LeBron leads the largest comeback in NBA Playoff history (26) while both Kyrie and Love are benched. He drops 41-13-12. ๐๐ค
This doesnโt get talked about enough.
MJ year 14 - 0 expectations
Kobe year 10 - 0 expectations
Steph year 12 - 0 expectations
LeBron years 1-21 - win or he can't be the goat
It just comes to a point where they're telling on themselves.
If you have the standards set so high, even for a player in his 21st season you have to acknowledge he's the greatest ever.
If he wasn't, there would be no reason to be have these ridiculous expectations from him year after year after year.
This has nothing to do with being a fan and everything to do with just being logical.
You expect this much out of him in year 21 because you know deep down inside if any player in history is capable of doing it for this long it's LeBron.
That's not longevity.
That's SUSTAINED EXCELLENCE.
You're expecting him to win, not be alright.
If he's alright and they win people will claim he was carried because they are always looking for a way to discredit him while expecting more out of him than anyone in history.
It was ok for Kobe to win while scoring 16 PPG.
It was ok for Bird to win when Maxwell won FMVP.
It was ok for MJ to win with Rodman and Pippen leading the way defensively.
But the instant LeBron wins and he's not the absolute greatest player in the series, they find a way to act like he needed all this help to win.
He can't win, even if he wins.
And that's how I KNOW he's the goat.
When you set a player up to fail no matter what it's because that's the only way you can discredit him.
You're afraid of the fact that he IS the GREATEST EVER and it's exactly why you set unrealistic standards that you would never be expect anyone else to live up to.
16 years ago today, LeBron James put up one of the greatest playoff performances ever:
๐ 48 Pts / 9 Reb / 7 Ast
๐ 25 straight points
๐ 29 of the last 30
๐ Game-winner in 2nd OT
He was just 22 years old ๐ณ