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The eternal challenge of LeBron James

2020-10-12T17:49:15.354Z


The Lakers star is the first to win four titles and four Finals MVPs with three different teamsOn July 9, he and his teammates arrived at the bubble set up by the NBA at Disney World, Orlando. With a cap that read More than an athlete(more than an athlete) and a purple mask that barely showed his face, LeBron James made it known that, at 35, he was determined to take on the most complex and heterogeneous challenge of his long career, an unprecedented challenge in the history of world sport.


On July 9, he and his teammates arrived at the bubble set up by the NBA at Disney World, Orlando.

With a cap that read

More than an athlete

(more than an athlete) and a purple mask that barely showed his face, LeBron James made it known that, at 35, he was determined to take on the most complex and heterogeneous challenge of his long career, an unprecedented challenge in the history of world sport.

He saw himself in the obligation to affirm himself as the best possible hook for the NBA in times of pandemic, of fields without an audience, of social demands carried out in the midst of extreme tension.

And at the same time he took on the challenge of returning the Lakers to the top, right after the death of Kobe Bryant, with the 17th title that equals the Celtics at the top of the NBA, and reveal himself once again as the most great, at least in current times, with his fourth title and his fourth MVP - the first to achieve that combination with three different teams - in his tenth final.

LeBron was always in the crosshairs of those who doubted that in the Western Conference, always more demanding than the Eastern Conference, in which he had developed his entire career, he would continue to be King;

also of those who reproached him for not even putting the Lakers in the

playoffs

in his first season in Los Angeles, or of the many who began to observe some sign of decline in his long career, such as his poor defensive balance in a series of games .

On Sunday, 95 days after hitting the NBA bubble, LeBron struck an impeccable balance.

🏆 @KingJames notches his 11th #NBAFinals triple-double as the @Lakers won Game 6 and became 2020 NBA champions!

#LakeShow



28 PTS |

14 REB |

10 AST pic.twitter.com/Ml4eg5pmw2

- NBA (@NBA) October 12, 2020

The Lakers overwhelmed the Miami Heat in the sixth game of the final, much more than can be deduced by the final score (93-106), since before the break the game was practically resolved.

It was 4-2, the confirmation of the forecasts since the Lakers incorporated Anthony Davis in July 2019 and the promise fulfilled when all of them were dismayed by the death of the icon of the franchise and world sport, Kobe Bryant, and his daughter Gianna, in a helicopter crash on January 26.

"I promise you that I will continue your legacy," LeBron said in memory of the player who left an inheritance of five titles and who deserved the retirement of the two jerseys he wore, number 8 and 24, during the 20 seasons he played for the Lakers. .

"Thinking that I have something to prove feeds me personally," admitted LeBron at the conclusion of the sixth and final game against the Heat.

“He fed me for the last year and a half since the injury [he missed 27 games last season].

It encouraged me because, at this point, no matter what I have done in my career, there are still little rumors, doubts, comparisons with history: if this one has done this and that one, that.

Keeping that in mind, saying to myself 'why don't I have something to prove?' Gives me energy. "

Duet with Anthony Davis

The strength, quality and efficiency of El Rey was defined once again with a triple double in the final game: 28 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists.

There was during the development of the finals who speculated with the possibility that the MVP was for Anthony Davis, also brilliant, decisive in some of the games.

But there was no possible discussion because LeBron once again squared some staggering figures: 29.8 points, 11.8 rebounds and 8.5 assists average in the final games.

It was the first title for Anthony Davis, the number one in

the

2012

draft

and seven

all-star players

, who, after seven seasons in New Orleans, bet so decisively on the Lakers that the NBA sanctioned him $ 50,000 for making his publicity public. I wish before regulation time, in January 2019. The 27-year-old power forward's work has been vital to the Lakers' success.

In Game 6 against the Heat, he had 19 points and 15 rebounds and, in the finals, he averaged 25 points and 10.7 rebounds.

Davos and LeBron shared a team in the United States team that won the gold medal at the London Olympics in 2012. The duo they have formed in Los Angeles has been decisive, often compared to the one they formed in their day Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant.

“Sometimes you can't explain what ties you to someone.

There are certain things that you just know, you know that kind of vibration in a personal relationship.

The first thing I think of in relation to AD is respect, not having ego, challenging each other.

I want him to be better than me, and he wants me to be better than him, ”says LeBron, key in the operation that brought Anthony Davis to the Lakers, in exchange for Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, De Andre Hunter, Brandon Ingram and several early rounds of future

draft

.

There was no room for doubt in the sixth game of the final, nor a trace of the reply posed by the Heat in the previous five.

The Lakers overwhelmed them.

Before the break, the difference had reached 30 points (64-34) and by the third quarter, 36 (82-46).

Frank Vogel, the coach the Lakers chose after six seasons out of the

playoffs

, made some tweaks.

Anthony Davis left Butler's marking to LeBron James.

The pivot recovered Adebayo's mark.

And Caruso appeared for the first time in the starting team in the

playoffs

, to the detriment of Dwight Howard.

The Heat, who recovered Goran Dragic, injured from the first meeting of the series, crashed into the Lakers defense.

Butler, the key player for the Heat to go this far, only threw 10 shots from the field and three free throws and stayed at 12 points.

The attack of the Heat was very limited and only Adebayo stood out with 25 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.

Instead, the Lakers, in addition to LeBron and Davis, had the formidable contribution of Rajon Rondo, with 19 points, four rebounds and four assists, and Caldwell-Pope, with 17 points.

A collector of records

LeBron James is, along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the third player to have played the most finals in NBA history, 10, only surpassed by Bill Russell (12) and Sam Jones (11).

His fourth MVP title places him second on the list behind Michael Jordan, with six, and one more than Magic Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal and Tim Duncan.

Besides him (Miami, Cleveland and Lakers), only three players have won titles with three different teams: Robert Horry (Houston, Lakers and San Antonio), John Salley (Detroit, Chicago and Lakers) and, now, Danny Green (San Antonio, Toronto and Lakers).

His triple-double against Miami is the 28th of his career in the 14 playoffs he has played.

Only Magic surpasses him, with 30. LeBron is the player who has played the most games in the playoffs, 260, and the leading scorer, with 7,463 points.

Source: elparis

All sports articles on 2020-10-12

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