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Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501
And yet Jordan did. You keep talking about a few big games sprinkled in with a lot of consistently very good games. Jordan was dominant the vast majority of playoff games he played.
I don't think there is a single person that would doubt that Westbrook and Harden and everyone not named Kevin Durant was ice cold for pretty much the entire series. They were unready for the big stage. And that's only one series out of 8. I think most would agree that if the Spurs play their game, it is by a mile the best team they'll see all postseason.
By the metric that the Eastern Conference the past 2 years has been absolute dogshit and everybody knows it. And you've got to be kidding me, comparing LeBron's defenders against Jordan's. Jordan played in an era of massive handchecking and squared off regularly against elite defenders like Bryon Russell and Joe Dumars and Gerald Wilkins.
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Talking about the big games, because I don't want to sit here and list every game he had. you said jordan averaged 33 per game. lebron averages 28 and about 1 assist more. By your logic, jordan's consistently dominant play was worth about 3 more points per game? I'm pretty sure Lebron has led his teams in points, assists, and rebounds. He averages nearly a 30 point triple double. What exactly is your definition of dominant at this point?
Did you watch the finals? If not for one boneheaded play at the end, Westbrook's 43 almost won them game 4. This is the same OKC that beat a very very similar spurs team that you just mentioned. Regardless. I'm failing to see how you're discounting Lebron's competition. Like I said, he's gone up against the best defense in the league nearly every year in the playoffs. That detroit team he dropped 48 on wasn't just a good defense, it was one of the most elite defenses in the history of the nba. As for the last two years, best defenses in the nba belonged to... chicago, indiana, boston, and philly, also known as Lebron's playoff opponents.
Yes, they had handchecking in Jordan's era, but they also had nothing like the strong side shading defenses which means the whole team can focus on keeping a guy out of the paint. And yes, handchecking meant some of the stronger guys could basically guide the offensive player where they wanted them to go, but still, with how easy it was to iso, and with the rudimentary double teaming techniques, basically, if you could get by your man, the defense was toast. Those scarce "elite" defenders were nowhere near as effective as the elite team defenses currently in the NBA.
Also, of those three you mentioned, only dumars was an elite defender, russell was just an athletic guy comparable to a richard jefferson, and wilkins was just an unfortunate nickname. Remember who was guarding Jordan during "the shot?" Freak athlete, defensive stalwart, Craig ****ing Ehlo. With a few exceptions, the league was nowhere near as athletic then as it is now.
And I'm not saying this to denigrate what Jordan did, I'm just saying Lebron's clearly in the conversation in a way that nobody else in our generation has been before.