70sFan wrote:By this "adding wins" logic, James isn't anything special either in 2013 and 2014 - his team went 7-4 without him and they made the playoffs in 2016 without him (probably would have done the same in 2015 without countless injuries). .
You're right, he isn't.
That leaves us with, *checks notes
-> 2012
-> 2017
-> 2015
-> 2016
-> 2020
All playoff runs where the difference in outcomes matches up or exceeds Jordan in 89 ad 90 who even going by superficial box score analysis, were his most "impeccable" postseasons
oh and
-> 2009
Put 91 in the mix and I can expand lebron's map to
-> 2013
-> 2014
-> 2018
This is as close to a 50 state strategy as it gets you know.
its not as simple as adding wins
Off course, alas,this comaprison only
gets worse when we get into the nitty gritty.
Remember that series you told me was jordan's "best defensive series"?
He averaged 4-5 defensive breakdowns a game vs 5-6 good plays by my count. He erased points in the paint once or twice a game, made 2-3 contests a game, and was involved in 1-2 of the full court presses doing the hedging as opposed to facing the defender directly(the more valuable part of the press). In non grabage time minuites he created 2-3 scoring oppurtunities a game, and even ignoring game 2 esque stat padding in game 1(his stastical best game of the serie sy far) he shot 54%TS against the league's 11th worst defense. As far as ball handling goes, he brought the ball up, 5-6 times a game, and once a game during half court possessions
This is Lebron against a defense better than the 88 pistons against dwight howard and a team of better shooters than his who were _white hot from three_:
10 OC a game(for reference, magic managed 12 OC a game aganst the bulls in 91), and massive ball handling responsibliites for turnover economy as good as jordan's ever managed.
He erased paint points from dwight 2-3 times a game, held all his 1 v1 matchups 2-3 points below their egular season averages(remember they were white hot EVERYWHERE ELSE.
Oh and he scored as well as jordan ever has against Dwight Howard and an elite perimiter defense.
To put it simply, we have seen, Lebron at his best, when it matters, protect the rim much better than jordan ever has, defend 1 v1 as well as jordan ever has, create vastly more than jordan ever has, shoulde rmore responsiblity than jordan ever has, score abotu as much as jordan ever has and do all that on better effiency than jordan's ever managed.
2016 and 2015 had Lebron, when you adjust for context, challenging teams as good as the 91 bulls. Even with a banged up curry, the warriors beat a team that played 65 wi nbasktball at full strength(okc). They missed their second ebst layer for a game and their 4th and 5th best player was banged up for a game. The cavs won by 2 possessions.
In 89, Jordan's crowning achievement was beating a 63 win rs team by a single possesion when their best player missed a game and was banged up for the series..
In 2015, before brining out the death lineup, ,the biggest factor, in the warriors going from 67 wins to a record bereaking
73 wins the cavs went toe to toe and stood a real chance of beating the version fo the warriors that went and wno 67 games.
IN 2015 Lebron's cavs outdid the 89 bulls as he had hisleast effcient playoffs. In 2016. they did it with Lebron playing better defense than jordan's ever played at 32, while creating and scoring at a volume that rivals what jordan has ever managed.
We can literally disregard when Lebron out did peak jordan at every major aspect of basketball for a vastly better resulting lift at 24, and Lebron still has multiple playoffs where he took his team to higher heights with worse or comprable help to Jordan at his most 'flawless'.
We really need to stop regurgitating this notion that Lebron outdoing jordan happened once or is merely some stastical phenomenon.His effiency is more reslient against great defenses on the sample of his entire career, he's challenged 91 bulls level teams b2b post the age of 30, and has out done jordan both in title winning years against absolute defensive gauntlets(2012) and against competition more difficult than jordan at his supposed title winning best(2009).
Go series by series, go game by game. You can take out 2009, 2010, and looking at actual results, 2012-2017 Lebron -still- had a bigger impact on playoff outcomes/results than 88-93 MJ.
Lebron is the one whose box stats correlate better with impact, Lebron is the one who has several playoffs where he provided comparable or better lift than jordan's eve rmanaged, and Lebron is the one whose effiency holds up much better against the best of the best.
At some point we need to call a spade a spade. Lebron is better.
.
