Of course.
Lebron averaged 18/7/7 on 48% shooting in the 2011 Finals. People act like this is the worst statline by a superstar in the Finals which is far from the truth. That’s not a bad statline at all. That’s only bad by Lebron’s standards.
Want to know who else had an 8 point game in the Finals? Kobe in 2000 Finals Game 5. Bird in 1981 Finals Game 3.
Want to know Magic Johnson’s 1982 Finals stats? 16/8/11. That won him Finals MVP.
So to say 18/7/7 is a terrible statline somehow is ridiculous. Kobe averaged 15/4/4 on an awful 37% shooting in the 2000 Finals but nobody remembers that because he got carried by Shaq and they still won the series.
And in Lebron’s case, the reason for that statline in the 2011 Finals is because he wasn’t aggressive enough due to the Mavs utilizing terrific zone defense on him and forcing him to either pass the ball or shoot from long range which at that time Bron was not confident about. Following this loss, Bron significantly improved his post game and also his long distance shooting.
If you watched the footage, the reason why his PPG is low is simply because he didn’t take enough shots. He averaged 48% shooting which is efficient. He deferred more to Wade and Bosh who took more shots and thats why their PPG looks higher. It’s not a case of him missing a lot of shots ala Kobe in 2004.
Edit: I’ve disabled the comments because idiot haters will keep saying ‘NO BRON HAS NO EXCUSES HE SUCKS etc’ while sitting in their mom’s basement in front of their keyboard salivating to type their outrage while they got their twitter Bron memes ready on hand. These people are pathetic. Was Magic not in his prime in 1984? He choked in that Finals. Was Kobe not in his prime in 2004? He choked in that Finals. Nobody says anything about them. But for Bron everyone talks about him and scrutinizing every little detail of his 2011 Finals. Like he isn’t allowed to have a bad series or something? Why only him? Why other superstars are allowed to have bad series but not him? How many other superstars averaged 18/7/7/48% shooting in the Finals? I want to know. Cause he standards for Bron always seem to be ridiculously high and it’s really unfair.
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