Reality Check

Enough is enough and I am going to have to put my foot down. This whole LeBron thing has gotten completely out of hand. This went from well-deserved praise to full on slob on his knob status. Now I could understand if all of this was happening AFTER another magical performance in Game 6 that pushed Cleveland into the Finals. But Game 6 has yet to be played and people are trying to call this one of the top 20 moments in playoff history? Lets turn the hype machine and the hyperbole down a little bit please. It’s almost disrespectful to all of the other great moments in playoff history.

Now, I went to NBA.com and their ’60 Greatest Playoff Moments’ to just take a gander at what was up there (the link is here). There is no way that I would put LeBron’s performance above anything that happened in the Finals simply because it is a completely different type of pressure. So I started at #30…and already I knew it was going to be rough for LeBron. #30 on this list was Reggie Miller’s 25-point forth quarter against the Knicks in Game 5 of the 94 Eastern Conference Finals. So something like this has been done before? You don’t say. The Knicks in 94 were THE defensive team in the NBA during a completely different era where players had a completely different mindset. Yet Reggie Miller dropped 25 on them in a quarter to win at Madison Square Garden. I think that is more impressive then what LeBron did personnally…think of what Starks, Ewing and Oakley would’ve done to LeBron. Come on now.

Lets look at moment #25..Robert Horry dropping 21 in the 4th quarter and OT at Detroit in Game 5 of the 2005 Finals. And LeBron’s Game 5 performance is seriously better than that? Come on now people, lets not kid ourselves. “Big Shot Rob” going off in the Finals against a Pistons team who back then simply did not lose at home is bigger than LeBron’s performance.

And this is what is disappointing me because the people that are talking this up are “experts” who should know better. Why has no one brought up the Sleepy Floyd game? Simmons wrote a whole article about it and didn’t even mention it once in his article yesterday. The man had 29 points in the fourth quarter against THE Los Angeles Lakers. “Showtime”, Michael Cooper, the eventual NBA Champions that year. He had 39 in the second half and 29 in the fourth quarter. Granted it was at home…but that isn’t a bigger feat than LeBron’s?

So let me backtrack for a second…this is not me saying that what LeBron James did on Thursday night was not breathtaking or amazing or any adjective you want to use. This is me saying that all of the praise that it is getting is just entirely too much. And I hate when the media does this, I really do. They fail to truely put things into perspective, so now Joe Schmo is going to watch ESPN or read his newspaper and truely believe that LeBron put on one of the greatest playoff performances of all time.

This is what got me all hot and bothered. It’s a link to TrueHoop and an entry entitled “Where Does that LeBron Show Rank All Time?” Chris Broussard’s answer was particularly disgusting.

“Chris Broussard has seen enough. He believes: “The future is Bron’s, as he’ll render Wade, Bosh, Melo, D-Howard, Oden and the rest of his generation’s greats to second-tier status, just as Jordan did to Barkley, Ewing, Malone, Olajuwon and the rest of his peers.”

Ok Chris..firstly, you can’t say that because Wade already has a title. He already did to the Pistons what LeBron is doing now. And what’s more impressive is that he single handedly carried the Heat past the Mavericks in the Finals. Already because of Wade’s magical 06, LeBron can’t push him down like that. To say that LeBron is that far ahead of those guys because of one game is just way too much. MJ was THE MAN and everyone and their mom knew it. Those guys were living in the shadow of the greatest of all-time. This generation it is completely different…LeBron has not staked his claim to #1. There is a legit debate as to who the best player in the L is. You couldn’t argue against MJ.

I mean LeBron was in a zone that very few human beings can enter. He was a man possessed attacking the rim with reckless abandon. But lets think about this for a second…all Cleveland did was let LeBron go one vs. five during that stretch. They ran no plays, LeBron simply was not going to let the Cavs lose so he made it work. Now what happens in Game 6 when the Pistons make adjustments? I don’t humanly think that LeBron James can carry Cleveland like that again. That’s why I think they are in more trouble then anyone wants to admit.

I also don’t like the argument of “Well…LeBron is doing it with a shitty team”. So? MJ dropped 63 at the Boston Garden on the Celtics with a shitty team where Gene Banks and Brad Sellers were the 4th and 5th scoring options. To downgrade Reggie Miller’s performance in 94 because he “had a better team” is just ignorant. Reggie Miller completely took over and dominated the defensive team that almost killed the NBA. He was dealing with Greg Anthony, Derek Harper, Hubert Davis and the trees like Oakley, Mason, Ewing. Far cry from Chauncey Billups and Jason Maxiell. Plus courtesy of the rule changes and the idiocy known as Flip Saunders LeBron was able to do whatever he wanted.

My question is…if LeBron is so great why did he make All-NBA 2nd Team? Why are you all crowning him now? Be consistent for pete’s sake, he had a great game but you’ve gone completely overboard. If Cleveland loses this series then Game 5 goes right out of the window. He played a magnificent game, but leave it at that. Don’t say this is one of the top playoff performances in history when

1. Players have done similar things in the past
2. His team hasn’t even won the series yet

Tonight its showtime…and all eyes are on LeBron James. If he can do it again then damnit I’ll come right back around and crown his ass. But to hype it up and to put him over in this kind of fashion is just wrong. Tone it down a notch for my sanity. All I’m saying is its nowhere near the top 10 playoff performances of all time and he is nowhere near MJ, Bird or Magic.

• Now this is the Kevin Pritchard I know; leaving town because he thinks Oden and Durant aren’t participating in drills…they of course do.
• I am really hoping this isn’t true; Houston trades Shane Battier and the #26 pick for Rashard Lewis. The stupidity of that move could not be measured. You stole Battier from the Grizzlies, he is your glue guy, your defender, your 3rd best player. Why would you trade him for Rashard Lewis?