LABron James Discussion: The Final Year?

FInals MVP

 

Really should be co-MVPs with Davis. Lebron has been more important for the offense but AD on defense is the key to Lakers.

 

My opinion of LeBron is that he plays better when his team is outmatched in talent. I've followed his entire career and he's always overperformed when his team had lower expectations and underperformed when they had higher expectations. I'm not sure what it is. It's like he relishes making something out of nothing. Either way, he's still the best player in the Finals. I expect a statement game in game 5. I think the Finals MVP is his to lose at this point. AD wasn't flashy in the past two games so the voters will have no choice but to give it to LeBron. If it were up to me, I'd get the other voters to make it a co-MVP situation where one voter votes Butler and the other ten vote LeBron/AD 5-5. Neither were great game 3 and AD/Bron were neck-to-neck after game two.

 

Hit his FT's lol

 

LeBron is averaging 28/11 rebounds/9 assists shooting 54% from the field and 37% from three and people, including myself, think he's playing average.

Need a great game from him for game 5. Heat will come out gunning.

 

TBH the Lakers havent' figured out the packed in paint defense that Denver started playing in game 2. for all the love Spoelstra getting it took him two games to go back to what was working for Denver and Mike Malone.

The Lakers are awesome on D: one of the great defensive teams of all time if you want to get down to it. Tons of rim protection, a freak defender in AD, and Lebron to throw onto any player going off in the 4th, and then almost everyone else on the team buys into defense without a true weak link ala Herro/Robinson/etc

On offense, they are an amazing fastbreak team and can kill most gimmick defenses such as zone but they don't have enough shooters to have figured this packed paint defense. It's the biggest reason other then Lebron's age that Lakers halfcourt offense is not elite compared to the rest of the game. Get more shooting and then you can hunt down the mismatches easier

 

I'm advocating for him to attack from the wing and the post in the clutch for a LONG time instead of operating from the top of the key .

What's the point of having Rondo out there if Bron can't be put/used more in a scorer position down the stretch .

On the other hand :

-Lebron DID create 15 missed open threes for his teammates.
- AD doesn't make any contact on his screens

 

Finals MVP

 

All time records by the king that might never be broken. all time Playoffs turnovers.



All time Finals turnovers

 

Alot of Lakers on that list! I guess the more Finals games equal more turnovers, but dang. I'd like to see there average per game.

 

I was thinking this too. I think it has something to do with expectations and perceptions of him. When his team is the underdog with less talent, losing would be publicly accepted. But when he’s the heavy favorite, anything short of meeting those expectations would be a failure. As amazing as he is, he’s always battled with his basketball image (check my stats, witholding shots to preserve fg%). He’s matured, but I think it’s still there. It’s like a team in the 4th quarter playing not to lose.

 

The key moment in the game was Butler had just tied it up at 83 and there was 6 minutes to go....LeBron is PISSED that Butler got that layup on him, he takes the ball, he splits the defense, he goes hard at the rim and gets fouled hard, AND 1. I thought that was a CRITICAL play because Miami had been hanging around and it was looking like they were about to take the lead again and blow it open (because they had been hitting some ridiculous shots)...but that stopped their momentum big time.

LeBron is a gamer - anybody that thinks he didn't take Butler or Herro's antics in game 3 as disrespect must have not watched this guy for the past 17 years.

I'm looking forward to a CLASSIC LeBron James close-out game in game 5. 36-13-12 type of game. Shrugging of the shoulders. He's going to go all out and he's also going to make sure Butler/Bam don't get theirs. LeBron is an absolute BEAST in close out games...as in he's never lost a series when he's one win away from closing it out.

He's also eyeing FInals MVP - he's going to make sure he gets it.

 

He looked gassed at the end there. This extra day of rest might do wonders for him (and AD too). Like @fabfourlakers said above, he's going to destroy Miami on friday. Insane triple double quite possible.

 

This is a great point. Have always wondered why they don't run more Lebron/AD PnRs but you're right. It's the same issue with him posting up versus getting him the ball on the move, he doesn't have a wide base to begin with and then he tends to lose his stance anyway with contact.

Next game they better play Dwight when Bam is in and AD is sitting. Dwight sets some monster screens (he has trouble in that 5 out attack but with Bam not an issue)

 

Lebron/AD pick and roll usually ends up with Bam onto Lebron and Crowder/Butler onto AD. Just not advantageous enough as getting Duncan/Herro onto Lebron.