The Rodzilla wrote:why do people act like LeBron is not a freight train and wont get through McHale just like people walk through turnstile gates?
btw Jordan scored 19pts against them in the next game and I guarantee that wouldn't ever happen to LeBron, he would be an automatic 30 and 10 assists
You guarantee that something that has already happened to young LeBron would never happen to him? 22 year old LeBron was not an automatic 30/10 against any defense in the post-season.
In the 2007 playoffs, the Cavs lost game 1 vs the 41-41 Nets ranked 15th in Ortg, he had 18 points. Heck, after he dropped 48 on the Pistons, he had 20 pts on 3/11 FG, and he had previously had 10 and 19 in game 1 and 2. They won the game, but that's because his team was better than what Jordan had in 86 and the opponent was much inferior than the Celtics.
The Celtics were 1st in Drtg in 85-86, they gave up 102.6 pts/100. The 06-07 Pistons were 7th in Drtg and gave up 104.2 pts/100.
Lebron is a great player, but Jordan is a superior individual scorer and certainly was more so when both were younger. LeBron's jumpshooting was very inconsistent and he didn't trust it, that was even true with him part of the way into his prime let alone at 22. Jordan vs Boston that season is more comparable to LeBron vs the Spurs in the finals if we're actually talking about the level of the team and their level of defense.
The Celtics had Parish and Walton in the middle, they would probably put someone like DJ on him, but even McHale would be fine, because against 22 year old LeBron you're playing off him, you know the help will be there and you're making him a shooter. He's not going to be efficient shooting a lot of jumpshots, his jumpshot was pretty unreliable then, it could get hot, but it was not consistent, and Jordan was a far superior shooter at that age.
How is that any less difficult than having 35 year old Bowen guarding him with Duncan, Oberto and Elson behind? It isn't, the Celtics had elite rim protection and their primary perimeter defender was not on his last legs and could keep him from the basket with so much help focused on him.
Lebron was not a dynamic scorer at that stage, Jordan was much more so. He would almost certainly have a more difficult time against the Celtics than Jordan at that age with that level of a supporting cast.
None of that is a dig against LeBron, it's simply a reality of comparing both players at that stage in their careers and understanding their skillset.