As a kid from California, I have been spoiled to have the pleasure of watching Kobe Bryant and (more recently) Stephen Curry flourish in the NBA. But now that this year’s NBA Finals have come to a close, crowning the Cleveland Cavaliers champions after a heated, game 7 victory; lets all face it…LeBron James is pretty good at this basketball thing. As a Laker fan, the LBJ/KB rivalry has always compelled me to hate the guy, but as a basketball fan…I have to face the facts. This guy stared down basketball history in the face, and made it cower at his feet in less than a month.
Now, I’m not going to point out the many factors that could have swayed the outcome of the series, because I want to focus on what actually transpired…and because I’m such a sucker for history, I want to lay out the facts:
LeBron averaged WHAT in the finals?
- 29.7 points, 11.3 rebounds, and 8.9 assists(per ESPN)—The guy had near triple-doubles in each of the seven games against the reigning champions! The Warriors are a top defensively ranked team in the league! That’s dominance! He was clearly the best player on both teams combined…and the stats do not even come close. The scary part about it is that he progressively got better as the playoffs went on (26-8-6 vs. Toronto, 24-8-7 vs. Atlanta).
First team to overcome a 1-3 NBA Finals series score and win in a game 7
- Talk about chasing history! In the 50+ years of the NBA, no team has been able to defy the odds, and overcome a 1-3 deficit and win the championship until now. That’s like the time when they said Amelia Earhart couldn’t circumnavigate the entire glob—nevermind, scratch that.
He took the reigning champions’ dream season away
- It has been transparent all throughout the regular season that the Dubs were the better team, especially considering how weak the Eastern Conference has been these at least the last five years. When your name is LeBron James, it’s not really like facing Goliath as David…but it’s close enough. Statistically speaking, giving the historic 73 wins and 9 losses Golden State Warriors 4 losses (3 straight) in the finals says something about you. It means you’re a certified badass m-
The curse has been lifted
- Honestly, it would have been funny to keep the Cleveland sports team curse going since it was possibly one of the longest active losing streaks in sports history. But the fact that the prodigal son returned to The Land after finding fertile soil in Florida must have made the fruit that much sweeter.
