[Highlights] LeBron James is shut down by the Spurs defense in the 2007 NBA Finals.
i know this is an extreme example because bron was an awful shooter at this point but modern spacing legit makes basketball a different sport
Yeah, like the amount of bodies they’re throwing at LeBron in these clips is wild, in the Modern NBA all of those shots would be kickout open 3s, also the moment he starts dribbling they just throw bodies at him as well, it really showcases how concerned the Spurs were with LeBron’s ability to beat people off the dribble.
and how limited his game was at that point compared to what he became. This video is wild to watch because LeBron was REALLY good in 2007, but the way his understanding of the game grew this sort of game plan just wouldn’t work on him with this sort of success later in his career.
Yeah, like he would pick this defense apart, LeBron might be the greatest floor reader the game has ever seen, certainly top 3 while also having some of the biggest physical advantages we have ever seen.
Yep, it gets excused a lot by him being so young, the Spurs being a dynasty, and his teammates being ass, but nothing really changed with his game over the next 4 years and then he lost in the exact same manner to Dallas with guys like JJ Barrea locking him down. After that loss, Pat Riley sat him down and told him that he needed to suck it up and work on other parts of his game, even the stuff he didn’t like working on like post play, or he was going to continue to get shutdown like that and never win a title. Credit to LeBron, he started putting in a lot or work to diversify his game and came back with a couple of the most dominant seasons ever en route to two titles. Frankly, if not for Riley and the loss to Dallas, LeBron’s career would have turned out way worse and he’d have probably already been out of the league several years ago.
I think that Dallas loss was the birth of many aspects of his game changing but one specifically is the downhill Lebron. Prior to this he would make cuts and such but he was putting on muscle in Miami and they started scheming to get him to ball while he was already moving. So often before this he would get the ball, look at the defense, then decide how he would act. After the Dallas series they also told Bosh he needed to have a more consistent 3 and turns out he was elite at it. So Bron getting into more off ball movement while having more 3 point shooters around him made it where teams just picked their poison: try to stop Lebron or die by the 3. Then he absolutely perfected his game by his return to Cleveland and was just peak all around player that there has ever been.
Yeah, the lack of off ball movement that first year was why everyone was questioning the whole “LeBron and Wade can just take turns” thing. The fit really wasn’t good until those changes you mentioned.
He’s just the most flexible player we have ever seen, his ability to add basically every aspect of basketball to his game, is unprecedented.
Like as the person above pointed out, LeBron and Wade were a clunky fit, and LeBron added the 3 to his game, became a deadly shooter who could leverage the space he was given into converting 3s at a effective clip, because he was unstoppable down hill, and him adding the 3 allowed for the spacing with Wade to be less clunky.
then in Cleaveland, he was one of the greatest processors of the floor we have ever seen, and that was a iso heavy offense with LeBron and Kyrie simply matchup attacking, whoever had the better matchup each possession would have the ball, and LeBron was the player who would find the advantage for his team to attack
The amount he was able to adjust his game over the years is truly unheard of, normally players will add things, but almost never to this degree, where they are truly elite at the skill they have added, it’s typically more bumping their shooting splits a few percentage.
So often before this he would get the ball, look at the defense, then decide how he would act.
He was fucking up in both ways, interestingly enough. You can see it over and over in this clip, compared to his 2nd stint in Cleveland and his ring on the Lakers. He alternates between taking too long to make his move and not waiting long enough- the Spurs have his rhythm figured out here, and dive as soon as he makes his first move.
Peak, smarter Lebron knew he had to attack immediately before the defense could react, or to wait out the second move from the defense, and added the cross court corner pass to his game so he could bait out the double at his leisure.
Dallas with guys like JJ Barrea locking him down
Lol this such a bullshit take off a zoomed in photo c’mon man.
but nothing really changed with his game over the next 4 years
I was about to downvote and argue but I realize you’re kinda right. He got better at the things he was already good at, and developed physically, but he took years to refine his approach.
Full disclosure, those 3-4 years made my dumbass think Lebron was never gonna win a ring because he didn’t know which areas of his game to address, and because he bit his nails which meant he wasn’t “clutch” lmao. Holy fuck was I wrong
I don’t think that anyone was necessarily wrong for those takes or the “LeBron’s game won’t age well” takes. LeBron becoming great so early in his career really masks the fact that his game truly was based mostly on his athleticism and he wasn’t developing his skills. For a guy like that to all of a sudden completely overhaul his game 8 years into his career is absolutely insane and he’s the only player to ever do it to this degree. It’s like if JR Smith suddenly became Kobe. No one can be faulted for not expecting the transformation that LeBron made.
That is so ridiculous lmfao. Dude was constantly adding to his bag. I can’t think of one time his game was stagnant. His offense changed a lot after 2007, and it changed again after 2011. His ability to constantly reinvent his offensive identity to adapt to the ever changing league is not because of Pat fucking Riley, it’s arguably one of LeBron’s most unique characteristics. It’s not easy to just add an elite component to your game in a single off season, just ask AD or countless other super stars we keep waiting to do 1 obvious improvement.
The bigger change was the league and team construction. He was always a very willing passer- which was very uncommon with star players in the 2000s. In 2007, LeBron had a down year shooting from 3- only 32% from 3 in the regular season. That was the 2nd highest 3pt% among the 4 Cavs starters that year. 2 starters had 0% from 3. NBA defenses were having a huge period of innovation in the league during the 2000s due to rule changes, but offenses had been in schematic decline for decade. LeBron was the first innovation as a ball dominant scoring playmaker, something which received a huge amount of criticism at the time. While 3pt shooting was starting to really catch on, the next innovation was dribble drive motion and spurs offense in 2013⁄14 leading into GSW’s motion offense. The constant motion, layered screens and 3pt shooting were finally cracking the defensive schematics that had become so stifling in the 2000s. LeBron responded to small ball by moving into the post and becoming unstoppable there.
He was 21⁄22 it was impressive that he was even in the finals
The league was just really 1 dimensional after MJ. So many people wanted to play hero ball. LeBron was so unusual for being excited to make the right play throughout his career even when really young. This team was just so offensively limited- they were really designed to be a great defense and rely on LeBron for scoring. LeBron had been close to league average 3pt shooter the previous two years, but in 2007 he shot 32% from 3 and had the 2nd highest 3pt% of the 5 starters.
Nah same shit would happen today too, did you see Paolo trying to score in that 4th Quarter of Game 7?
Pistons didn’t even try, they just choked the paint and it worked
Well that’s because outside of Desmond Bane we have spacing that’s the equivalent to the 2007 Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Magic are basically not a modern basketball team (and my Pistons too)
There are still some teams like this but its the outlier, while back then it was the default
“did you see it work on someone far worse a passer than LeBron”, what are you even trying to say here.
most pointless comment of the day.
I think he meant “did you see it work on a team with fewer shooters than the 2007 Cavs”
And believe it or not, not all NBA teams have elite 3 point shooting to combat this strategy.
in the Modern NBA all of those shots would be kickout open 3s
Lebron was way ahead of his time in that way, but you can still see him miss a bunch of opportunities to kick it out because he hadn’t developed his BBIQ fully yet. You can also see Donyell Marshall, one of the original stretch 4’s, crashing to the paint and crowding Lebron’s driving lane instead of staying in the corner, where he was fucking deadly- in fact, that’s exactly where Bruce Bowen made his entire living on offense (mf had a higher 3 point percentage than FT percentage because he practiced exactly one shot- the corner 3).
I said in another post but it’s really crazy to see how much Lebron learned from this series in terms of winning championships.
First two clips he was on an island and scared to shoot midrange. They knew he couldn’t shoot and all he can do is force drives.
It also showcases how the game changed when illegal defense rules were removed. That first play in the clip has like 3 players who could have been called for illegal defense if the rules were still in place.
It’s exactly what Jordan was talking about when he voiced his opposition to the rule change:
And that was Jordan’s argument: He believed that allowing any defense, or a zone, enables teams to gang up on the star. Gone will be the highlight-show moves and plays, the ESPN-ization of the game that others contend has been detrimental to sound play.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2001/04/01/if-zone-defenses-come-in-stars-may-go-out/#:~:text=The%20subject%20was%20defense%20in,more%20about%20offense%2C%20especially%20his.
Of course this seems silly now, but this was over a decade before teams figured out how to break zone defenses by spacing the floor with the threat of elite three point shooting.
it also shows how 3 point shooting can partially make up for lack of other talent. the spurs had basically zero concern that most of those guys could beat them off the dribble, one of the only other guys they actually closed out hard to was donyell marshall because he could shoot.
It helped that (a) Lebron didn’t really have any perimeter help (b) SAS was literally guarding him with 5 guys anytime he got within 15 feet of the basket
Even when you look at pioneers of the pace and space like Nash’s Suns or the 4 out spacing of Dwight’s Magic, the spacing is really incomparable to elite teams today.
Love it or hate it, it’s at least been interesting to watch the game evolve over the years.
Lebron was easier to guard in the finals because the rest of the team just didn’t even tried so for San Antonio (as Duncan said) it was just 5 men vs 1.
Lebron played much better vs Detrois and that was another good defensive team but his teammates played a bit better and didn’t allowed detroit to play 5vs1 the whole series.
Crazy thing is that despite the sweep, the games were weirdly close.
The games were close despite LeBron playing poorly, not because of his play. He shot 35% FG% that series and he shot 20% from 3PT. And 69% FT (can’t blame defensive scheme for poor free throw shooting).
The Cavs outside Lebron offered him little help offensively but they were solid defensively and kept up with Spurs on that end
Yup, and while it was a historically bad eastern conference lebron was in, people love to downplay his teammates like crazy even if 2007 in particular wasn’t a great supporting cast
Yea. It just feels like even when he has a legitimately great supporting cast people will find a reason that it’s never his fault. The only one I hear those types admit to is 2011 because it’s just an undeniable losing argument.
Yup, and not to say LeBron didn’t have just so so supporting casts, but those teams in the West may not even get out of round 1. The east was just horrific and called the “leastern conference” for a reason
the rest of the team just didn’t even tried
What bullshit lmao. People really think a team of NBA players in the finals weren’t trying?
They were close cause early 2000s basketball had atrocious pacing and the Cavs were a good defensive team.
That being said you can tell by the video and by comments from the spurs the Cavs just did not have an offensive threat outside Lebron. Would be really interesting to see this series play out if they have another reliable scorer
Yh Mike brown coached a good defen but the offense was terrible
People watch this and then still get upset that LeBron left Cleveland. What else was he supposed to do?
Duncan was talking about 2013 when he said that, not 2007. They sagged off him on the perimeter quite a bit in 2007
yeah, i dont want to throw my team flowers for no reason, but the defensive scheme dallas threw against, an older and better lebron, always blows my mind, he dissapear that finals and he had a jump shoot, i always say the same thing, we are the reason he developed a post game and got to the next level
Yea, and also you need more than one player who can create their own shot.
This series is the clearest example of how the end of the illegal defense rule led to positionless offense and the 3-point revolution.
I remember these days, he’s been around so damn long a whole generation doesn’t know.
I don’t think we ever see LeBron become a good shooter if he doesn’t get bodied in this series.
You can see them instantly collapse on him the second he’s near the paint.
Just a small sample size but the spacing was still there for the most part. Just the defense did not give a shit about the permiter players lol. They just collapsed to the paint and left shooters open.
I swear to god if I watch games from the late 90s/early aughts it looks like there’s 15 dudes on the court.
Almost 20 years ago is such a crazy thing. Can’t wait for the LeBronto highlights next.
I’ll post them. Bron is goated and this isn’t to “humiliate” him. Defensive highlights are as good as offensive highlights to me.
This does not humiliate bron, that game was basically 1vs 5
he was a very raw player still 4 years in. You can see how out of control he is. Had no idea what do with his back to the basket or playing out of triple threat. Everything had to be a live dribble from the top
A 22 year old leading their team to the finals is impressive. I don’t care how weak the conference was.
That’s fine but he’s in GOAT conversations and everyone was telling him to work on these things for years. Not sure he could’ve beat the spurs but maybe he doesn’t lose to Dallas if he took some of these things more serious earlier
Particularly because that roster was… Not very good.
What’s crazy is that you can recognize how raw his game was and realize how much better he got over the years…but at the same time he was still good enough at the time to be the best player on a championship team if he had the right talent around him.
Who knows, but maybe if he won championships earlier, he may not have taken that next step to become a player who is most consistently debated as top 1 or 2. Or maybe he would have just turned out to be amazing regardless because he’s LeBron James.
Anybody that thinks that series humiliates Bron is just looking at Wikipedia or the box score and never actually watched it. The East in general was very weak back then outside of the Pistons and then Celtics/Magic later on in the 00s. This was back when the Finals were largely seen as the WCF, lol.
Sure, 2016 Bron would have done better, but he basically dragged 4 plumbers and himself against one of the greatest dynasties of all time in their prime, lol.
He was atrocious from the perimeter, this one play was 1 v 5
This has gotta be LeBron’s actual “welcome to the NBA” moment - man plays 5v5, and the Spurs are just on a string the entire time.
It’s like a nice glimpse into his villain origin story. How he got to join the heat because of Celtics and spurs and Kobe.
We could really need some more of his early games in this off season, after all, this one might be his last
Showing this is great because LeBron took steps to improve his game after the Spurs exposed weakness as a shooter. He worked with Chris Jent to improve his jumper
This video is really similar to Jordan vs. the Pistons. It’s too bad the same Jordan Rules video is always used. One with just the clips without the intertitles would be interesting.
Jordan shot like 50% from the field against the pistons. Lebron had pretty much no perimeter game in his younger days
Sure, bud.
I’m just so happy we won a chip to exorcise those demons so I can just sit back and appreciate the greatness of Lebronto like everyone else
Graduated in 07. The high schoolers I coach now call me an unc. I guess they’re right, damn.
What he say fuck me for ?
There are a lot of examples in this clip where Bron’s lack of a middy shot (early in his career) really fucked him over.
His post up foot work wasn’t great either this early in his career
Its poetic because his dagger in game 7 of the 2013 Finals was a middy. Came full circle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFZZasMfEMU
Good lord, Tony. That was such bad defense.
He used up all his chakra in the pistons series
It’s true his shooting needed a lot of work but the fact that he dragged THAT team to the finals just adds to the legacy. He’s played so long that his early games don’t even look like the the same game.
Biggest take away is how the game is offciated
such a joy to see no-calls on offensive guys slamming into defenders lol
Which is why the 2006 finals were so aggregious AT THE TIME.
Yeah. I was imagining that, if this were basketball in 2026, James would have simply dislodged Bowen with his shoulder on every drive, and been rewarded with free throws half the time.
And spacing.
Biggest takeaway is that Lebron was a horrible midrange shooter.
Nah he was simply streaky, and he was still learning at this point where his more consistent spots were.
Thats the main difference between this version and a 2016 or 2018 or 2020
He knew exactly where his spots were, and he know exactly where and how to get to them and no one was stopping it. You countered with something? LeBron knew the solution and how to get what he wanted
He shot 16% on all shots not at the rim that series. He fucking sucked at shooting dude
And how terrible our team was in 07. LeBron legitImately had 3-5 defenders on him every single play, even just 1 other playmaker and it’s a series.
This might be LeBron’s origin story for always wanting to play with other stars.
Second leading scorer in these playoffs were Zydrunas with 12 points a game. Third leading score was Drew Gooden at 11
I think it was the big 3 Celtics. They were the first inorganically assembled superteam winning a ring in their first year while Lebron’s help got worse and worse
It was absolutely the big 3 Celtics.
He must have been disgusted watching the Celts FO surround Pierce with KG and Ray allen and great role players only to watch Cleveland surround him with sub par players.
KG and Ray Allen with Avery Bradley, Rondo, Tony Allen, Glen Davis, and even Shaq (not as washed as you remember). They had some great role players
Larry Hughes was supposed to be a good sidekick. Was a nice player in Washington. Then he played like a potato as soon as he got to Cleveland
Struggled as soon has had some expectations. Damn shame
what is inorganic about trading for players?
nobody even demanded a trade lol
Pierce was 30 when that happened, KG was 31 and people were retiring around 35
Series was close in spite of lebron playing like garbage
Bron wasnt ready for Pop and the dynasty Spurs. A lot of people weren’t.
It didn’t help him in 2011
All this was on him this series. He forced shots up. He wasn’t even a bad passed at this stage of his career, he just let the Detroit series get to his head, and thought he could do it against the Spurs too. Didn’t work out.
He was lost out there, too young I guess. The closing minutes of game 4 were crazy, Cavs were leading but he was just bobbling open rebounds to the wrong team at that point.
Akin to Wemby 2026 kinda
He was the same age back then that Wemby is now.
He was going against the Big 3 Spurs with one of the greatest power forwards and coaches of all time.
Not to mention Bowen being probably the most irritating wing defender to deal with at the time.
*dirtiest
Not really imo. Wemby had a much better team than Lebron did here. The Spurs were pretty favored going into the finals against a team who was more experienced but also in their first finals, lead by a small guard not considered a top tier star. Not to mention how much they lead in each game
Absolutey no one had the Cavs over the Spurs, the Spurs were coming off 3 rings in 6 years and still in prime dynasty mode
You are correct
The Wemby miscues were a lot worse. The 2026 Spurs actually had a real chance. The 2007 Cavs needed LeBron to be superhuman and they were genuinely playing at the equivalent of a non-playoff team whenever he sat.
The Cavs actually won LeBron’s minutes in two of the four games in 2007. They just got destroyed in the non-LeBron minutes. In Game 2 he was -5, but every other starter was -12 or worse. Game 3 he was the only starter who was positive. Game 4 he was +2 and only sat 1:31 of the entire game and that 1:31 was the difference. LeBron scored more than half of his team’s points in the fourth quarter of Game 3 and nearly did the same in Game 4.
Wemby watched his team lose a 29-point lead in Game 4 with a chance to tie the series. He was 2⁄9 in that fourth quarter, 1⁄4 at the line. The Knicks got their first lead of the entire game right after Wemby went 0/2 at the line with about 1:30 to go, and the Spurs’ perimeter players carried the bulk of the load in crunch time offensively. It’s just not the same.
He wasnt smart enough yet. His IQ caught up with this athletism in Miami
I mean you can argue it caught up 2 years later when he won his first MVP in 09. Even when the team was better they still wilted come playoff time.
You can see how all 5 spur move in as he navigate inside the 3 pt line. They dont care about the other 4
And they shouldn’t, the Cavs didn’t have anyone else to be worried about
This is Ilgauskas slander
yes and it’s valid
No different than 2019 Giannis. They can stack the paint too because LeBron was terrified to shoot mid range or three pointers due to being terrible at them
You can see how he is to scared to shoot midrange when he has clear space in a 1 on 1.
Because it’s obviously a bad shot. Contested mid range over four defenders is just terrible.
2 of the starters shoot 0% from the 3 in the playoffs
You might think it’s terrible but there’s a reason a lot of guys in this era saw success doing just that. The spacing was awful and you had to be able to take and make these difficult middies - Kobe, Dirk, Duncan, KG, Paul Pierce all lived in that.
Lebrons spacing sucked ass and at this point in time he was best at attacking the rim so yeah it’s a rough outing naturally. He wasn’t a bad shooter Imo but certainly streaky and dependent on specific spots of the floor.
It’s not even just that era, it’s every era.
Nuggets don’t win a title if Murray and Jokic can’t make those shots. Kawhi won his 2019 title making those shots against elite defenders. Lebron and AD in 20 had to shoot those.
In the playoffs when the paint closes and defenses rotate hard to cover shooters, if you have the space at the midrange you have to use it
It’s the best shot on the floor. Even in the modern era you have to take and make that shot. Jokic and Murray were burying those shots to win their title. Brown and Tatum would take those shots. Durant and Kawhi had to take and make those shots.
Meh, it’s in the paint/inside the arc. We see that all the time in every game when someone drives in.
Not like getting jumped crossing half court which is ultra far away from the basket. We know ONE player that got that type of attention on the regular - MASSIVE difference.
almost the same defensive playbook the Mavs used in the 2011 Finals. what amazes me he was able to improve his jumpshot and post game after that
This was hard to watch during those times. Lebron is forced to score himself because if he passes, his teamates barely make any shots.
This is hilarious to watch as people in that other thread say Giannis is better than Duncan
Mostly Laker fans
They gotta be on the younger side and didn’t live to see the terror that was to go against Duncan. There’s no way in hell Giannis is better than Tim lol.
Yep. I called them out on that
LeBron didnt hit a jumper til game 4 in this series
he went 2-6 from 3 in game 1
LeBunked
You think people are gonna let facts get in the way of their narrative?
Making things up on the internet >>>
Like every single one of these clips is a kickout 3 pointer today. That is so wild
Looking back, it’s crazy how much this influenced his growth as a player.
Pretty much every single thing he’s added to his game is a counter to the tactics the Spurs threw at him back then, from developing a post game (can you imagine Bowen slowing down Heat Lebron on the block?), to LeGMing floor spacers and a 2nd creator, to changing to more of a set 3 point shot (you can see his legs giving out as the series goes on), to being more patient attacking match ups to force the defense to tip their hand, to adding the cross court pass to his repertoire (can you imagine 2nd Cavs stint Lebron missing an open Pavlovic or Boobie Gibson at the 3 point line this many times?) etc. etc. etc.
It’s a testament to the Spurs for identifying his weaknesses and attacking them with such discipline, and to Lebron for adapting and growing to become the player he is.
I remember how the media just wanted him to drive to the net and be aggressive but Spurs easily shut that down
The media always seems to ignore defensive coverages.
Yeah, Wemby will be fine lol
Manu. Somehow not top 75.
It’s crazy how folks commenting here are acting like they can’t see how many defenders are closing out on James and how the Spurs are fronting all his passing lanes.
Literally just a great job defensively as a TEAM the Spurs were. Almost every single clip here shows the ENTIRE SPURS TEAM watching and or guarding LBJ knowing full damn well no one else was going to beat them… but let the morons say LBJ choked… it was 1v5 and the tape doesn’t lie.
His lack of a jumper really got exposed in this series. As much as people want to blame his team mates, if he had even a serviceable jump shot at this point, they probably win the series. It was much closer than people would have you think. And that’s with LeBron averaging 22 on 35% shooting with 6 turnovers a game lol.
I agree with you but if you watch this he still would need to be hitting TOUGH shots over 2-3 outstretched hands. The issue really was a heavy dose of the spacing
Even 2015 LeBron vs the Warriors had a pretty subpar shooting performance in part due to the back issue, and his supporting cast just wasn’t good enough to take away the GS defense and allow some space. He was good enough and confident enough in his 3 level scoring to all around mitigate it, but not in 2007 he was too young in his development
The Spurs were still running a variant of this defense against the Heat six years later in 2013 (stick Boris Diaw on James, give him space, live with the jumper), but the differences were that Lebron had become a passable shooter and that his team’s roster was far superior.
Once again shouldn’t have been there but he went superhuman vs the prime pistons at 22 years old.
Not prime
Not sure why your getting downvoted this wasn’t prime pistons. Ben Wallace was already gone, they were playing the corpse of Chris Webber who retired after one more season.
If he only played in the iso era
Jordan would never be shut down in the finals because his ass would go home in the first round.
Damn weird looking back and seeing him play clearly nervous as hell with extremely poor decision making. Crazy how much one player can grow in…20 years…insanity this man is still doing it
Man, lebron with no jumper
Yup
Wow, that original LeBron jumper was something else lmao.
Literally 3 Spurs players there in the first block
Slightly open in 1 on 1 coverage first two plays, and forces drives because he can’t shoot.
What you guys failed to recall or were too young to watch live was James was exhausted after the ECF. He had no legs and nothing left in the tank. If I recall correctly, his teammates carried him off the floor during that series. This series he was running on fumes.
Amazing how had Iverson had enough gas left in the tank to get will a win over Shaq and Kobe. But okay.
I miss this LeBron that didn’t complain to the refs after ever play.
As a reminder, LeBron dragged this team to the Finals when he was just 22 years old.
Similar gameplan in 2013 and 2014. Keep him away from the paint and challenge him to hit jumpers. The Warriors did similar, losing their minds aside in their 3-1 collapse. It has always been the best way to guard him.
hot take but he was worse in this series than 2011
In terms of pure production yes, but he also was a much better player in 2011 than he was in 2007 and was in a much easier situation
And the 2011 Mavs were not as good a defensive team as the 2007 spurs
The main issue with Bron in 2011 was his lack of aggression. He deferred to Wade too often
I miss seeing real defense. no one plays d now.. just 3s and FTs
Did u see this year’s finals?
“This is gonna be your league in a little while… but I appreciate you giving us this year.”
Kind of crazy that Duncan could be considered Bron’s biggest Rival over the first half of his career, before Steph stepped into the picture.
It’s kinda crazy to see how much better 07 Duncan moved compared to late career Duncan. This was even after his peak and knee injury in 2000.
Always nuts to me he never won DPOY.
Shout out big Z who was getting his hands on every missed shot
Yeah it’s a 1 v 5 on offense, no surprise there.
Look at the excuses in the comments 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 This is why he could never be compared to Kobe nor Jordan both of them came out the gate scoring on double teams pull up jumpers and all.
Was this the only time he was swept?
One final score was 75-72, the Spurs were a fucking disgusting grindhouse from 03-07. I miss it 😂
This looks identical to what they threw at SGA in the conference finals. All five faces toward the guy they need to shut down.
It’s kind of nice when there’s only one player you have to worry about in a finals series. This type of one sided matchup will probably never happen for a very long time
Somebody is lying about that 2007
What?
Imagine a team in 2026 that has apex athlete LeBron, and lumbering Varejao and Ilgauskas in the paint
We would all be collectively screaming at our TVs to sub them off to make space
All 5 Spurs always had eyes on LeBron. Once he got by even a little from his primary defender, the defense just closes the paint and basically ignores any other Cav
Where the F are the screens, dude is alone
shit is easy when it’s 5v1.
Ducan to LeBron after the series: this is going to be your league for a while.
Imagine single handedly carrying a mediocre coach and the worst team in the league to the NBA Finals as a 21 y/o player. Just to face the Spurs dynasty squad in the Finals with Pop
That’s why LeBron’s “Finals record” look like that. Mf overachieved too many times with far less at his disposal. Instead of losing early in the playoffs
Obviously not the worst team in the league
There’s better spacing during sex
This shit so crazy it reminds of the type of “team” defense I play when on 2k against bron. Just fucking triple teaming his ass
notice how they are sagged off all focused on stopping 1 player… this defense did not exist back in the “Golden Era”
He better coach would space the floor better.
Crazy how good the Spurs’ defense is. Most obvious is that Bowen, dirty POS though he sometimes was, is just outstanding as a 1 on 1 defender, and Tim htf was he never DPOY Duncan is blocking and deflecting and altering shots without even jumping, but even guys like past his prime Michael Finley, and even Fabricio freaking Oberto are playing quality defense.
Bro was playing 1v5 without a jump shot.
People talk about modern rules making it easier for rim attackers to attack the rim clean but the forget about help defense lmao
Raptors fans need to get over 2015-18. Good lord.
Duncan was asked how they were stopping LeBron, and he just answered that they were guarding him with five guys.
Lebron should have tried pushing off, carrying, traveling, flopping, etc
now do 2013-2014 nba finals
Should’ve been LeBron getting obliterated by the Suns offense.
Man did I have a serious hatred for the Spurs back then…this kinda shows that Bron woulda struggled in the 80’s just like Jordan did against the Celtics and Bad Boys. Can’t be the only threat and win.
- LeBron wasn’t a very good jump shooter - Mike Brown couldn’t draw up a play to get out of a paper bag - the absolute disrespect of the Spurs not even looking at the 4 other players on the court
yeah that’s about how I remember it