Pacers with PG,George Hill,Roy Hibbert and David West ??? They were a 2010s version of the overrated 90s Knicks...Celtics post 2010 were old and the MVP Rose teams were not good enough,just a great regular season team like many many other teams in the East during that run,Raptors won 56 games in 2016 and 59 in 2018 but you wouldnt say they were worthy of challenging for the East lol,neither were the Rose Bulls teams or the 2015 Hawks who also won 60 games,just empty regular season records...Only time you saw worthy opponents was 2019 when LeBron conveniently left...
Lebron: "For the past 15 years I heard the East was easy and I couldn't do that in the West"
Pacers with PG,George Hill,Roy Hibbert and David West ??? They were a 2010s version of the overrated 90s Knicks...Celtics post 2010 were old and the MVP Rose teams were not good enough,just a great regular season team like many many other teams in the East during that run,Raptors won 56 games in 2016 and 59 in 2018 but you wouldnt say they were worthy of challenging for the East lol,neither were the Rose Bulls teams or the 2015 Hawks who also won 60 games,just empty regular season records...Only time you saw worthy opponents was 2019 when LeBron conveniently left...
B1G_controversy
Superstar
Beating one good team to get to the finals is not an accomplishment
The 2008-10 Lakers had to beat about 7 or 8 50 win teams just to get to the Finals, not 3
How does a nikka make the finals 8 straight yrs and only beat 10 50 win teams in his career...something ain't adding up
For some people, no player's accomplishments will be appreciated.
People will always create some narrative, no matter how imagined or out of person's control it may be.
Being criticized for certain struggles by people who have never won anything, or had the courage to even try, seems silly.
It seems to me that often fans criticize athletes because they do not match the standard fans create in their own minds.
I give him credit for the titles and stats he has,nobody can take those away but the narrative that he dominated with honors for 15 years is non sense without context and that context is the East was especially weak when he did not have a super team lined up...Matter of fact i think his poor Finals record speaks to the fact that he won in a weak East for a long time or else you'd be batting higher than .333 in the Finals..
Chabot College
All Star
Now the roster stacked? This wasn't the coli talk before the season started ......everyone was laughing cause they didn't get PG. All the jokes about Green, rondo, kcp, etc. Now they roster stacked
No one knew the Warriors would be bad enough to get the worst record in the league. Predictions dont mean shyt, results are all that matter. 2+2 doesnt stop equaling 4 just because someone doesnt know how to do math...
fifth column
Superstar
He took “Bron ball” with him so
My only counter to this would be that with 17 years in the league, Lebron would have enough of a sample size against Western Conference teams (regular season) that shows his performance is relatively the same across the board.
Looking at his career splits,
vs the East: 772 games averaging 27.2 PPG/7.3 RPG/7.3 APG
vs the West: 486 games averaging 26.9 PPG/7.6 RPG/7.6 APG
LeBron James Career Splits | Basketball-Reference.com
Identical numbers.
So really, what argument is there that Lebron would struggle if he was in the Western Conference? The only one is that he might not win enough. But that argument is entirely dependent on whatever teammates surrounded him if he was on a Western Conference team. So that's an indictment of team construction -- not player performance. The numbers show he performs the same against WC teams as EC teams.
But at the end of the day, everyone views players through a different lens.
Long Live The Kane
Tyrant Titan
Its his 16th season still playing at MVP level and his team is number 1 in the West...
He can flex a little. This is what ALL Athletes do
It’s something I’d rather hear at the championship celebration instead of as part of a concerted effort with his minions in the media to shamelessly steal the mvp from Giannis...and maybe some mention of AD helping him a bit with taking the team from the lottery to the first seed... but yeah I can’t knock him from using the “he can’t do it in the west” stuff as motivation... like you said, that’s something all athletes do
Lakers usually only faced one legit contender on the way to the Finals in their 2008-2010 runs too. You seriously think WCSF opponents like the Rockets led by Aaron Brooks or the Jazz led by Deron Williams were great teams?
The 2008-2010 Lakers didn't beat 7-8 50 win teams just to get to the Finals, that's a straight lie.
LeBron hasn't only beaten 10 50-win teams in his career, that's a straight lie.
And the 50-win cutoff is dumb as fukk. Those mediocre Rockets/Jazz teams didn't have a chance in hell of being Finals contenders, so who cares if the Lakers beat them? You know how many 55-win teams the Lakers beat to get to the Finals in those three years? ONE. Just ONE. And that was a Spurs team whose leading scorer was injured for the series.
LeBron beat SEVEN 55-win teams in the East from 2011-2018. Let me repeat, LeBron beat seven 55-win teams to get to the Finals, while the 2008-2010 Lakers only beat one. So just bump the cutoff up to an actual elite number, instead of a bunch of shytty also-ran Rockets/Jazz teams, and LeBron looks like the one who had actual competition.
My only counter to this would be that with 17 years in the league, Lebron would have enough of a sample size against Western Conference teams (regular season) that shows his performance is relatively the same across the board.
Looking at his career splits,
vs the East: 772 games averaging 27.2 PPG/7.3 RPG/7.3 APG
vs the West: 486 games averaging 26.9 PPG/7.6 RPG/7.6 APG
LeBron James Career Splits | Basketball-Reference.com
Identical numbers.
So really, what argument is there that Lebron would struggle if he was in the Western Conference? The only one is that he might not win enough. But that argument is entirely dependent on whatever teammates surrounded him if he was on a Western Conference team. So that's an indictment of team construction -- not player performance. The numbers show he performs the same against WC teams as EC teams.
But at the end of the day, everyone views players through a different lens.
The number of games are so uneven you cant make that declaration that its the same...Lets assume over the same number of games they are the same does that mean the East was as good when we clearly know it wasnt ??
You're a basketball know-nothing if you think the 2014 Heat were playing "Bron ball".He took “Bron ball” with him so
fifth column
Superstar
Why you singled out the 2014 Heat? I don’t think that team played “Bron ball” we know what happened after Bron left so don’t be disingenuous
Wait, who the fukk got old on the 2011 Celtics when they won 56 games? The 2010 Celtics only won 50 games and yet were up 3-2 on the Lakers before Perk went out, then they were HEALTHIER and BETTER in 2011. They just magically were young in 2010 because they looked better than the Lakers through 5 games, but suddenly got old 10 months later when LeBron owned their ass?
And if the Derrick Rose Bulls that made the ECF were just "empty regular season records", then what the fukk were the Steve Nash Suns when Nash was fukking 38 and led his team to the 2010 WCF?
If you don't think the Raptors were real contenders, then what do you think of those Jazz and Rockets teams that were making the WCSF?
Aren't the Pacers a better version of the Grizzlies team that was making Western Conference Finals?
Were the Hawks really any worse than Melo's Nuggets? Tell me how Melo did when he went East?
Y'all are selective as fukk when you make these arguments. Both the East and the West just have 1-2 good teams most years who really have a chance at the ring. If you switched the best team in the East with the best team in the West, and each team had to face the other team's path, you'd get the same result the vast majority of the time.
B1G_controversy
Superstar
They beat the 50 win Nuggets in 08 (1)
They beat the 54 win Jazz in 08 (2)
They beat the 56 win Spurs in 08 (3)
They beat the 53 win Rockets in 09 (4)
They beat the 54 win Nuggets in 09 (5)
They beat the 50 win Thunder in 10 (6)
They beat the 53 win Jazz in 10 (7)
They beat the 54 win Suns in 10 (8)
Kobe had to beat EIGHT 50 WIN TEAMS to even go to the final in a 3 yr stretch....not an 8 yr stretch, a 3 yr stetch
The WC teams were beating up on each other and still winning 50+...meanwhile the EC teams were barely winning 40
Bron never had to face a 50 win team in the first round...he barely had to face any in the 2nd round
One thing I know, the #s don't lie...the Western Conference has been the better conference since 1999
It ain't my fault Bron is 10-9 vs 50 win teams
And literally ONE of those teams won more than 54 games. Just ONE. And that team's leading scorer was injured for the Laker series.They beat the 50 win Nuggets in 08 (1)
They beat the 54 win Jazz in 08 (2)
They beat the 56 win Spurs in 08 (3)
They beat the 53 win Rockets in 09 (4)
They beat the 54 win Nuggets in 09 (5)
They beat the 50 win Thunder in 10 (6)
They beat the 53 win Jazz in 10 (7)
They beat the 54 win Suns in 10 (8)
Kobe had to beat EIGHT 50 WIN TEAMS to even go to the final in a 3 yr stretch....not an 8 yr stretch, a 3 yr stetch
You're seriously gassing up the Aaron Brooks Rockets and the Deron Williams Jazz as the great teams the Lakers had to beat.
Who the fukk cares who you face in the 1st round? Those teams ain't shyt. They ain't gonna win no ring.
What matters is the actual contenders you face, not mediocre also-rans. LeBron beat 8 55-win teams in the East from 2011-2018. The 2008-2010 Lakers only beat 1, by your own count.
So why is your cutoff 50-win teams? Why not make the cutoff 55-win teams. Aren't the 55-win teams MUCH more likely to be actual Finals contenders?
You're out here gassing up mediocre teams that were destined to lose and ignoring the actual teams that had a chance.
