JordansBulls wrote:toodles23 wrote:Doctor MJ wrote:The issue is that LeBron didn't kick into this mode simply because of the stakes. We've seen in the past that LeBron isn't someone who is capable of flipping that switch in the same way as Jordan or Shaq. He gets in his own head a lot more, which is why some of his worst moment have come with his back to the wall.
If I weight odds, then the odds of LeBron going nuts like he's done here simply based on it being the finals, etc, the odds are very low and absolutely not worth overwhelming the entire season leading up to that.
But, however he got here, LeBron appears to be here now, and that may well be what gives Cleveland its first championship since rock & roll was for teenagers, and that should be a really big deal.
Of course as I say all this, we all have to wait and see what happens in Game 7.
It's not like Kerr to make a major adjustment in Game 7, at least from what we've seen, but as I like to say: There's nothing hard about stopping LeBron or anyone else from scoring, you just have to commit enough man power to it and be okay with other openings. Right now Cleveland is winning largely as a 2-man show in a way that frankly Westbrook/Durant came nothing close to, and they're doing it with a 3rd offensive star who can't seem to get used by the offense. To me they seem like exactly the type of team you'd try to "make someone else beat us".
Granted as I say all this, now that Cleveland has its groove going, the passing & movement looks excellent, which will make it much harder to stop. This is why it's so critical to keep a team from grooving, as any opponent of the Golden State Warriors will tell you. The good news is though that even when Cleveland's team offense looks great, that doesn't mean it looks great in the half-court. If they can minimize fast break opportunities, and go hard on LeBron & Kyrie in the half court, to me the game is quite winnable for them.
With all due respect Doc, I think you're wrong about Lebron not being able to "flip the switch", so much as that's even a real thing that NBA players can do. I'd argue that since Lebron plays a more team oriented game than Jordan, his switch flipping would be less likely to show up in his individual numbers. So that has me looking at his team results, which show his teams winning series after going down many times, probably more than any star in NBA history:
Down 1-0 against the Bulls in 2011, down 2-1 to the 2012 Pacers, down 3-2 the 2012 Celtics, down 1-0 against the 2012 Thunder, down 1-0 to the 2013 Bulls, down 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 to the 2013 Spurs, down 1-0 to the 2014 Pacers, down 1-0 and 2-1 to the 2015 Bulls, and now down 3-1 to the Warriors and coming back to tie the series (even if they lose on Sunday, which is more likely than not, I think it's obvious he and the Cavs have played far better in this series with their backs against the wall)... Even in his first stint in Cleveland he trailed 2-0 against the Pistons before winning 4 straight. That's 9 times, 8 in the last 6 years, with a possible 10th pending the Warriors series.
There's a clear, established pattern here. Coming back from deficits where his team "had their backs against the wall" has happened too many times for it to be simple dumb luck.
Thing is is that Lebron despite all of his brilliance has been down every year of his career at least 3-2 in a series. Essentially always either having to come back from down in a series even years as the favorite and years he won the title. That is not a good pattern to follow. Hakeem was also in the same situation.
JordansBulls, you're the MVP of RealGm. We can't live without you.
