Love and Anderson Varejao were lost for the postseason, and before Kyrie Irving was hobbled with a knee injury. As a result, James’s best teammates of late have been the solid-but-unspectacular trio of Tristan Thompson, J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert — a far cry from Wade, Bosh and Allen.1
If we look at a multi-year Statistical Plus/Minus talent projection for every NBA Finals team,2 this Cavs team ranks as the ninth-least talented NBA finalist since 1985. (By contrast, Cleveland’s opponents, the mighty Golden State Warriors, rank as the 14th-most talented.) Remove James, and things get even more dire; his supporting cast ranks as the third-worst team carried by its best player3 to the NBA Finals since 1985.
For James, though, this year’s supporting cast still eclipses the group he dragged to the Finals in 2007 — if barely so. Replacing James with a league-average player (rated 0.0) would drop this season’s Cavaliers from a +5.4 talent rating to -0.1. Yanking James off the 2007 Cavs would make a +6.2 team play to a rating of -0.2. James’s own rating was marginally better that year, but the 30-year-old has also relied more heavily on his teammates this season, playing 10 percent fewer minutes per game (weighted by the leverage of each game) than when he was an up-and-coming 22-year-old.
Either way, these are not the types of teams Lebron took to the Finals as a member of the Heat. Then again, it also bears mentioning that his supporting cast in Miami in last year’s playoffs wasn’t much better. That team was soundly beaten in the Finals by the San Antonio Spurs — as were James’s 2007 Cavs — so there’s a reason the Warriors are favorites in Vegas this year. But it’s also a testament to James that he’s carried the load for two of the bottom three — and three of the bottom eight — Finals supporting casts of the past 30 years.
