Playoff Pressure

I love the NBA, I have watched almost every single playoff game over the course of the last month and a half (I did not watch all of the first round games...but a good chunk). And I will openly admit that I am a LeBron hater! I think my biggest gripe against him has been the inordinate amount of hype, for someone who had never accomplished anything. I will gladly admit he is the most physically gifted athlete in the NBA I have seen in a long time, but to say he is, was or will be the greatest player...well he had to win at least a ring first. I watched him play and have followed his career since the beginning, and I was fairly convinced he would never be able to accomplish that goal: winning an NBA championship.  Mostly because of how he responded under pressure...he would take all of the ownership of having to win the game on himself..or he would collapse under the pressure of needing to be great. Sometimes he could deliver, he has freakish ability ask the Boston Celtics this year, or the Chicago Bulls last year, or the Orlando Magic a few years ago when Cleveland made the finals on LeBron's back. He can win a series by himself...but not a Championship.

This year, something was different. Oklahoma City doubled and sometimes tripled LeBron all series. It did not have a tremendously negative affect on his game...He averaged 28.6 points per game...What it did do was force Lebron to grow up! He did not settle for many ill-advised jump shots...he drove, he dished, he got to the foul line (too much if you ask me, David Stern and Joey Crawford should both get rings from Miami... but that is another story). Oklahoma City, by ratcheting up the pressure on LeBron forced him to trust his teammates! Mike Miller stated this point during the game 5 half-time interview..."They gotta double LeBron" when asked he got open for all of his 4 of his first half three point shots.

Here is some comparison stats... In the Boston Series, LeBron was hardly ever doubled, in fact the C's even mixed in some zone defense to confuse the Heat... and it worked. They forced LeBron into a Herculean performance to get past them...Lebron averaged almost 40 points a game and he was good enough to beat an older declining team. Only two other Heat players averaged double digits in the Celtics series Mario Chalmers (14) and D-Wade (25).

This may sound counter-intuitive but by OKC doubling LeBron...saying we are not going to let you beat us, they in fact handed him the key Miami's victory. They took the pressure off of LeBron by increasing the pressure they put on him. He became a distributor and facilitator for Miami's offense.  5 Heat players averaged double digit points in the Finals: Battier (11.6), Bosh (14.6), Chlamers (10.4), James (28.6), and D-Wade (22.6). James was not a one man band, he was forced to trust his teammates and they did not let him down.

I wonder if LeBron would have "allowed" or even challenged to average 40 points like he did against the Celtics if he could have under the pressure of the NBA Finals.....Kudos to Miami, I still don't like LeBron... and I think OKC vs Miami is your finals for the next 3-4 years (assuming no major injuries) and we get to see who will be the best player of this era will be KD or King James. This has the chance to turn into Bird vs. Magic in the 80's. I don't think Lebron and the Heat are so far ahead of everyone else that they will be like the Bulls of the 90's. And KD will end up with more rings.