LeBron James might not be Michael Jordan, but he’s about as close to a sure thing as the NBA has these days.
You want to get to an NBA Finals? In the ’90s, all you needed was Jordan on your side. These days, put James and your team and you’ll be playing in June for the Larry O’Brien Trophy. In another eight days he’ll be taking the court in his fifth straight Finals, something Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird never accomplished when they ruled the NBA hardwood.
Once the inevitable happened on Tuesday night and the Cavaliers swept the outmanned and overmatched Atlanta Hawks out of the Eastern Conference Finals, everyone wanted to know if James could deliver the first championship for Cleveland since the Browns won the NFL title in 1964.
“I will guarantee that we will play our asses off," he said.
That’s it. No guarantees of a parade because LeBron knows how difficult the Finals can be. Just last June he left San Antonio a loser, giving him a 2-3 record in the championship round.
But James gives the Cavs one heck of a shot in only their second trip to a Finals in franchise history.
Of course, the first trip came when James, only 22, dragged a greatly-flawed team into June, only to get swept by Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs.
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This time, James carried a team that is 12-2 in the post-season, the best record that he’s taken into the Finals. So he’s back for the sixth time in the last nine seasons, and this is despite not having Kevin Love for the last 10 games, and having to go without his top wingman, Kyrie Irving, for two of the four wins against the Hawks. The Love loss still could catch up to Cleveland, and there’s no telling if Irving’s balky knee will again flare up in the Finals.
But those issues didn’t matter against Atlanta. LeBron might not have been voted the MVP of the regular-season, but he’s been the class of the playoffs. He devastated the Bulls in their second-round showdown with his game-winning, buzzer-beater to tie the series at 2-2. In Game 5, he dominated with his best all-around game of the series, prompting Irving to say, “I commend him for putting us on his back.’’
The heavy lifting continued against the Hawks, whose 60 wins in the regular-season and 3-1 edge over the Cavs during the 82-game marathon mattered little against the four-time MVP. His epic Game 3 performance, with Irving sidelined, virtually guaranteed that he’d complete his first sweep in an East Finals. Because he sat out the final 12 minutes of the 30-point romp, he fell short of averaging a triple-double for the first time in a playoff series. But he became the first player in league history to post averages of at least 30 points, 11 rebounds, and nine assists in a series.
It’s not as if he’s marching into another championship round with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, either. Check out the skimpy playoff resumes of his new running mates. Former Knicks J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert and Timofey Mozgov had never gotten out of second round. Before this run, Irving and Tristan Thompson, whose rebounding, defense and high energy has softened the blow of losing Love, had never even been to the post-season.
But with James at his best, there isn’t a team in the East that can touch the Cavs in a best-of-seven playoff series. It was exactly that way in the 1990’s when the Bulls had Jordan and when it was his turn to win. His six championships over eight seasons are still the gold standard.
James may never match that record, but his presence in the East has to be a rather sobering thought for Phil Jackson, as he tries to rebuild the Knicks, and for all the other GM’s who are trying to figure out a way to contend with the new kings of the East.
“I'm a guy who believes in unfinished business,’’ James said at the podium after getting the Cavs back to the Finals.
He can finally take care of it. And it’s not as if he’s leaving Cleveland after this June, either.
Longtime New York columnist Mitch Lawrence continues to write about pro basketball, as he’s done for the last 22 years. His columns for NBCNewYork.com on the Knicks, Brooklyn Nets and the NBA, along with other major sports, will appear twice weekly. Follow him on Twitter @Mitch _ Lawrence.
