2012 NBA Playoffs: The Pressure on LeBron James Tops Any Player in NBA History
If LeBron James is not able to lead the Miami Heat to an NBA title this season, he will face criticism that will far exceed the backlash he received after choking in last year’s finals.
There is no other player in NBA history that has entered a postseason with the amount of pressure James has on his shoulders right now. If the Heat win the title and Dwyane Wade outplays James in the series, the focus won’t be on the team’s victory but instead on the fact that once again LeBron failed to take control.
God forbid the Heat lose at any point during the postseason. If they do, even if James averages a triple-double of 30 points, 15 assists and 15 rebounds, media members and fans will turn to a moment or play in which James did something wrong and attribute that to the Heat’s failure.
Fans need to appreciate James for his greatness instead of critiquing him at every turn. He just had one of the best regular seasons in NBA history. What other player has led his team in points rebounds and assists, been their best defender and still been talked about with the amount of negativity that James receives on a daily basis?
Who are we comparing James to? We tend to compare him and all current players to all-time greats with a larger body of work. We shouldn’t be comparing James to Michael Jordan and Oscar Robertson, as they stand now with their careers complete. We should compare him to who these players were at the same stage of their career.
James is currently in his ninth NBA season. During his ninth season, Michael Jordan won his third NBA title. Jordan is widely considered the greatest and most clutch player of all time.
Let’s look at another all-time great who James has been compared to. Oscar Robertson is an NBA legend because of his knack for getting triple-doubles and his statistical dominance. (Sound like anyone else?)
Robertson’s elite numbers are the first thing anyone talks about when his name comes up. However, Robertson did not match his regular season success come playoff time.
Robertson won his first and only NBA title in his 11th season. He was not named MVP of the finals, and averaged just 18.3 points per game during the series. During his career, Robertson averaged fewer points, assists, rebounds and shot a lower percentage from the field in the playoffs compared to the regular season.
Does any of this get brought up? Not that I’ve heard of. If LeBron James ended his career with just one title and wasn’t even the MVP of the series, his career would be viewed as a failure. His name would be synonymous with choking, much as it is now.
There are great players who have performed far worse in the postseason than James. Still, due to the highly intrusive national media we have today, everything he does is magnified. If players like Robertson, Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain played today, they would be destroyed for their lack of postseason success and their regular season accolades would be largely dismissed.
LeBron haters have a new angle they can take if the Heat are able to win this year’s title. If the Heat win and LeBron performs at a high level, Derrick Rose’s season-ending injury will be acknowledged as the reason for their breakthrough.
I guarantee it. Stories of how the Heat had an easy road and were well rested for the finals will run rampant.
LeBron James has more pressure on him than any professional athlete in modern history. There is nothing this guy can do to silence his critics. It’s sad that instead of enjoying his historic career, we choose to ridicule his every move.
