The Lebron argument

                Walk into any barbershop and throw out the name Lebron James and you will begin something reminiscent of poking a bee hive with a stick.  Some people love him, some people hate him, and everybody loves to argue where he fits amongst the league’s elite.  Whether they are arguing that he’s the best, or maybe even overrated, both sides have valid evidence supporting their arguments. 

                This season Lebron, 9 years into his NBA career,  was able to add a third league MVP to his list of accolades which include, 2004 Rookie of the year, the 2008 scoring title, 8 all-star appearances, 5 first-team All-NBA appearances, and 3 appearances on the All-NBA defensive team.  Despite all of these accomplishments, he has yet to achieve the ultimate goal of winning an NBA championship.  Last season James looked to be making huge steps to finally achieve that goal by joining fellow all-stars Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. 

Unfortunately the Miami Heat not only were not able to obtain a championship, James earned himself a reputation of not being able to step up when his team needed him to the most.  In the first five games of what ended up being a six game series against the Dallas Mavericks for the championship, James had a total of 11 points.  How does someone who averages 26.7 points a game manage to post a mere 11 points in five 4^th quarters???  That means 2.2 points a game!  Then facing elimination in game 6 he was able to improve on that performance adding 7 points in a losing effort. 

Lebron apologists everywhere began to point the finger everywhere to place the blame for Lebron’s struggles.  They were convincing everyone that Chris Bosh was one of the worst players in the league.  They argued that his coach didn’t know what he is/was doing (no argument there).  They even broke down the officiating and tried to convince the world that James was being picked on.

                So James has come into this season to prove that last season was just an anomaly and he does have the “clutch gene”.  The something special that allows the NBA’s greats to not just carry their team’s weight on their backs but being able to do it when they need it the most.  With impressive stat lines against the New York Knicks in the first round averaging 27.8 points, 6.2 rebounds, 5.6 assists, and 2.2 steals, with 4.2 turnovers a game, through 5 games.   So far in four games against the Pacers, James is in the midst of putting up dominant numbers against an even stronger statistics with 30.5 points, 12.25 rebounds, 5.5 assists a game, 3 steals, 3 turnovers. 

                At 6’8, 250 pounds, James isn’t just big but he’s extremely athletic and his speed combined with his size makes him a freight train on the basketball court.  Yesterday in Indiana in response to losing two consecutive games to Indiana with a 40 point game where he also added 18 rebounds and 9 assists.  Furthermore, James was able to do this while playing and defending a variety of different positions all game, displaying his versatility.  All this shows me one thing.  LEBRON JAMES IS THE LEAGUE’S MOST DOMINANT player by far! 

There should be no more excuses for James shrinking in the spotlight.  Sure he’s not Michael, he’s not Kobe, and he doesn’t need to be.  There are other ways to win a basketball game other than hitting a game winner as the buzzer sounds.  Lebron has all the physical tools to do and has proved it time and time again on almost every NBA stage, time to do it on the big one, no excuses.