RealGM

Who would win 1 On 1 in their prime under the following rules:

First to 11 wins (half court)
1 and 2 points
Both players have 6 fouls and if they foul out they lose
Both players are always in the bonus
1 FT after foul
loser outs
EDiT: 10 sec shot-clock

Jordans quickness with his hands/in general and ability to use said arms to contest shots well would bother many of Lebrons shooting attempts. So Lebron would be forced to try to charge at the basket a lot of the time which would work quite a bit, but Jordan would eventually start to get some key steals, and take some charges.

Lebron gets some blocks in here and there, but Jordan is quick enough to get the loose ball back even against Lebron a lot of the time.

At 10-8 Lebron gambles on a 2 but misses. MJ gets it back and nails the game winner. Walking away doing the fist pump.

Jordan 11 Lebron 8 or 9.

Jordan, he would care significantly more about winning a 1 v 1 than anyone but Kobe.

This is easily Jordan - he would trash talk him and play mind games, bait him to take long outside jumpers instead of using his size.

Lebron would win and pretty easily given your rule set. Too big. In one on one where he had to win he would just drive spin truck over anyone smaller than him and get layups. Without help defense there is literally nothing you can do against Lebron. This is why he's the best transition player of all time. One on one against the only guy back. He gonna score. That's one on one essentially.

Example of this is watch the 4th quarter of Game 5 of the 2017 NBA Finals. Warriors trying to hold onto lead and only need to prevent 3's. So 1 on 1 Lebron vs. Iggy (a great defender) and it was laughable how easy it was for Lebron to score against him with nobody helping at the rim.

Now you put like a short shot clock (5-8 seconds). I give Jordan the edge, Lebron wouldn't be able to bully his way to the basket. Jordan could fight off the first move and force a jumper, his quick hands could poke the ball away in the post (Lebron has a shakier handle for sure). But anything above 10 seconds I take Lebron easily.

One on one is different than 5 on 5 basketball. Size typically wins. (See Kareem vs. Dr. J for NBA examples).

IMO its a little closer than Shaq vs MJ, but MJ still wins more often than not (60/40 %) due to mentality and slightly better ballhandling.

dunno, i think lebron because he would get a easier time posting up or driving on jordan with his size/strenght/weight advantage

jordan would have a harder time guarding what is esaentially power forward size with shooting guard speed while lebron is quick enough in his athletic prime to guard jordan straight up (although he still would be in a speed disadvantage)

Bigger players tend to have a huge advantage in one on one with all else being relatively equal.

If Lebron had more of a power post game, I would have voted for him. But he doesn't. Lebron's go-to move in the post is a fadeaway off the right shoulder. Jordan has more tools and wins more often than not IMO.

LeBron's size makes it hard to pick against him, but Mike is more of a scorer and LeBron more of a faciliatator. If a NBA game came down to one shot, I'd rather have Mike isolated against LeBron than vice versa. So I guess that's the answer.

LeBron if it is an elimination game or tied 10-10

If it's an NBA one on one where it's 3 dribbles only then Mike wins every time. If they're playing by the rules of us mere mortals LeBron's gonna wear him out over time. Especially if they're not playing one and done aka Bron can just get his own rebounds off misses.

Heej wrote:If it's an NBA one on one where it's 3 dribbles only then Mike wins every time. If they're playing by the rules of us mere mortals LeBron's gonna wear him out over time. Especially if they're not playing one and done aka Bron can just get his own rebounds off misses.

This is the correct answer. But given the rule set in the OP, Lebron wins.

JLei wrote:Lebron would win and pretty easily given your rule set. Too big. In one on one where he had to win he would just drive spin truck over anyone smaller than him and get layups. Without help defense there is literally nothing you can do against Lebron. This is why he's the best transition player of all time. One on one against the only guy back. He gonna score. That's one on one essentially.

Example of this is watch the 4th quarter of Game 5 of the 2017 NBA Finals. Warriors trying to hold onto lead and only need to prevent 3's. So 1 on 1 Lebron vs. Iggy (a great defender) and it was laughable how easy it was for Lebron to score against him with nobody helping at the rim.

Now you put like a short shot clock (5-8 seconds). I give Jordan the edge, Lebron wouldn't be able to bully his way to the basket. Jordan could fight off the first move and force a jumper, his quick hands could poke the ball away in the post (Lebron has a shakier handle for sure). But anything above 10 seconds I take Lebron easily.

One on one is different than 5 on 5 basketball. Size typically wins. (See Kareem vs. Dr. J for NBA examples).

Good post, I disagree about outcome - I think MJ wins, but shot-clock is needed, good mention.
I think I propose 10 sec shot-clock, right in the middle.
If you favor Lebron over MJ due to size, you should favor Shaq even more:
viewtopic.php?f=64&t=2138094&p=94851861#p94851861

EDIT:
I forgot shot-clock: 10 sec shot-clock

Peregrine01 wrote:If Lebron had more of a power post game, I would have voted for him. But he doesn't. Lebron's go-to move in the post is a fadeaway off the right shoulder. Jordan has more tools and wins more often than not IMO.

Yeah I have the same line of thinking. If Bron just went straight-up bully in the post, then I could see him actually winning.

But other than that...Mike.

I did an article on this. I think MJ is a better 1-1 player, but Lebron would win in this matchup because of size. But even considering the size advantage MJ would give him everything he could handle.

So nobody wants to take the mental factor into account? This is not simply a matchup of stats and skills. Jordan would invent anything to feel slighted, then work to humiliate his opponent. Anyone who was even remotely compared to himself, MJ would take issue with.

When the Bulls played the Cavaliers in the 1993 playoffs, they had brought in Gerald Wilkins, aka ‘The Jordan Stopper’ in an effort to shut down the superstar.

However, Jordan had other ideas, giving Wilkins buckets the entire series, culminating in him saying “He can’t guard me, he can’t guard me” after he hit a tough shot.

The night before Game 1, playing cards with Magic Johnson, he said “You know what’s gonna happen tomorrow, I’ma give it to this dude.”

Jordan scored a Finals-record 35 of his 39 points in the first half and set another record with six 3-pointers – the very shot the Blazers wanted him to take – in the first two quarters of the Chicago Bulls’ 122-89 victory in Game 1.

One game in Utah, Jordan dunked on John Stockton. Jazz owner Larry Miller yelled “pick on someone your own size.” On the next possession he dunked on 7’1 center Mel Turpin and shouted “he big enough for you?” as he ran back up the floor.

This is not to compare these opponents to Lebron. This is to show Jordan's assassin mentality which Lebron would have a difficult time with. Remember the all-star game where Kobe was mocking him for passing the ball in clutch moments? 1 on 1 is just not Lebron's strength.

The Explorer wrote:So nobody wants to take the mental factor into account? This is not simply a matchup of stats and skills. Jordan would invent anything to feel slighted, then work to humiliate his opponent. Anyone who was even remotely compared to himself, MJ would take issue with.

When the Bulls played the Cavaliers in the 1993 playoffs, they had brought in Gerald Wilkins, aka ‘The Jordan Stopper’ in an effort to shut down the superstar.

However, Jordan had other ideas, giving Wilkins buckets the entire series, culminating in him saying “He can’t guard me, he can’t guard me” after he hit a tough shot.

The night before Game 1, playing cards with Magic Johnson, he said “You know what’s gonna happen tomorrow, I’ma give it to this dude.”

Jordan scored a Finals-record 35 of his 39 points in the first half and set another record with six 3-pointers – the very shot the Blazers wanted him to take – in the first two quarters of the Chicago Bulls’ 122-89 victory in Game 1.

One game in Utah, Jordan dunked on John Stockton. Jazz owner Larry Miller yelled “pick on someone your own size.” On the next possession he dunked on 7’1 center Mel Turpin and shouted “he big enough for you?” as he ran back up the floor.

This is not to compare these opponents to Lebron. This is to show Jordan's assassin mentality which Lebron would have a difficult time with. Remember the all-star game where Kobe was mocking him for passing the ball in clutch moments? 1 on 1 is just not Lebron's strength.

Exactly this. Also FTs could be a factor, even if lesser than in MJ vs Shaq battle. Jordan could foul in some possesions and hope Lebron will miss with his 75% FT rate.

Gregoire wrote:

JLei wrote:Lebron would win and pretty easily given your rule set. Too big. In one on one where he had to win he would just drive spin truck over anyone smaller than him and get layups. Without help defense there is literally nothing you can do against Lebron. This is why he's the best transition player of all time. One on one against the only guy back. He gonna score. That's one on one essentially.

Example of this is watch the 4th quarter of Game 5 of the 2017 NBA Finals. Warriors trying to hold onto lead and only need to prevent 3's. So 1 on 1 Lebron vs. Iggy (a great defender) and it was laughable how easy it was for Lebron to score against him with nobody helping at the rim.

Now you put like a short shot clock (5-8 seconds). I give Jordan the edge, Lebron wouldn't be able to bully his way to the basket. Jordan could fight off the first move and force a jumper, his quick hands could poke the ball away in the post (Lebron has a shakier handle for sure). But anything above 10 seconds I take Lebron easily.

One on one is different than 5 on 5 basketball. Size typically wins. (See Kareem vs. Dr. J for NBA examples).

Good post, I disagree about outcome - I think MJ wins, but shot-clock is needed, good mention.
I think I propose 10 sec shot-clock, right in the middle.
If you favor Lebron over MJ due to size, you should favor Shaq even more:
viewtopic.php?f=64&t=2138094&p=94851861#p94851861

I do not. MJ is a good enough shooter where the 2s matter. Shaq will get 1 on 99% of possessions. But you just have to make 50% of your 3's to match it which given how much cushion Shaq would have to give Jordan due to his speed I'd think Jordan would make more than that.