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In a player’s career, one season is never the same as another. And if it’s someone like LeBron James, well, not even a month can be similar to the past or the future. However, there is something different about the way “the King” reached his 10th NBA career finish. A little because all of 2020 is putting us in front of experiences that we never thought we would have to face; and partly because he managed to catch up with them with the Los Angeles Lakers, completing a path that in the summer of 2018 did not seem exactly as easy as it did in some sections of this season and in these playoffs, in which he has always closed accounts without even needing to race-6.
The long way back to the top
When his decision to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers was made public on July 1, 2018, a bit of everyone: including us – We thought that the motivation was above all outside the field: there was an economic and media empire to continue; a long awaited movie like Space jam 2 turning a family to be in the best possible condition for the years to come; a city like Los Angeles to enjoy 12 months of the year and not just in summer. The possibility of winning a title, in short, seemed to come much later on the priority list, also because the Western Conference was still owned by the Golden State Warriors. And those Lakers didn’t seem willing to play him in the least, not even in a year.
James’ first season with the Lakers seemed confirm this belief: That team was extremely poorly built, the leadership formed by the Magic Johnson-Rob Pelinka duo was at least dysfunctional, and the confirmed coach on the bench, Luke Walton, had given the clear impression that he had never really received approval from James. The rest was thought then by a bad mix of injuries (starting with James’ groin who still occasionally comes back to the top), generational clashes between old and young, and the lengthy negotiation to bring Anthony Davis to town before the final. market deadline that had destroyed the locker room
To these premises was also added the fact that James had not really been accepted by the yellow-violet giants. As admitted to a recent interview with Chris Haynes, had sensed the skepticism of one of them fan base who had been used to hating him for years as a “usurper” of Kobe Bryant’s throne. And Kobe himself played a key role in making him feel welcome: “When I decided to come here, he immediately sent me a message welcoming me to the family. It was a special moment because at the time the Lakers fans weren’t so convinced of me. Many said ‘We may not like LeBron at this point in his career’, others’ But is he okay? Will it really take us back to the final? So getting his approval meant a lot. ‘
A skepticism also confirmed by the press. Bill Platschke, columnist for the Los Angeles Times, in a budget item of his freshman year (defined as “a total failure” and “the most disappointing individual season in the history of the sport”) he wrote that James had never fully seen himself involved in the luck of the Lakers, as if he was a separate at home, or that he already knew that most of the people around him wouldn’t stick around that long when he really got serious. But that’s also why the 2019-20 season represents a unicum in James’ career: he had to win the heart of a fan as he didn’t have to do in his previous passes in Cleveland and Miami.
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Throughout the year, James used the hashtag #RevengeSeason, just to remember what was said about him (even if it’s unclear from whom) a year ago.
What happens when LeBron ties his shoes?
Now that it almost seems like the entire LeBron experience at the Lakers has always been straightforward and last year just a setback solely due to injuries, don’t forget for a while, odd though it may be. it may seem, the yellows were almost undesirable. Magic Johnson had abandoned the sinking ship with one of the more surreal press conferences In professional sports history, the Lakers seemed like an insurmountable powder keg, as well as a perennial cause of drama Hollywood. After negotiations with Tyronn Lue were stalled over the length of his contract to breaking point and Jason Kidd, for various reasons, was deemed unfit to fill the head coach position, at least immediately, the election It fell a bit by chance on Frank Vogel, already singled out by all as the leading candidate to pay the blame for a dysfunctional franchise.
Instead, the arrival of the long-awaited Anthony Davis in June completely changed the franchise’s prospects, primarily because it changed LeBron’s prospects. AD is the ideal complement to James’s game, a finisher able to carry most offensive charges without having to remove the ball from the King’s hands early in the action, forcing him to work away from the ball. Most importantly, James realized that once he was happy with the effort to get to Davis he had no excuse if things went wrong, and he really started tying his shoes, starting in the defensive half.
It had been years since LeBron had not defended as much and with this commitment, and he has done so from day one, effectively forcing the rest of the Lakers to seriously collide with the other half to earn a place in the rotation, the complete opposite of what he had managed to overcome most of his second pass to Cleveland, where poor defensive effort was the norm.
In the final of Game 4 he led Jamal Murray on the mark, solving the game with a couple of high-level defensive plays, but even when he had to mark Nikola Jokic he showed that in a single possession there are not as many defenders better than him in the NBA. .
The Rockets, on the other hand, remember well their terrifying rotations to the iron to return to the sender all the conclusions that were dangerously close to the basket and with the Nuggets he personally took Jamal Murray at the key moment of the -4 race and of the series . With James on the court, the Lakers in these playoffs have a defensive rating of 103.0 (best team figure among those with at least 300 minutes), when he comes out of 113.1 (worst team figure).
Also, contrary to what one might have imagined, the Lakers have lived a season without dramatic moments in the locker room, without uncontrolled voices, without passive-aggressive statements in front of the press. nothing at all. And this despite the presence in the team of personalities like those of Dwight Howard or Rajon Rondo, or young people seeking their place in the NBA like Kyle Kuzma, or incorporations of the market like Dion Waiters and JR Smith. Everyone understood their role from day one and didn’t say a word, even on the (few) occasions when things went wrong, almost unicum in James’ career and one of the reasons the Lakers are back in the game. the final in 10 years after the last appearance.
Less dominance, more control
Having reached the age of 35 and with a physique that no longer allows him to carry the amount of offensive responsibility that we were used to in the Heat or Cavs, LeBron has changed his way of playing a bit this season. The fact that he finished the season as the best assistant in the league (10.2 assists, the only time in double digits in his career) says a lot about the attitude he had, more at the service of his teammates (particularly the one in the jersey). with the number 3) who interested in his own figures, which were nevertheless stellar. James has never been selfish in his career, but rarely as this season has he given the impression of thinking little of himself and much more of figuring out how to turn the team around and then shouldering his inevitable responsibilities both in attack and in on defense at the decisive moment, as demonstrated in Game 5 against the Denver Nuggets.
“I have never personally witnessed a feeling of domination like this,” coach Frank Vogel said. And to think that a few times he had already come across James as an opponent.
This does not mean that he did not openly aspire to the MVP award, wanting to raise his voice for the “only” 16 first votes received by the 101 media outlets that expressed their preferences. A rather sterile controversy given that Giannis Antetokounmpo, if we consider only what we saw before the suspension of the season (that is, the period of time in which voters were called to express themselves, without considering the Disney World bubble) had shown To be the MVP on both sides of the court for the Milwaukee Bucks, and despite the attempt to close the gap, for example with the home win on March 8, James could not prove to be indisputably superior to the Greek.
Those pretty unhappy words So they sound more like another attempt to return power to the hands of the players, as if to say: you see, journalists don’t know how to vote because they don’t watch games and only follow narratives (as if he was not the king of all narratives! ), while the players on the field really know who deserves it (as they have repeatedly shown not know how to do it, for example, with the votes for friends in the All-Star Game). James returned to take out an old worm that has been in his head for years, the failed 2012-13 defender award, which went to Marc Gasol “who at that time had not even entered the first defensive quintet.” , as noted to show that journalists don’t understand basketball (more simply: the DPOY was voted in by the media, the All-Defense quintets by the coaches).
However, it is all part of the absolute control plan that James exercises with his mere presence, and whether he is on or off the field does not make much difference. Even at 35, which will become 36 by the end of 2020, even with the principal Athletic probably behind him and even with a long list of more than fierce contenders to his throne, the NBA is still in the hands of LeBron James, now in his 10th appearance in the Finals of 14 playoffs, the ninth in the last ten years of the NBA. the most complicated of all if only because of the absurd circumstances that led to it, from the tumultuous preseason in China to the global pandemic, inevitably passing through Calabasas.
Perhaps then James will lose in the final for the seventh time in his career, which again will fuel the debate about who is the greatest between him and Michael Jordan as if he really a) cares about someone; b) there is a need for a degree or so to really change the substance of your career. Of course, winning the fourth ring with three different teams, maybe even with the MVP award, would put you in a class of your own, as no one has ever done it as the best player on their team. And bringing the Lakers back to the finals after pulling them out of the worst period in recent history is a feat in itself.
But never like this year did James seem to play for a more important reason, even beyond everything that happened to Kobe Bryant, who certainly has a huge weight on the heads of all Lakers. LeBron this year gave the impression that he was playing to be loved by someone who did not love him. It is no coincidence that on more than one occasion he highlighted how hard it was for him to play in the Orlando bubble (thinking several times about leaving, by his own confession) and how much a historical moment like the chime beater by Anthony Davis had had a bittersweet aftertaste because there was no one in the stands to share it.
But there are circumstances that not one with his power can control: the only thing left for him to do is finish the job he started, taking the four victories that separate him from the most tumultuous NBA title of his career.
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