The Orlando Magic advanced to the NBA finals after defeating the best team going into the series in a 4-2 series. Many were shocked, to say the least, that the Magic was able to dominate the Cavs especially since almost everyone was convinced that this season’s NBA finals was to be a Kobe and LeBron showdown. When a strong and a fan-favorite team like the Cavs gets beat in this fashion, there is plenty of debate as to where the blame should lie. In this case, however, there’s only one person to blame—Mr. MVP himself, King James.
No leadership from LeBron
It goes without saying that the reason the Cavs are so great is because there’s a player like LeBron James in their squad. If it wasn’t for King James, the fans in Cleveland would literally have nothing to root for. Just as LeBron is the savior of the Cleveland Cavaliers, he is also the reason for their brutal loss against the Orlando Magic. The Magic simply outworked the Cavs the entire series, starting from offensive rebounds and turnovers, down to three point shots and field goals made. Cleveland just didn’t seem too enthusiastic about winning the series, and Lebron allowed that to happen. If they had been playing with Michael Jordan, the original number 23 would have had them playing like it was the last game of their lives. Further, towards the end of the series, you can easily tell that the Cavs only plan of action was to give the ball to LeBron and let him do the magic he was expected to do. This made LeBron even shabbier as a leader because he actually believed that he can singlehandedly lift the Cavs to finals.
LeBron’s just too young and too nice
LeBron’s a great guy. His character is genuinely likeable. He is charismatic, funny, and obviously a kid at heart as he loves to dance and have fun all the time. For someone as enormously famous and rich as he is, it is rather surprising to see this kind of real quality about him. The problem, however, is that he is too nice. To simply put, he’s still a kid. He doesn’t have the willpower of a warrior and the determination of a champion yet. He’s too busy showing off his skills and scoring abilities.
James is far from being a Jordan
People want to compare King James to the likes of the greatest player ever, Michael Jordan. It’s not a far cry since both practically share the same playing style in that these two can easily dribble past multiple defenders and find their way to the hoop with an effortless lay up or dunk. Or if they wanted to, both can just throw a fade away jump shot 20 yards out and the ball would touch nothing but the net. Indeed both players are remarkable in their outer game, but the fact of the matter is that they are polar opposites in terms of inner game. LeBron is simply not that competitive. While Jordan would go at great lengths to a win every single game, James seems more interested in his personal statistics than that of his team. Aside from Scottie Pippen, the talent of the supporting Chicago Bulls was pretty much comparable to the current roster of the Cleveland Cavs. But Jordan was just so bloodthirsty that he demanded nothing but excellence from his team. As for James, he just wants to prove he can do it all by himself, which is apparently impossible.