Your line is tired breh.
That was because that was the only series in his career when a team focused the zone entirely on him while he still had prime Wade and Bosh to dump the ball to. Bron shot much worse against other great defenses in the 2007 Finals, the 2008 ECSF, the 2015 ECSF and the 2015 Finals, but he still kept shooting in those series because he had no other choice, his teammates sucked. And in every case except Chicago, it ended in an L anyway. In Dallas, he had a better choice with elite teammates and so he made the higher-% play. What's the point of playing with good players if you're not going to defer to them when they have a better shot?
How the hell would it have helped the team for him to score 22ppg on 35% like he did against San Antonio in 2007? He HAD to keep shooting in that 2007 series because his teammates were ass, but that didn't get them the win and it would have been even worse if he had tried that in Dallas. When the Mavs were there zoning up to 4 or 5 guys at a time to cover LeBron's lanes, it made more sense to swing the ball to Wade and let him cook one-on-one than to try to score against three guys and jack up a low-% shot.
There's no doubt that the Mavs definitely got in Bron's head and affected his game, but they did that with brilliant scheming and defense:
1. changing the primary defender constantly
2. zoning off his driving and passing lanes with 2-3-4 help defenders at once
3. daring him to beat them from outside before he was confident in that shot
They were elite against every primary ballhandler in that postseason. 32yo Kobe and the defending champs got swept in the WCSF with Kobe averaging just 23ppg on 46% shooting (22.7% from three).....why didn't Kobe shoot more? That was his lowest scoring total in an L since the Detroit debacle. 22yo Westbrook in the next series averaged just 23.6ppg on 36% shooting and 20% from 3pt and the Thunder lost in five.....would LeBron have been better off putting up numbers like that?
The Dallas series is a perfect example of how much scheming matters. That Dallas defensive scheme didn't just work against LeBron, it worked against EVERY hall of fame primary ballhandler the Mavs faced.
