[chiefzilla1501]

The idea that late game performance has no bearing on a player's performance is just laughable. Big Ben, Eli Manning, and Joe Montana are offended that you tthink their performances were forgettable because they didn't throw for 400 yards and 5 TDs. Jordan hit 3 game winners in 1989. The Lakers and Spurs have had teams that literally ran the table in the playoffs. Many others. Dirk had some unbelievable late game performances last year against elite competition. It's not a slight to say LeBron didn't play legendary. It is absolutely homerism to look at the average playoff schedule he played, the lack of clear defining late game moments, and the kind of legendary historical performances you're measuring him up against and suggest that it was one of the best of all time.

Again, it was a great performance and he should be proud of it. Legendary? No. Cue the part where you point to statistics that don't factor in the clear statistics showing that Miami played average in close games last playoff run. And the part where you call me butthurt because I acknowledge he played great but wouldn't classify it as "legendary."

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

I'm not just pulling that claim out of my ass like you've done here repeatedly to suggest that LeBron lacks clutchness or doesn't have some kind of instinct. The stats merely suggest it is. Only Tim Duncan has ever had a higher win share total in a postseason than LeBron did in 2012: http://www.basketball-reference.com/..._yearly_p.html And only thirteen times in the history of the game has a player ever had a PER in the postseason as high as LeBron did in 2012 (Jordan did it twice): http://www.basketball-reference.com/..._top_10_p.html If that isn't a historic level of dominance, I don't know what is.


His overall dominance in leading the Heat to the championship (or in other words, his 4-quarter performances) is really the only thing that matters, not whether he took a few shots late in games, so I don't think I will.


I guess it's a good thing then that Peyton Manning was a pretty poor analogy for LeBron because LeBron has performed exceedingly well in the postseason (3rd all time in both PER and WS/48 behind MJ and Mikan).


I haven't said anything about "closing" at any time. I'm only talking about how good a player he is and what he's accomplished in his career with a particular focus on the postseason.


I trust LeBron and his elite BB IQ to know when to pass on the last shot far more than some bitter former LeBron/current Cavs fan does.


It was one of the best playoff performances of all time by any real objective standard and statistic that is out there. He quite simply carried the Heat to a title over 20+ games with some of the most dominant games in NBA postseason history. If the stats didn't suggest it was, I wouldn't be saying it. But they do.


I'm a Raptors fan. I have no reason to be a homer for LeBron. If anything, I shouldn't like him because he was instrumental in Bosh's move to Miami. But as any basketball fan should, I respect his incredible talent and accomplishments for what they are.