LeBron James Must Win These Finals to Salvage Hope for a Jordan-Esque Legacy
LeBron James, The King.
Wait, what?
LeBron has been sporting the nickname "King James" since before entering the NBA back in 2003. It began during his high school days, when he was leading St. Vincent-St. Mary to multiple state titles and garnering national attention.
But does LeBron, now 12 seasons deep in his NBA career, truly deserve to be dubbed "The King?" Can a player with more series lost than won in the NBA Finals really be "The King" of basketball?
To answer that question briefly, no. LeBron is not worthy of that title quite yet. He does, however, have an opportunity to earn his premature sobriquet against the Golden State Warriors with potentially two games left in the 2015 Finals.
With a win in these Finals, LeBron would vault up the ranks of historical NBA eminence and conquer a hurdle Michael Jordan never even faced. With a loss, he would waste another year of his ever-fading prime and let yet another championship escape him.
Allow me to preface our discussion about LeBron’s legacy with an explanation of why he is no king.
LeBron has awed crowds and dominated the league on his way to 11 All-Star games, four league MVP awards and two NBA championships. He has plenty of other noteworthy achievements to his name as well, and he is undoubtedly a future Hall of Famer and one of the best athletes the game has ever seen.
Despite all of this, LeBron has not reached the penthouse suite where Jordan, Magic Johnson, Bill Russell and select others will eternally reside. Johnson won five championships and three league MVP awards. Russell won 11 NBA titles. And Jordan, the true king of basketball, won six titles without a Finals series loss and five league MVPs.
What's the common denominator here? Championships. In order to gain entry to the NBA's most elite brotherhood, LeBron must take advantage of his Finals opportunities.
That includes this year.
The Cleveland Cavaliers in their current state are anything but a prototypical championship team. Down two All-Stars, the squad lacks depth and talent and has relied thus far on the emergence of unsuspecting stars such as Matthew Dellavedova, Tristan Thompson and Timofey Mozgov.
LeBron has had a seemingly impossible challenge thrust his way, and most have bet against him. Vegas favored Golden State heavily even before Kyrie Irving fractured his kneecap (h/t International Business Times), and after a Game 1 loss, ESPN's Chris Broussard said the Cavs "may be the only 12 to 15 to 20 people in the world that think they can get it done."
With such a hefty challenge comes inimitable opportunity, though, and LeBron has conjured quite an inspiring effort to seize his career-defining moment.
After three games against the Warriors, LeBron had given his team an improbable 2-1 series lead and had produced unprecedented individual performances. His 123 points were the most ever through three Finals games, per Sports Illustrated, and his Kobe-endorsed high-volume shooting (107 shot attempts in three games) had paid heavy dividends for his team.
| Points per game | 36.6 | |||
| Assists per game | 8.8 | |||
| Rebounds per game | 12.4 | |||
| Minutes per game | 45.6 |
But now, after a dismal team performance in Game 4 and an explosion by Stephen Curry and his team in Game 5, the Cavs trail 3-2 and must win two straight games to hoist the trophy. This is yet another arduous task for LeBron, but this time it seems within reach.
I won't get into how the Cavs can win this series; I'll leave that job for Jalen Rose and Doug Collins on NBA Countdown. But I will say why the team, and more importantly LeBron, must win this series.
The Cavs need to win this series for their city. Cleveland is the most deprived, starving sports city in the nation, having not seen a championship in 50 years. (San Diego has a longer drought at 51 years, but the Padres are only 46 years old, and the city doesn’t have an NBA team.)
Cleveland fans were given a true glimmer of hope after their team won Game 3, but they are now left wondering if LeBron can pull off a Herculean feat and if fate will ever end their suffering.
LeBron must win this series for two reasons: to reconstruct his chances of reaching Jordan-esque greatness and to recompense his hometown after his distasteful departure to Miami in 2010.
The decision LeBron made to leave Cleveland, the city that built him, to chase championships in Miami did not warrant the brutal response of Cleveland fans (i.e. burning jerseys in the streets). If he hadn't left, perhaps he would have been surrounded by mediocrity his entire career and never captured a championship. LeBron cannot be blamed for attempting to build a dynasty.
He can, however, be blamed for how he told the world of his departure.
LeBron chose to participate in the ESPN special "The Decision," telling the world he was "taking his talents" to South Beach to join forces with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh on the Heat. During his 10-minute interview, LeBron did not formally thank Cleveland or the Cavs for his seven years there. The publicity surrounding his decision made it easier for fans to scrutinize his word choice and his reasoning.
Now, five years later, Cleveland fans have graciously forgiven LeBron and welcomed him home. The perfect reparation to his fans and the city would be a championship, and although this year's seems slightly out of reach, it would certainly taste the sweetest in his first year back.
As heartwarming as a championship would be for Cleveland, LeBron's legacy lies above all other reasons why he must win this title.
Many people, including SB Nation's Rodger Sherman, believe that LeBron is in sort of a can't-lose situation. If he wins, he will have completed one of the most incredible title runs in NBA history. If he loses, he cannot be blamed because his All-Star teammates were injured, and he will likely win Finals MVP anyway.
In reality, this Finals series means more to LeBron's legacy than any other year, past or future.
Bear with me here. When LeBron left for Miami and finally joined a formidable Big Three, he was still able to win only two titles in four years. He wants to be the greatest basketball player ever, but he has three more Finals losses and four fewer titles than the real king, Jordan.
His titles were also marked with an asterisk by the likes of Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan, who both criticized LeBron for chasing championships and teaming up with other great players, per ESPN.com.
But LeBron can strike those criticisms from everyone's memory by winning this championship. His performance has already been historic, with two triple-doubles and a 36.6-point scoring average through five games.
If he wins, though, he will have seized perhaps the only opportunity he has left to stay on a path toward Jordan-esque greatness.
It's hard to imagine LeBron winning six titles. He won't reach Jordan's 30.1 career scoring average, and he ruined his chance to be as beloved as Jordan during "The Decision." But by winning this title without two All-Stars and against one of the most explosive teams the NBA has ever seen, LeBron will have won a more impressive championship than Jordan ever did.
No Pippen, no Rodman, no Kerr. Just Matthew Dellavedova, Tristan Thompson and Timofey Mozgov.
Steve Nash said it best on Twitter after Game 5: LeBron is "carrying a load unfathomable". Even if he doesn't raise the Larry O'Brien trophy, his performance will be remembered.
He could be just the second player ever to win Finals MVP in a losing effort (Jerry West was the other). As Bleacher Report's Howard Beck wrote, this could be LeBron's signature moment even if the Cavaliers lose.
But LeBron can't think that way.
With a title, LeBron would recapture his chance at reaching Jordan-esque prominence. All-time great distinction is not earned by what could have or should have been.
LeBron has said that he wants to be the greatest of all time. If he wants to even come close to reaching that goal, he has to win this championship.
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