LeBron James has never denied his pursuit of greatness and his chase of the ghost that played in Chicago. In this year’s playoffs, the Cavaliers star further backed up his claim as a possible successor to his ‘Airness’ Michael Jordan after passing him as the top scorer in playoff history. However, with the Cavaliers facing the prospect of being swept by the collectively talented Golden State Warriors, his bid of becoming the greatest basketball player of all time is in serious jeopardy in the eyes of ESPN analyst Will Cain.
LeBron has to be ‘Big Game James’
Cain believes Game 3 is a must-win situation not only for the Cavaliers but also for LeBron James. The Warriors clearly dominated the Cavaliers from the get-go and the Cavs absolutely cannot afford to suffer another beat down on their home floor or else this series is a wrap. As for LeBron, Cain thinks all the Cavaliers star’s effort of dethroning Michael Jordan as the King of Kings of basketball will go to waste if he does not come up big and lead his team to a Game 3 win.
“Today is the biggest game of LeBron’s career” Cain said during his appearance on “ESPN’s First Take,” “I’m going to tell you why it’s the biggest. It is because everything ends here. It’s all over after tonight.
If LeBron James loses this game, it’s a sweep. On a granule level, this is over. The Cavs will be fractured mentally 0-3, there’s no coming back from that. This series is over.”
“And if this series is over. LeBron James, his motivation and in his own words, the ghost he chases everyday. In the offseason when he trained, when he wakes up in the morning, by his own word that goes is Michael Jordan.
And that pursuit guys, that is over. If he doesn’t win this game, that pursuit is over.”
Same scenario, different environment
James and the Cavs faced the same 0-2 hole against the Warriors in last year’s NBA Finals before they went on to pull off NBA’s greatest comeback ever by beating the Dubs in Game 7. However, history tells that teams coming back and winning the championships after dropping the first two games of the series doesn’t come very often.
In fact, only four teams – including the 2016/17 Cavs – were able to pull it off.
James, meanwhile, already forgets the feeling of going down 0-2 against the Warriors, saying “It’s last year and I don’t know the feeling anymore.” LeBron added during the media conference that his main focus is to strengthen his mind for the coming grind.
