All signs point to Lebron James making his 7th straight finals and his 8th overall and a chance to win his fourth championship. I personally don’t think there is much pressure on James because of how good the Warriors are even though I think the Cavs will beat them for a second straight year.
As unfair as it seems, as much as people don’t want to, Lebron will always be compared to Michael Jordan. I personally think if Lebron can pull off another historic finals and beat the Warriors for a second straight year Lebron will pass Jordan for the best of all time.
There are many reasons I think this. Lets first start with stats. Unless an insane injury happens Lebron will pass Jordan on the rebounds, assists, and points all-time list. This would prove that Lebron was a more dominant regular season player.
Now on to the playoffs which is what everyone cares about. Lebron just got his 10th series sweep which is more than Jordan and the most of all-time by any player. Everyone will say well he plays in a horrible Eastern Conference which I won’t argue because it is. But at the end of the day, a sweep is a sweep and having ten of them is an insane number.
I understand Jordan has never lost an NBA finals but people fail to realize that Jordan had so much trouble getting out of the first round early in his career which James didn’t. Also to add Jordan had a much better team than James had early in his career and the East was no cake walk early in Lebron’s career. Jordan started to get dominate once the “Bad Boy” Pistons got old. In their prime, Jordan couldn’t beat them. Don’t get me wrong though Jordan beat some good teams like the Rockets, Suns and Jazz. Those teams were no joke.
Lets now go on to the years Lebron lost in the finals. The first time he made it to the finals he had to play the San Antonio Spurs who were so dominant. Lets also not forget the second best player on the Cavs that year was probably Larry Hughes who was at the end of his prime. In my eyes, Jordan wouldn’t have beat the Spurs with Lebron’s team.
Then in 2010 Lebron while on the Miami Heat played the Dallas Mavericks in the finals and lost. There is no excuse there they just lost. No one was stopping Dirk that year. Then the following year he played the Thunder which he won in five games.
In 2012 he beat the dominant Spurs in seven games. The following year he lost to the Spurs again in five games. The worst Finals loss in NBA history by overall point differential. Once again there is no excuse there the Spurs were just too much for him. Then he went back to Cleveland where he played the Warriors in the 2015 finals which he lost, but once again he didn’t have Irving or Love and I think if he did he would of beat them. Not to mention he still took them to six games basically by himself. I don’t think Jordan would have even been able to push the Warriors to six games with that team.
Then last year he came back fully loaded with Irving and Love to play the Warriors again. This has been the most impressive thing he has ever done in his career. The Warriors won 73 games last year which was the most of all time. They jumped out to a 3-1 lead over Lebron and company did multiple things that weren’t imaginably. The Cavs beat the Warriors three straight games which didn’t happen all year. They beat the Warriors two games in a row at Oracle which never happened at all last year and how can I forget they became the first team to come back from 3-1 in the NBA finals. Jordan never did that and yes he never played in a game seven in the finals but he also never had to play a team like the Warriors.
Now on to this year where is will most likely be the Warriors and Cavs this year. The Warriors might not have won 73 games this year but they are much better this year with the addition of Kevin Durant. If my prediction is right and the Cavs beat the Warriors again Lebron should be considered the best of all time.
He would beat arguably the most dominant team on paper two straight years. Jordan never had the play teams as dominant as the Warriors and Spurs were. James has made it to the finals with worse teams and had to play one of the best coaches of all time in three finals. Jordan didn’t have to do this because he had the best coach of his time in Phil Jackson.
I think Lebron will end up with six or seven rings which will be equal or one more than Jordan. Jordan played in fewer finals and never lost though but James had to deal with a lot harder circumstances. This year could be a career defining moment for Lebron James and everyone is foolish to count him out. But when he does win the finals this year everyone better be ready to say he is better than Jordan.
