Remember The Time When The Basketball Media Almost Gave LeBron A Finals MVP After Losing 4-2

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

LeBron was the MVP of both of these past 2 NBA Finals and it really hasn't been close.

I am sure @Gil Scott-Heroin will pull up some analytical bullshyt to try and spin it, but we all saw it. He was easily the best player.

I don't need to pull up shyt. Stop tagging me with this nonsense.

 

[Supreme365]

WHY DO U THINK I HATE LEBRON BECAUSE IM SPEAKIN THE TRUTH?

39% FROM THE FIELD IS TERRIBLE. PERIOD.

IF KOBE LOST, I WOULD NOT BE HAILING HIM AS MVP FOR THAT SERIES ..... PERIOD.

If Kobe averaged 39 11 and 8 and pushed a healthy celtics squad to 6 games despite gasol and Odom missing the entire series then Kobe would've deserved it even if they lost

 

[Squirrel from Meteor Man]

Except he didn't.

Real ball players don't get into semantics. He basically put up 40 a game.

 

[GoddamnyamanProf]

Y'all keep dodging ...which one y'all place higher?

Best is the best. MVP tends to be more along the lines of the most impressive performance for a certain time period (one season or one series.) Sometimes those things are one in the same, sometimes they arent. Bron was both in '15 but tradition trumped it all when it came time to hand out the hardware.

 

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

Real ball players don't get into semantics. He basically put up 40 a game.

I'm not talking about the "semantics" differential here of him averaging 35.8 and you saying 40, I'm simply stating he didn't put up that amount of points when Iggy was guarding him. "Real ball players" understand that what a player averages isn't all on one defender (especially in the modern game).

"But Golden State Warriors forward Andre Iguodala has done a better job guarding James than either of them, as you can see in the chart on the right. James is 18-of-54 against Iguodala in this series, and Iguodala's defense has been particularly good the past two games."

"Of James' 54 shots when guarded by Iguodala, eight have been uncontested. Although James is 7-of-8 on open looks when guarded by Iguodala, he is 11-of-46 on contested shots when guarded by Iguodala."

"On shots contested by Iguodala, James is shooting 24 percent from the field. "

"When Iguodala starts a possession on James, the Cavaliers have rarely gotten him to switch off. Iguodala has started on James 90 times, and the Cavaliers have forced him to switch 18 times (20 percent).

But when they have, James is not taking advantage.

Over the past three games, there have been 13 instances in which Iguodala has switched off James after starting the possession on him.

James is 2-for-11 with a turnover on those possessions."

"Iguodala is not letting James get good looks off the ball, either.

Consider this: James has made 18 shots when guarded by Iguodala. Two of those 18 have been assisted.

James has made 32 shots when guarded by anyone else. Twelve of those 32 have been assisted.

On assist opportunities by his teammates, James is delivering. He's shooting 14-of-18 from the field directly off passes.

Those opportunities do not happen when James is guarded by Iguodala.

On the 74 plays James has been guarded by Iguodala, James has shot the ball when a teammate had an assist opportunity twice.

On 93 plays when James has been guarded by anyone else, there have been 16 instances in which a teammate had an assist opportunity.

That means that either Iguodala is not letting James get open off the ball or that when James gets the ball when guarded by Iguodala, he’s taking his time and trying to go one-on-one in isolation. "

 

[Bilz]

If Kobe averaged 39 11 and 8 and pushed a healthy celtics squad to 6 games despite gasol and Odom missing the entire series then Kobe would've deserved it even if they lost

And @Sccit and the other stans would have cried endlessly about how he was the best player ever and it was so unfair that he had no help.

 

[Cynic]

First off this is not a LeBron hate thread. I don't get into the corny Stan war shyt that be going on here. This is an indictment on the NBA media, which seems like it's been taken over by fukking nerds in the last decade.

This isn't Hip Hop...when has sports media ever been run by real n!ggaz ?

 

[Johnny Kilroy]

Saying he played a little below his regular season averages is a lot different than saying he got outplayed by some backup point guard who shot 28%.

It was just a hyped up David vs Goliath story, you're the one who apparently wasn't watching the games.

It's called exaggerating. Obviously Delly didn't "outplay" him. But the fact Delly gave him problems should be embarrassing. And the it still doesn't negate the fact Steph had a bad Finals. The greats step it up on the biggest stage and Steph became "one of the guys". He's lucky Kyrie and Love were out because he would have really looked bad if they lost.

He wasn't even the best player on his team IDK why yall defending him.

 

[MrWestGrand]

"These muthafukkas been talking shyt all goddamn year about a 3-1 lead, and you coming to the Bay for this moment, so these nikkas from Cleveland gotta go 4-0!"

 

[The God Poster]

It's called exaggerating. Obviously Delly didn't "outplay" him. But the fact Delly gave him problems should be embarrassing. And the it still doesn't negate the fact Steph had a bad Finals. The greats step it up on the biggest stage and Steph became "one of the guys". He's lucky Kyrie and Love were out because he would have really looked bad if they lost.

He wasn't even the best player on his team IDK why yall defending him. ​

​

You lost at the bolded ....you're too invested & in your feelings.

 

[DlAMONDZ]

I love how Westbrook this year put up much more impressive numbers in this year's postseason on basically just as awful shooting as Lebron did that finals and he gets absolutely crucified for it, while ESPN and every media outlet rushed to crown KANG James the #2/3 of ALL-TIME in a LOSS to the Warriors putting up worse stats on equally garbage shooting, shyt is straight up autistic. Don't even try to start the "B-b-b-but supporting casts!1!1!!" shyt, Oldaipo, Kanter, and virtually everyone else on the Thunder were unforgivably useless when Westbrook sat, Lebron at least had Tristan crashing the boards with Delly going off for a few games, Russ had less than nothing.

Oh yeah, and for anyone thinking LeBron still should have gotten it because he played the Warriors better than anyone in the postseason and no one did or could have done better than him, here's how Anthony Davis, at only 21 goddam years old in his first and only ever playoff appearance performed against that same team:

31.4 PPG, 11 RPG, 2 APG, 3 BLK, 1.3 STL 54 FG%

And again don't try the "Lebron had no Kyrie and Love, you can't compare the two!!!!!!111!" shyt, AD's 2nd and 3rd best players were chipmunk face ass Eric Gordon and Quincy fukking Pondexter playing through a torn ACL that still hasn't fully healed to this day, AD was on just as much of an island as Bron, with NO playoff experience ever to boot. Meanwhile Lebron puts up 30 or so ppg on 40+ shots a game at <40 FG% playing almost the entire 48 minutes every game and somehow he played better than AD? And Steph too, who took over basically every 4th quarter besides that one bad game 2 with clutch shot after clutch shot and he doesn't even get ONE vote???? shyt is absolutely hilarious, I've never seen a player gifted more for LOSING than Bron has. Where's KD's credit for dragging his young Thunder team through one of the most brutal ever playoff gauntlets to be the leading scorer with 30 ppg at only 23 years of age out of everyone on the Heat and Thunder in his first finals? Where's Steph's credit for leading one of the NBA's most historically pathetic franchises to 3 straight finals in the perenially stacked Western conference? There's none, only Bron gets this kinda credit and accolades for similar feats that end in a loss on the biggest stage. Everyone else is labelled a chucker, a stat padder, a choker, lucky, gifted by the refs, or not actually better than Bron even if he lost to them, just excuse after excuse. It's not like there aren't countless actual wins, championships, and accomplishments that solidify Lebrons place as an all time great player, but it seems like the 6'8 260 lb motherfukker has had every damn L he's ever taken obfuscated and excused into another win for him to go along with it.

Truth nuke right here. Goddamn

 

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

It's called exaggerating. Obviously Delly didn't "outplay" him. But the fact Delly gave him problems should be embarrassing.

You do realize that Delly wasn't giving him problems anywhere near the extent you're insinuating right? You do realize Curry was ultra-efficient for pretty much the entire '15 Finals except for one game right? You do realize that the Cavs defense was centered around getting the ball out of his hands and forcing his teammates to shoot right ? And let's just say for argument's sake Delly was giving him problems, now what's embarrassing about that? Delly is a defensive player; typically players who are predominantly defensive-orientated players have the most success when guarding their opposites, i) the main reason they get floor time is because of their defense ii) they don't have to bear the load of heavy offensive duties, therefore they have more energy for the d-end.

And the it still doesn't negate the fact Steph had a bad Finals.

This is 100% bullshyt.

Steph had a great Finals. The fact he was the center of attention, and had to deal with the Cavs overloading on him everywhere he went and yet still outscored every single one of his teammates by at least 10 ppg, as well as averaging more clutch points than any other player in the series on greater efficiency, while making the right pass time after time to get players like Iggy WIDE open shots is a testament to how great he was.

The greats step it up on the biggest stage and Steph became "one of the guys".

It's clear as hell you weren't paying attention to anything during that Finals.

He's lucky Kyrie and Love were out because he would have really looked bad if they lost.

He wasn't even the best player on his team IDK why yall defending him.

SMFH.

 

[Dwight Howard]

A loser should never win a finals MVP under any circumstance. Bron fans stay trying to rewrite rules.

 

[MrWestGrand]

Oakland stand up!

 

[Bilz]

It's called exaggerating. Obviously Delly didn't "outplay" him. But the fact Delly gave him problems should be embarrassing. And the it still doesn't negate the fact Steph had a bad Finals. The greats step it up on the biggest stage and Steph became "one of the guys". He's lucky Kyrie and Love were out because he would have really looked bad if they lost.

He wasn't even the best player on his team IDK why yall defending him.

So you were exaggerating in the other posts but you're not exaggerating now?

Most of the Warriors played well below their averages. Iguodala stepped up big and a lot of that was due to him being left open, but then again so were Thompson and Barnes and they didn't capitalize.

Iggy had the best series if we use handicapping, but Curry was still the most valuable if we look at them straight up.