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Shown on May 12, LeBron James and the Lakers will face the Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals starting on May 16. (Ashley Landis – Associated Press)
Basketball’s greatest debate will always be who was the better player – Michael Jordan or LeBron James – as long as we’ve been able to see both in person.
At this point, does it really matter who was better? Can greatness only end in a dead heat?
Jordan has six championship rings earned over 13 seasons with the Chicago Bulls — a career cut short when he took a crack at professional baseball with the minor league Birmingham Barons in 1993-94.
Jordan retired after the 1997-98 season and didn’t retire until three years later. He played two seasons with the Washington Wizards and retired for good after the 2002-03 season at the age of 40. In his final season, he averaged 20 points per game and played in all 82 games in 67 starts.
The Bulls’ championship reign ended in 1997-98 when Chicago eliminated the Utah Jazz in six games. Jordan was 35 years old. In Game 6 against the Jazz, he had 44 minutes, 45 points and four steals as the Bulls won, 87-86.
James, 38 on Dec. 30. On Feb. 7, he passes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer and leads the Lakers to the Western Conference Finals against the Denver Nuggets on May 16.
Between his long career with the Cavaliers, the Heat, the Cavaliers again and now the Lakers over the last five years, James can tell the story of how this season carries a team on his back more than anything else. .
The Lakers missed the playoffs last season when they finished 11th in the West at 33-49. They are off to a 2-10 start this season. They didn’t go over .500 until their 77th, when they improved the Timberwolves to 39-38.
The Lakers finished seventh in the Western Conference regular season at 43-39 before beating the Timberwolves 108-102 in the playoffs.
Certainly, James is not a one-man team. Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka turned his team from a disorganized mess into a great one, pulling off some sloppy trades to eliminate the immature Memphis Grizzlies and knock off the Warriors in the conference semifinals. The Grizzlies (second) and Warriors (sixth) were both top seeds.
Pelinka’s biggest trade was sending guard Russell Westbrook to the Jazz as part of a three-team deal with the Timberwolves. The Lakers got guard D’Angelo Russell from Minnesota and Malik Beasley and Jared Vanderbilt from Utah in the deal. The Lakers sent Westbrook, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Damian Jones and their first-round pick in 2027 to the Jazz.
When they traded Westbrook, the Lakers were 25-30 and 13th in the West. The players Los Angeles acquired didn’t make the impression the Nets traded Kevin Durant to the Suns or the Nets traded Kyrie Irving to the Mavericks, but the Mavericks didn’t even make the playoffs and the Suns were done.
James scored 30 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished out nine assists as the Lakers defeated the Lakers, 122-101, in Game 6 of the semifinals.
The Nuggets finished first in the West and are 53-29 – a full 10 games better than the Lakers. Betonline.ag gives Denver a 59.2 percent chance to win the seven-game winning streak.
LeBron James has played in 278 playoff games. At 182-96, he has a record of 135 double-doubles, 28 triple-doubles and four championships. Betor be careful.
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