No more excuses for Lebron James

For the second year in a row, LeBron James faced minimal scrutiny for his failure to secure a championship. Rather, he has been praised for exceeding expectations and taking his team as far as possible. Most of this praise seems customary, considering his deep numbers and the lack of assists from his teammates. According to ESPNIn the 2015 Finals, LeBron James averaged an absurd 35.8 points, 8.8 assists, and 13.3 rebounds. Such commanding overall numbers would make even the all-time greats in awe. With Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving out due to injury, LeBron amazingly led a Cavaliers team with Timofey Mozgov as the second leading scorer, to two wins against a historically great Golden State team.

As flawless as LeBron James appeared in the Finals, there are facets of his performance that deserve criticism. His incredible scoring numbers didn’t come with incredible efficiency, in fact, he shot a woefully inefficient 39.8% from the floor. Despite being known for his ability to always make the right basketball play, LeBron James had his fair share of missed shots in this series. also like hoops habit notes, Cleveland always played its worst basketball in the fourth quarter. Had they had more impressive fourth quarters, the series might have gone the other way. Now, all the responsibility for that shouldn’t fall on LeBron James, but he should be responsible as the leader of the team. Finally, his main defender, Andre Iguodala, won the MVP of the Finals.

Similarly, last year, Kawhi Leonard won Finals MVP after guarding Lebron for the most possessions in the series. That year, LeBron James and the Heat lost to the Spurs in the Finals by a record 70-point margin. As deadly as those Spurs were, a team consisting of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh and Ray Allen shouldn’t be breaking records for the wrong reasons. However, LeBron James’ average of 28.2 points on 57.1% shooting, according to Basketball-Reference, seems to surpass his team’s failures. This season, however, LeBron James won’t have the narrative of not having enough help to fall back on, should he fail to bring home that coveted championship for Cleveland.

First of all, barring an unforeseen hiccup, the Cavaliers should be able to cruise to the NBA Finals, as LeBron James apparently has for what seems like forever. In the 2015 playoffs, the Cavaliers, with Kevin Love out and Kyrie Irving limping, lost just two games en route to LeBron James’ fifth straight trip to the Finals. Both players should be relatively healthy this coming season, and coupled with a revamped bench that now consists of Mo Williams and Richard Jefferson, the Cavaliers should be heavy favorites in the East.

There will always be experts who will argue that a team like Chicago or Miami has a chance, but it would be irrational to bet against the Cavs. Arguably his biggest competition is a Bulls team he beat with Love and Irving injured. The Heat, while comprised of solid options at all positions, lack the all-around talent of the Cavaliers and are overly reliant on an injury-prone Dwayne Wade. Therefore, LeBron James has no reason not to make his sixth straight Finals appearance.

However, if he fails to lead his team to the final, he will lose another chance to improve his status among the all-time greats. He should be scrutinized, as other superstars have been, for not reaching the finals despite having a top roster. However, this is all hypothetical, and LeBron James will most likely face the team that made it out of the brutal Western Conference.

The myriad of title contenders in the Western Conference instigates the perception that any team representing the West in the Finals is vastly superior to its Eastern counterpart. This perception has previously provided LeBron James leeway to escape how he should lose in the Finals. In fact, this perception seems to persist for the next season. Teams like the Spurs, with their talent and depth seem unable to lose to an Eastern Conference foe in a seven-game series. No one would blink if the Warriors, Clippers or Thunder defeated the Cavaliers in the Finals. Even the Rockets would have a fair chance.

In reality, the Cavaliers can realistically beat any of these teams in a series. ace Bleach Report notes, the Cavaliers had a phenomenal 13-1 record against the Western Conference in the second half of last season. They have 3 of the top 20 players in the league in LeBron, Kyrie and Kevin Love. These three players formed the highest scoring trio in the league, for 247 sports. His bench, while not spectacular, is competent enough to give the Cavaliers the depth needed to compete with these Western Conference adversaries. Above all, they have one thing that no other team in the league has: the greatness of LeBron James.

His combination of otherworldly athleticism and elite basketball IQ provides the Cavaliers with all the ingredients they need to win a championship. Despite all of his incredible numbers in both the regular season and the playoffs, to truly challenge Michael Jordan as the GOAT, he must prove that he is capable of revolutionizing a franchise, with a championship. Michael did it with the Bulls, Duncan with the Spurs, Kareem with the Bucks, Bird with the Celtics, and so on. Despite being the unquestioned leader of those Heat championship teams, Dwayne Wade was still the face of the franchise. Now that he has all the pieces, there will be no excuses. It’s time to give Cleveland its first championship in more than 50 years.