How do you think his performance in these Finals, compared to his last Finals run with the Heat?
Tachauer: Listen; James was, is and will always be a tremendous player. So while his performance with the Heat in 2014 was unbelievable, to be doing what he did in the playoffs this year, in his fifteenth season? That’s superhuman. I mean, he scored 51 points against the Warriors in Game 1, and almost had a triple-double in the remaining three contests. With a wonky eye and severely injured hand. Enough said.
Nurse: A 51-point game, a triple double and two rebounds shy of averaging a Finals triple double is a better statistical outcome than his last run with the Heat, so I would give this one the edge. Even though it ended in the same frustration, uncertainty and sense of a player giving up/being burned out.
Slater: Considering his hand injury, James looked human and at times very resigned to his fate. That’s understandable when they lost the first game in heartbreaking (or hand-breaking) fashion, and couldn’t really ever regain their edge. This Cleveland team was never meant to compete with the Warriors. There is an ocean between these two teams in the talent department, and in no way was James going to be able to win more than one game. Even at their lowest moment, a five-game loss to the San Antonio Spurs in the 2014 Finals, the Heat had never experienced a talent disparity quite like Cleveland has when dealing with Golden State. That is both a testament to Cleveland’s incompetence and Golden State’s greatness.
Gewirtz: His performance in these Finals was different than that of his last Finals run with the Heat simply because of the team surrounding him. During the Finals this year, it was clear James could not carry the entire team past the Golden State Warriors, especially after he had 51 points in Game 1 and the Cavaliers still lost. In 2014, there was no reason for fans to believe the Heat could not beat the Spurs just as they did the year before. However, that flip quickly switched and like this year, they could have easily been swept.
Mora: His performance this year has been the best so far. He played with a completely different team mid-season and still managed to make it to the NBA Finals. That’s an accomplishment on it’s own. Despite the whole “East is weak” statement, he had to get past a young and hungry Indiana Pacers team led by Victor Oladipo, the No.1 seeded Toronto Raptors and Kyle Lowry/DeMar DeRozan, and the newly formed (also young and hungry) Boston Celtics team. That’s not an easy road. This will go down in history as his best Finals performance, but will easily be overshadowed by the Warriors sweep.
Johnson: He’s inhuman! This year James had a heavy load to bare. These finals looked like more work to overcome, than any of the Miami years, though there were some similarities in the narratives between this year and 2014. James was hinted at having given up in both situations, suggesting that his time with each team was coming to an end. But when you’ve worked as hard as James has, without even the slightest off-court slip up – no driving infractions, drunken tirades etc. – I can cut him some slack. Don’t even get me started on playing all 82 regular season games this season. None of the Golden State Warriors players managed that, so that counts for something.
Keaton: It felt eerily similar, honestly. Moment of honesty: I didn’t watch a second of these Finals. But the feeling surrounding the team was very reminiscent of the 2014 Finals run. LeBron playing at an unbelievable level, and everyone else seemingly not on the same page. Going up against a superior opponent just proved to be too much.