Why LeBron James Is Better Than Kevin Durant
Kevin Durant (photo. Dorothy Hong)
LeBron proved something to his critics with his absence in the Finals this past season. Receiving all that criticism became a little bit of a priority for him. He knows that Miami can’t get it done without him playing well. He just wanted to make sure the team, Coach Spoelstra & the rest of the world to knew it too.
I’m not trying to sit here and make excuses for LeBron because I don’t necessarily admire what he did in the Finals. But at the same time if he had played a little bit better, just enough for them to win an extra game or two (both Game 3 & Game 5 were decided by one possession) the issue of “whose team is this?” would have been swept under the rug, and would have come back to haunt them in the future.
I think it’s good that LeBron went M.I.A (no pun intended) because now it’s clear to see that he is the vital factor in the difference between success and disappointment.
From the get-go and throughout the entire regular season, LeBron James was in the driver’s seat in Miami. Going into the playoffs, he was the alpha dog & Wade was there to make it easier on him, which was working perfectly for them. They made it through Philly, Boston and Chicago playing with the understanding that LeBron was the leader. After taking his squad through those teams, LeBron still wasn’t awarded with the credit that he deserved. Many were still calling Miami Wade’s team despite the fact that LeBron had been leading the way the entire year.
In my opinion, LeBron took that a bit personally and as a result, left it up to Wade to win it for Miami. Since all his critics believed that the team’s fortune would ultimately be decided by Wade in the Finals, LeBron took the backseat to show them that wasn’t the case. From the time Wade seized the driver’s seat from LeBron, the series was lost for Miami. For the first time all season long, it was actually Wade’s team, LeBron actually was “Robin” and as a result, Miami lost.
LeBron was out to prove that he is of extremely high value to his team & that’s exactly what he did. In order for Miami to be successful in the oncoming years, it needs to be understood that LeBron James must be in the driver’s seat at all times. By going absent in the Finals, LeBron proved that the team needs him in control (as opposed to Wade) to get the job done. Everyone loves to judge LeBron’s collapse in the Finals as a choke job, or shrinking in the big moment. However, I feel that LeBron felt it was more important to him, and better for the team going forward, if he proved to the world that it’s his car to drive & not Wade’s.
With that said, it’s very unfair to judge LeBron James on his first season in Miami, which was frankly a failure. After looking at it from an analytical perspective it’s easy to see. Something had to give here. Unfortunately the cost of showing the world that he’s the captain of the ship was the 2011 NBA Championship. Frankly, he’s okay with that for now.
The NBA has been LeBron’s for a good while now. He has been expected to win a championship for the past three seasons. However the chips haven’t fallen the way he’s exactly liked them to. So now instead of allowing himself to continue to fall victim to his own disappointment, he’s writing his own story the same way Kobe wrote his own out in L.A. LeBron’s time is here, and the multiple championships are so close that he can now taste them.
Kevin Durant is far from reaching the stage where he is expected to win a championship. Right now, he’s just trying to play his best basketball personally. Once he’s comfortable with that, he can worry about winning it for his team. For now, he’s still catching up to LeBron James in virtually every aspect except shooting.
Durant is the golden child of the NBA. After handling his loss this past year so well & not throwing his teammates under the bus, Durant has received even more admiration than before. Remaining loyal to his organization is respectable. However, he isn’t necessarily better than LeBron because of that; If Cleveland drafted a player of Westbrook’s caliber, maybe ‘Bron would still be in a Cavs jersey.
Right now is LeBron James’ time. Whatever team he’s on will be considered one of the best teams in the NBA, and will absolutely be expected to win a championship. That isn’t the case with any other player in the league. Not Kobe, not Dirk, not ‘Melo, and definitely not Durant (with the West slowly weakening, it will soon be Durant’s for the taking). He needs to use the next few years – & demise of the Lakers – to work on getting better defensively, making his teammates better, and being more assertive when his teammates (cough..cough… Westbrook) get him out of rhythm. Durant is a scoring machine already, but he needs to elevate the other aspects of his game to be considered in the same sentence as LeBron. Until he does that, he’s not making it past Miami in the Finals anytime soon.
Not to mention, he hasn’t even made it there yet.
Do you agree?
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October 3rd, 2011 at 2:20 pm
Justin says:
100% agree.
LeBron > Durant
October 3rd, 2011 at 2:40 pm
GoEasy says:
didn’t even need to read the article… I already know.
October 3rd, 2011 at 2:57 pm
Ian says:
who the f thinks durant is better?
October 3rd, 2011 at 3:03 pm
panchitoooo says:
true, true, true and true…
October 3rd, 2011 at 3:03 pm
Promoman says:
Of course LeBron’s better than Kevin Durant. LeBron’s an overrated defender but he plays harder and produces more than Durant. He’s also better than Durant in every area but shooting but LeBron’s better overall offensively.
October 3rd, 2011 at 3:30 pm
JAY says:
Lebron is better but I feel like if you replaced Lebron with Durant, the Heat would have won the championship last year. I’m just sayin’… it just seems like a better makeup, chemistry wise.
October 3rd, 2011 at 3:33 pm
yentron says:
so you think lebron threw the finals to prove a point? i’m no lebron fanboy, but this article is insulting to him
October 3rd, 2011 at 4:01 pm
panchitoooo says:
regardless if he threw the Finals or not, Lebron did prove the point brought up in this article, even if by accident…
October 3rd, 2011 at 5:26 pm
WR says:
@Jay: Agreed.
October 3rd, 2011 at 5:59 pm
Meka says:
So true. I think Wade tried to become the alpha male in the finals and that’s why they lost. If you noticed how well Miami was doing when Lebron was leading and Wade seemly okay with it until the final. It was frustrating to hear and watch Wade talk about him being there before and leading his team. It was like he was trying to stand out or something. Miami will suffer the same demise again if Wade continue to believe he’s the best player on Miami. Lebron is no role player and he will continue having the same issues again if Miami attempts to use him as such.
October 3rd, 2011 at 6:21 pm
Ceasar paciotti says:
So the thesis of your argument is that
Lebron choked purposely in order to assert his
Position as the dominant alpha male in order to ensure future
Success???? Gtfoh I need some of that yiff u smoking and I don’t even smoke no more. Get lebrons dick outta your mouth he’s not built for this life. He’s what I like to call Dominique Wilkins 2.0. Human highlight reel but no Jewerly on the ring finger. D wade got a ring damn near singlehandedly. Lebron got swept in the finals. The only flash of greatness I’ve ever seen outta lebron is that 4th quarter against Detroit where he scored like 25 str8. But that was obviously a fluke
October 3rd, 2011 at 6:22 pm
sans says:
wait. is your argument that Lebron is better because he intentionally played like ass in the Finals? really? in order to prove his haters wrong, he tanked the finals…that makes no sense.
October 3rd, 2011 at 7:00 pm
Sam says:
To me, Lebron tanked the last two years, last year because he wanted an excuse to leave, and this year because Jason Kidd is his good friend and a guy he looks up to.
I think Lebron James is a douche-bag, plain and simple, but I also acknowledge that if he wants to be, he will be the best player in the NBA.
To Jay’s point, that the Heat would be better off with Durant. It’s only true because the Heat put two very similar players together in James and Wade. Durant would give them two different looks that can score at will.
James would have been better off playing with Amare in NY, not because I’m a Knicks fan, but their styles of play would make for an extremely exciting, power house kind of team. But he will still win championships with Wade and Bosh in Miami- they almost did it against the Mavericks and they (mostly Lebron) played like crap. Imagine what they’ll do with an upgraded bench and maybe a better center?
October 3rd, 2011 at 7:24 pm
John Starks says:
You think LeBron tanked the Finals on purpose? GTFOH
October 3rd, 2011 at 8:50 pm
Waggle says:
Co-sign yentron.
Not sure of the angle you’re going for here.
October 3rd, 2011 at 10:32 pm
Jaimie Canterbury says:
For those of you missing the point of this article:
LeBron James is better because he’s at a point in his career where he is expected to finish on top, Durant hasn’t made it there yet.
My explanation to why LeBron played poorly in the Finals was in response to the post that was written on Durant last week. The authors position was solely focused upon LeBrons poor performance in the Finals. Which is what nearly every LeBron critic focuses upon. My argument is that it’s unfair to judge him solely on the one series where he wasn’t playing free-minded LeBron James basketball. He was more concerned with accomplishing something else in order to write his story for the oncoming seasons accordingly.
Regardless of if it was intentional or not, he proved a point by not showing up. What triggered him to prove that point is beyond me. Maybe it was the criticism, maybe it was Coach Spolstra who decided to take things in a different direction that maybe LeBron wasn’t too fond of. Whatever it was, you could tell by how passive he was that he felt he had something to prove. To whom is the question.
His fans?
His coach?
His critics?
maybe even all of the above.
If you’re gonna sit here and tell me LeBron James had his career low in the NBA Finals, on the biggest stage, in a PIVOTAL game 3, in the most critical year of his career because he simply had a bad game; I’m gonna tell you you need to think a little bit more deeply into who we’re talking about here.
October 4th, 2011 at 8:52 am
JAY says:
“If you’re gonna sit here and tell me LeBron James had his career low in the NBA Finals, on the biggest stage, in a PIVOTAL game 3, in the most critical year of his career because he simply had a bad game; I’m gonna tell you you need to think a little bit more deeply into who we’re talking about here.”
Not just a bad game… a horrible SERIES.
You think the dude who says he joined the Heat for one single reason – to win not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, etc – rings just hung his teammates, his FRIENDS out to dry?? If you honestly think that, I hope your pens dry up forever and every single spacebar you encounter doesn’t work. Why can’t it be something that happens to other very good players… he just choked under the pressure?
However, for argument’s sake, let’s just assume that you are right… and Lebron actually did throw in the towel to prove a point. IF that has any truth to it, then Lebron James is not better than Kevin Durant. If it’s true then we could put Lebron on the same level as Vince Carter… a dude who stopped trying.
October 4th, 2011 at 9:55 am
Ronnie says:
D-Wade did try to assert himself as Alpha Male. HE DID. I could see it from the get go. Especially when the Mavs won that Game 2 in Miami. The Heat definitely should’ve won, but through LeBron James’ lead. Dwayne Wade would’ve never won that Ring without Shaq. Hence exactly why Kobe didn’t win another ring for a while. But if they would let LeBron be the leader they will win. Promise.
October 4th, 2011 at 10:00 am
dagwaller says:
Rick Carlisle, Shawn Marion, DeShawn Stevenson, and Jason Kidd are why LeBron had a bad series. Not LeBron James, his ego, his skill, Dwyane Wade, Erik Spoelstra, or any other reason anyone seems to think.
October 4th, 2011 at 11:13 am
Sam says:
Here’s some stats:
Lebron James, Quarter-Finals averages vs. Philadelphia
42 minutes, .470 FG%, 10 trips to the line, 24 points
Lebron James, Semi-Finals averages vs. Boston
44 minutes, .472 FG%, 8 trips to the line, 28 points
Lebron James, Conference Finals averages vs. Chicago
45 minutes, .439 FG%, 9 trips to the line and 26 points.
Lebron James, NBA Finals averages vs. Mavericks
43.7, .478 FG%, and 4 TRIPS TO THE LINE, 18 points a game.
There are two conclusions to draw from this, I literally don’t see any others you can draw.
1) The Refs dislike Lebron. They didn’t give him any of the calls he usually gets.
2) Lebron didn’t try as hard in the Finals, the one I believe. There were too many open looks and easy buckets that Lebron didn’t take advantage of (at one point he drove into the lane and dumped it off to the big man even with an open bucket in front of him!)
You can call the Dallas Mavericks an incredible defense ALL DAY and I won’t believe they are that much better than the Bulls that they stopped Lebron James from going to the free throw lines at least 8 times a game. The first four games were decided by 8 points, 4 points, 3 points, 2 points. If Lebron James had played even close to the way he normally does the Heat would have been up 3-1. There’s no way they should have lost the Finals.
The only reason I could see for Lebron to give up the Finals is Jason Kidd, and even Dirk a little bit. Give the old guys their one last chance to shine on the spotlight before the Heat completely take over the league. People don’t want to believe this because they want to believe that championships are sacred. But I think Lebron truly didn’t care if they won this year. The media wanted to see him fail and he gave them a gift.
October 4th, 2011 at 11:59 am
JAY says:
@Ronnie: “D-Wade did try to assert himself as Alpha Male. HE DID. I could see it from the get go. Especially when the Mavs won that Game 2 in Miami. The Heat definitely should’ve won, but through LeBron James’ lead. Dwayne Wade would’ve never won that Ring without Shaq.”
Yup, Wade wouldn’t have won without Shaq…. just like he he didn’t win without James. Dude didn’t show up. fuck that alpha male shit. That only matters for immature punks who care more about themselves than the ring. Wade didn’t try to be the #1 dude… he just busted his ass and did his best to create plays… to put pressure on the D. You gonna blame the loss on Wade because he played his ass off, and remove any blame on James? If James has a lot of pride, he didn’t show it in that series. He turtled-up. He crawled into his shell. But it’s Wade’s fault for being assertive. How dare he try so hard. He should have lowered his play to Lebron’s level, or even lower, so that Lebron could be the top dog. Hell, Bosh was more assertive than Lebron, and Bosh is a woman.
October 4th, 2011 at 1:53 pm
JBaller says:
Agree with Jay…
October 4th, 2011 at 7:11 pm
Conor O. says:
Those of you who actually believe that James embarrassed himself on purpose are complete morons.