There has been a lot of debate of the years about who the GOAT of the NBA is. While many still consider Michael Jordan to be the greatest of all time, others say LeBron James has surpassed MJ. While Pat Riley thinks the greatest of all time is Magic Johnson, one man feels that LeBron will sacrifice that title if the Golden State Warriors complete a sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.
Stephen A. Smith on LeBron James
One of the most polarizing and controversial talking heads on sports television today is Stephen A. Smith on ESPN. He was talking yesterday on "First Take" about LeBron James and the idea that he could call himself the greatest of all time in the NBA.
According to Smith, that won't happen if the Golden State Warriors win Game 4 of the NBA Finals and sweep James' Cleveland Cavaliers.
Stephen A. Smith said that he will miss LeBron James when he retires from the NBA and that everyone will miss him. However, Smith pointed out that a player can not get swept twice in their career in the NBA Finals and still be called the greatest of all time. Smith pointed out that even with Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant with the Los Angeles Lakers, Allen Iverson was able to help his team win one game in the series.
LeBron James NBA Finals record
LeBron James is 17-26 right now in NBA Finals games, which is 39 percent winning percentage. Michael Jordan made it to the NBA Finals six times in seven seasons and won every time he made it there, winning the MVP every time as well.
That is one of the big reasons that Michael Jordan is often called the greatest of all time.
In his second season in the NBA, LeBron James took the Cleveland Cavaliers to the NBA Finals and the San Antonio Spurs swept them in four games. James has been to the NBA Finals now seven years in a row, four with the Miami Heat and three times now with the Cavaliers.
If the Golden State Warriors sweep the Cleveland Cavaliers, that will mean that LeBron James has made it to the NBA Finals eight times and lost five of them, getting swept in two of them. Miami, despite having a super team, lost to the Dallas Mavericks in 2011 and the San Antonio Spurs again in 2014.
LeBron did beat the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs in 2012 and 2013 and then returned to Cleveland and beat the Warriors in 2016.
However, the Cavaliers lost to the Warriors in 2015 and might do so again this year. If the Warriors sweep LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, all the NBA Finals appearances in the world won't save James from the fact that he couldn't win there.
