Facebook, YouTube and iPhone. Three things are anything but recent, but they They did not exist when LeBron James debuted in the NBA on October 29, 2003. Neither does his son, Bronny James (with whom he now shares a team) was still born. LeBron is much more than a veteran hardened in a thousand battles and the oldest player in the league. His figure has transcended time and the word longevity has seen its meanings modified by the hand of rey. After starting his twenty-third season, still as a starter and being key in one of the best teams in the league; The question is: where is the limit? Still in its twenty-second season, the monster average 24,4 points, 7.8 rebounds y 8.2 assists; unprecedented numbers after more than 20 years, and nowhere near his career averages.
The word regularity sounds banal and simple, but there is nothing simple about maintaining a straight line for more than two decades; Nobody has done it, nobody has been even close to it. LeBron is unique in this regard. It seems implausible that the king’s highest average mark in a season is ‘only’ 30.3 points; he did it in 2021-22. It was the second time in his career that he crossed the barrier of 30 average points (the 2007-08 was the first). But the thing is that they never (saving their season of rookie) has dropped from 24.4 pointsa minimum it reached last year. This season, now past its first third, is opening like a turning point in the impossible in the forward’s career. His scoring record has dropped to 20.3 points on average; the best outside pairing in the league in scoring (Luka Doncic y Austin Reaves) has done much of the work so far. Even time has ended its unbeatable record of consecutive games scoring at least 10 points (1297), one that began in 2007 and it ended in the last game against the Raptors.
For a few seasons now, it has not been known whether or not this year could be his last year as a professional; with almost 41 years Not even a unique physique in history like his is immortal. It is not a bad time to look back and remember, which for James himself, is the best season of his career. “If I had to choose the moment in which I felt most complete as a basketball player, I would say 2018“he declared in a podcast with Steve Nash. A 2017-18 season that at first glance and without knowledge of the cause may seem ordinary within his immeasurable career (27,5+8,6+9,1), but it has a magic trick that makes it unique. “I felt like I couldn’t do anything wrong on the court. I don’t think there was any flaw in my game“For himself, he achieved basketball perfection, if such a thing exists. Still, that year, not even in the best season of his career, could he win the ring; The Avengers were too much for Thanos. The signing of Kevin Durant for the Warriors in summer of 2016 broke the league completelyand despite the fact that LeBron devastated the east like it has rarely been done, those of Steve Kerr They were too rival. But that’s just the anticipated end of a story with a lot of juice to squeeze out; Sometimes the path is more important than the outcome.
Cleveland It was and will always be LeBron’s home. The promised landwhere the forward completed his particular hero’s journey; departure and return. The betrayal was consummated with the famous message of 2011: “I’m taking my talent to South Beach, I’m joining the Miami Heat“After 7 seasons and some finals In his first stage with the Cavaliers, LeBron decided take the war on your own; Neither the support of the team nor that of the franchise was enough for the young king to win his first ring. The closest it came, a final devastated by the Spurs of Popovich (4-0); nothing could do a single man against an entire army. In Miami it was another song: 4 endings, 2 rings (in a row). After a disappointing debut and a surprising defeat against the Mavericks In the 2011 Finals, the trio LeBron-Wade-Bosh started to carburein the following two years the Trophy Larry O’Brien stayed in Miami.
But LeBron James was a man on a mission. The hero’s journey is not understood if the young protagonist does not return to his initial place; with changes on both sides. “Tell the world I’m coming home“. A promise to keep, which began in the season 2014-15now with a new plan. Kyrie Irving y Kevin Love They were two golden squires for him already crowned kingand the path of the last battle extended over the years: it had been playing finals in consecutive years since 2011, and it did so until 2019. Eight years in a row in which he reached the NBA Finals; 4 con Miami, 4 con Cleveland. The first year, injuries played tricks and the Warriors surprised the world with a game that changed the league forever. The following year, revenge was served on a cold plate. The king completed his promise, and brought the ring home. The Cavaliers were champions in 2016 (4-3), in one of the most difficult and memorable victories in history (They rose from 3-1 down for the first time). And yet, the best form of LeBron’s career had not yet arrived.
After losing in 2017; again before the Warriors (now enhanced with Durant), LeBron carried out a plan during that summer. His invention is unknownbut it turned him into a machine without feelings. In the 2017-18 the king disputed each and every one of the 82 parties of the regular season. It’s not what he did, but how he did it. Day if, day too, there was the cyborg. The march of Irving to the Celtics It left LeBron without his personal shield, but it encouraged him to grow even more as a player. “Every time I got the ball, I could do everything I wanted to do in my headboth in defense and offense, was another level.” In his last season in Cleveland, the Cavs recorded the fourth place (50-32) in the Eastern Conference, the worst of the LeBron era. However, after 82 games played (the only time in his career that he achieved this incredible feat), LeBron still had a lot of gas in his tank; the revolution began.
In the first round of the playoffs, the Cavaliers faced some young and fearsome Pacerscommanded by a Victor Oladipo at an absolute elite level. After a defeat by almost 20 points in the first game (98-80)LeBron responded with 46 in the second. The series became evener and longer each time, until reaching the seventh; but there was a key event that preceded that moment: with 2-2 in the series and the scoreboard tied at 95 with three seconds leftthe king caught the ball, it bounced twice and He nailed a three-pointer on the horn; one of the gamme winners most iconic of his career that completed a historic 44+10+8. In the seventh and decisive match, 45 points, 8 rebounds y 7 assists for the king with victory included (105-101). It reached a completely unstoppable point, (34.4+10+7.7 on average in the first round) but this was only the beginning of what are probably the best playoffs at the individual level of history.
Toronto Raptors had had a historic regular season (first place in conference with a 50-32 record), and would be the Cavs’ next opponent in the conference semifinals. Those from Canada discovered a phenomenon in that series: LeBronto. The king’s skills reached their peak as a player; It was a man playing against children. Your average numbers, 34+8,3+11reflect the impassiveness of his dominance. In the third match, with the match tied at 93 the lack of 8 secondsLeBron received the ball in his court, crossed the entire court dribbling and scored a bomb against two defenders falling backwards. a new gamme winner on the horn for history. There was no rival, the first place finisher in the east was a joke to the best player in the world; 4-0 and something else.
The conference finals; arrived Celticswho had finished second in the regular season. It was a totally different challenge; the defense of those of Brad Stevens It was suffocating, something that took its toll in the first game. The king stayed in 15 points with a horrible shooting series (5-16) and a -32 on track (83-108). In the second, a masterclass by LeBron (42+10+12) was not enough to beat the Celtics who were quite a team, even with Irving absent due to injury. Some very young Jayson Tatum y Jaylen Brown They led accompanied by the experience of Marcus Morris y Al Horfodcomplemented by Kyrie’s electric replacement: Terry Rozier. The task was practically impossible; 2-0 against. And most alarming: historically, when the Cletics took a 2-0 lead in a playoff series, His record so far was 37-0..
The Cavs won the third, and an outrageous offensive by LeBron in the fourth (44 points) equalized the series 2-2. Both had won all their matches at home; The Celtics continued the line in the fifth, and the Cavs in the sixth (46+11+9 of the king). There would be a seventh game. “It was the last game of the series. I looked at Tatum and Brown, at Rozier, at myself, we were physically destroyed. I looked at the other side: the whole game had been played, and his face was impassive. I found it disturbing“These are the words of Al Horford about his personal experience of that seventh game. LeBron disputed the 48 minutes of the match, he noted 35 pointscaptured 15 reboundsdistributed 9 assistsand completely silenced the TD Garden (87-79). “With everything he has achieved, will not surpass the achievement of having alone taken this team to the finals”he declared Jeff Van Gundy during the last possessions of the game. Only Kevin Love exceeded the 10 points on average in the postseason; With virtually no help whatsoever, the monster wiped out an entire conference.
Reality finally got the better of one of the greatest recent feats in sport, and the Warriors They were too rival. However, in the first game, away from home, LeBron signed his magnum opus: 51+8+8. On a situational level, one of the best games of his career. They competed against what is probably the best team in history, one on one until the last possession. With a marker 106-107 (Warriors ahead with 6 seconds), LeBron found a cut Gorge Hillwho was going to the line to tie or win the match. Hill scored the first, but missed the second, and the rebound fell into the hands of J.R Smith. The guard did not know the score, assumed that the Cavs were ahead and held possession instead of shooting. A disaster that led to extra time and, inevitably, defeat. And 4-0 was the final result, but Steve Kerr’s They had broken the Matrix. Nobody on the planet, not even one of the best players in history in his best season could beat them. That’s how it was the end of that magical year for LeBronone that, for himself, was the best of his career.
Related news
Your opinions matter!
Comment on the articles and subscribe for free to our newsletter and to the information alerts in the App or the channel WhatsApp. Looking to license content? click here
