GREATNESS? NOT QUITE
His eyes were bloodshot. He was clinging on to dear life, it seemed. He sat on the bench slouched on his chair. The coach fired of instructions and plays, but he was in a daze. The buzzer sounded. Michael Jordan stepped up and continued to pummel the Jazz with a barrage of shots and drives to the hoop. His final line: 38 points, seven rebounds, five assists, three steals and one block. I’ve always had that image in my mind of Jordan finally collapsing into Pippen’s arms when the game was in hand, seemingly about to faint on the court. It would be remembered as the “flu game”. One of MJ’s greatest performances. One of those instances where a player goes from man to legend in 48 minutes. Bird had his treys, magic had the hook, Dr. J had his dunks, Wilt had his 100 points in a game.
The greatest players in history all have defining moments. Situations where the odds are against them, when its impossible to win. Yet it seems by almost will-power alone they put their teammates on their backs and carry them to the finish line. These guys could go into a 10th gear when necessary, but played in 5th gear all the time. Jordan, Bird, Johnson, Dr. J, Wilt, Havlicek, ‘Nique, Hakeem, and Lebron? Hold on for a minute. Now I’m not saying James isn’t a freak of nature, which he is, or one of the best natural talents in history, which he is, or even one of the best 5 players in the league now, which he most definitely is. But unlike so many other people, I’m not ready to Crown him.
His signature game 5 against the Pistons was an instant classic. James literally carried the Cavs to the finish line, scoring 25 straight and 29 of the Cav’s last 30 points starting in the fourth quarter, and ending in the 2nd OT. The other point in between? A free throw. James has definitely shown that he has that fifth gear that all the greats were seemingly stuck in, but I haven’t seen him stay in that fifth gear for a consistent period of time. This season he practically mailed in almost half the season, before turning it on to make the playoff run, and then turned it off again at the start of the pistons series until he turned it on again for games five and six.
Against the spurs, however, it was a different story completely. James looked flustered and out of place. His shots weren’t falling, he was making rookie mistakes, and he made almost as many turnovers as assists (six TOs to 7 dimes). On the other hand, battle-tested Tim Duncan was going about business as Usual. The big fundamental’s line was 24 points, 13 boards, 5 blocks, 2 steals, and 1 assist (on 10-17 shooting). Clearly, the teacher was still the teacher in this situation. Duncan was James’ perfect opposite. Duncan did everything he had to on both sides of the court. James, on the other hand, couldn’t get it together.
I’m not writing James off. Before everything’s said and done LBJ will be one of the greatest players in history, but I’m just not ready to say he’s the greatest yet. He still has ways to go, and he still needs to get stuck in 5th gear for a long while before I’ll reconsider.
The greatest players in history all have defining moments. Situations where the odds are against them, when its impossible to win. Yet it seems by almost will-power alone they put their teammates on their backs and carry them to the finish line. These guys could go into a 10th gear when necessary, but played in 5th gear all the time. Jordan, Bird, Johnson, Dr. J, Wilt, Havlicek, ‘Nique, Hakeem, and Lebron? Hold on for a minute. Now I’m not saying James isn’t a freak of nature, which he is, or one of the best natural talents in history, which he is, or even one of the best 5 players in the league now, which he most definitely is. But unlike so many other people, I’m not ready to Crown him.
His signature game 5 against the Pistons was an instant classic. James literally carried the Cavs to the finish line, scoring 25 straight and 29 of the Cav’s last 30 points starting in the fourth quarter, and ending in the 2nd OT. The other point in between? A free throw. James has definitely shown that he has that fifth gear that all the greats were seemingly stuck in, but I haven’t seen him stay in that fifth gear for a consistent period of time. This season he practically mailed in almost half the season, before turning it on to make the playoff run, and then turned it off again at the start of the pistons series until he turned it on again for games five and six.
Against the spurs, however, it was a different story completely. James looked flustered and out of place. His shots weren’t falling, he was making rookie mistakes, and he made almost as many turnovers as assists (six TOs to 7 dimes). On the other hand, battle-tested Tim Duncan was going about business as Usual. The big fundamental’s line was 24 points, 13 boards, 5 blocks, 2 steals, and 1 assist (on 10-17 shooting). Clearly, the teacher was still the teacher in this situation. Duncan was James’ perfect opposite. Duncan did everything he had to on both sides of the court. James, on the other hand, couldn’t get it together.
I’m not writing James off. Before everything’s said and done LBJ will be one of the greatest players in history, but I’m just not ready to say he’s the greatest yet. He still has ways to go, and he still needs to get stuck in 5th gear for a long while before I’ll reconsider.