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http://www.espn.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/19611978/nba-why-lebron-james-finals-mvp
What's the best way to capture the greatness of LeBron James?
You could look at his four MVPs, his three Finals MVPs and his three titles. Or you could point to the fact that he's already the all-time leading playoff scorer -- and scoring is not even his best skill. You could look up his triple-doubles and see that he's the all-time leader in the category for the Finals and for playoff elimination games. And from all indications, he hasn't left his prime yet.
But all those stats probably don't do James justice. The clearest way to see how powerful James is on the basketball court is not to see him at all. That is, take a look at what the Cleveland Cavaliers do when he's not on the floor. That perspective will make it crystal clear that he's the most sensible MVP of the Finals -- even if the Cavs don't win the series against the Golden State Warriors.
Here in the Finals, James' impact is jaw-dropping. Check the box score from Game 4, and you'll see that James delivered a triple-double while scoring 31 points on 50 percent shooting. You'll also notice that the Cavs -- going against an all-time juggernaut trying to sweep the entire playoffs -- were plus-32 in the 41 minutes that he was on the floor.
But here's the crazy thing that you can't pick up easily in the box score: In the seven minutes that James sat on the bench, the Cavs were minus-11. That's right: In just seven LeBron-less minutes, the Warriors put up 21 points and the Cavs just 10.
And then you look at Game 3, a brilliant nail-biter that the Cavs were actually winning with 50 seconds left. In that game, the LeBron-less Cavs were minus-12 in just two minutes. Yes, the Warriors went on a 12-0 run without James on the floor. James couldn't leave the floor for three freakin' minutes without the Cavs blowing it. (The LeBron-full Cavs were plus-7 with James on the floor.)
One-game sample sizes can be misleading when dealing with a noisy stat like plus-minus, but that's not the case here. If we zoom out, we see that the lopsided plus-minus has been the story of the series and the season. And if we're being honest, it goes for the Cavs franchise, too.
When LeBron James is on the floor, they are championship contenders. Without him, they're just another team. And a bad one, at that.
2017 NBA Finals: Full coverage
The Cavaliers took Game 4 with a record-setting night. We have you covered with the latest news and analysis entering Game 5 (Mon., 9 ET on ABC/WatchESPN). Finals »
• Schedule | ESPN Forecast | MVP picks
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• Warriors plan new ending at home
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• Draymond takes aim at Cleveland
• Most voluble Warrior fuels Cavs' fire
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In the 2017 Finals, James has averaged a triple-double while averaging series-high 41.4 minutes per game. He can't sit on the bench. Against a Warriors team that blew out opponents at a record pace entering the series, James has actually led his team to a plus-6 margin when he's on the floor.
But that advantage all falls apart when he hits the bench. The LeBron-less Cavs for the series stand at a minus-31 in 26 minutes of action -- a rate so one-sided, it's the equivalent of losing by 57 points in a 48-minute game.
Let that marinate. Without James, the Cavs are getting smacked by a rate of a 57-point rout over a full game.
You might be sitting here and saying, "Duh, that's what happens when you play the All-Star team that is the Golden State Warriors. Does this stand up to the whole season?" Glad you asked.
Thanks to the magic of NBAwowy.com, we can look at how the Cavs do with certain players on the court. Let's pull up how they fare when they have two All-Stars on the floor, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. Let's take James out of the equation. On Friday, that two-star lineup got blasted 14-5 in four minutes. For the season? Here's the score: Cavs 686, Opponents 708. That's right. Even with two four-time All-Stars on the floor, the Cavs have been outscored by 22 points in 342 minutes this season, or minus-3.1 per 48 minutes. You know what the New York Knicks were this season? A minus-3.6.
Think about that. The Cavs without James but with Irving and Love on the floor were basically the Knicks, a team that finished 31-51 and 10 games out of the playoff picture. That's how good he is.
What's going on here? LeBron James is happening. Put just about anybody around him, and that team is going to be really good. Here's another way to think about this. What if we look at how the Cavs do with James on the floor and no Irving, no Love. Again, James by himself without any of his All-Stars. The Cavs, according to NBAwowy tracking, with James and no Irving/Love, have scored 110.4 points per 100 possessions this season. That's crazy good, right up there with the best offenses of the season.
Let's flip this. How do the Cavs score in the Irving and Love lineups without James? Again, these are two of the best scorers in the NBA. Here's how that lineup scores: 108.6 points per 100 possessions, per NBAwowy.com. To recap: The Cavs with LeBron alone do better offensively than the Cavs with Irving and Love going without James. (The defense gets better with James, too, if you were wondering.) If that doesn't spell it out for you, I don't know what will.
Can't wrap your head around this on-the-court off-the-court stuff? Just look at the overall team record. This season, the Cavs were 0-8 in the eight games that James missed. Oh-and-eight.
LeBron James has carried the Cleveland Cavaliers while on the court while watching them plummet when off the court. That has been the case for him every season with them. (Tony Dejak/AP) AP Photo/Tony Dejak
That's the story of the franchise, really. Since James was drafted in 2003 and on the team, the Cavs have a 496-274 (.644) record when James is on the floor, which is almost exactly the No. 1-seeded Boston Celtics' win percentage this season (.646). But get this: Those same teams, but with James watching from the bench in street clothes, are 14-36 (.280) since 2003-04, a win percentage that only the Brooklyn Nets could out-terrible this season. To reiterate: a win percentage that goes from No. 1 to No. 29. That's the power of LeBron.
Cavs With And Without LeBron James
WITH WITHOUT
Season W L WPct W L WPct
2016-17 51 23 .689 0 8 .000
2015-16 56 20 .737 1 5 .167
2014-15 50 19 .725 3 10 .231
2009-10 60 19 .759 1 2 .333
2008-09 66 15 .815 0 1 .000
2007-08 45 30 .600 0 7 .000
2006-07 47 31 .603 3 1 .750
2005-06 47 32 .595 3 0 1.000
2004-05 41 39 .513 1 1 .500
2003-04 33 46 .418 2 1 .667
Total 496 274 .644 14 36 .280
And this doesn't consider even what the Cavs looked like in the years when James' talents went to South Beach. In poetic fashion, the 2010-11 Cleveland team responded to James' departure by breaking the record for consecutive losses (26) set by -- you guessed it -- the Cavaliers across the 1981-82 and 1982-83 seasons (24). When James played in Miami, the Cavs' best season was 16 games under .500 when they finished 33-49 in 2013-14.
This doesn't happen to the same degree when we look at other stars. The Warriors missed Kevin Durant so much this season that they went on a 13-game win streak without him at one point. And the San Antonio Spurs rattled off a 7-1 record without Kawhi Leonard in the regular season. In the six playoff games without Stephen Curry last season, the Warriors went 4-2. Houston won its lone game without James Harden, and so did the Thunder without Russell Westbrook. Again: The Cavs, with multiple All-Stars, lost all eight stinking games this season without James.
Which brings us to the Finals MVP. The series isn't over yet, but if you stack up box score stats, it's basically a three-way tie between James, Durant and Curry. Durant is scoring 34.3 points on mind-blowing .523/.433/.914 shooting percentages along with 8.8 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 2 blocks per game. Curry is averaging a near triple-double with averages of 25, 9.3 and 8.5, and unlike with Durant, the Warriors have a losing margin when Curry is off the floor. And of course, James is averaging a triple-double with a positive plus-minus on a team down 3-1.
Cavs This Playoffs With LeBron James On/Off
ON OFF
vs. Indiana Game 1 5 -4
vs. Indiana Game 2 6 0
vs. Indiana Game 3 13 -8
vs. Indiana Game 4 4 0
vs. Toronto Game 1 16 -5
vs. Toronto Game 2 24 -2
vs. Toronto Game 3 20 1
vs. Toronto Game 4 7 0
vs. Boston Game 1 17 -4
vs. Boston Game 2 46 -2
vs. Boston Game 3 1 -4
vs. Boston Game 4 7 6
vs. Boston Game 5 36 -3
vs. GS Game 1 -22 0
vs. GS Game 2 -11 -8
vs. GS Game 3 7 -12
vs. GS Game 4 32 -11
We know where the Warriors would be without Durant or Curry: probably right where they are, in the Finals. But without James, the Cavs have shown they wouldn't be anywhere close.
The only player to win the MVP on the losing team is Jerry West, who in 1969 literally became the face of the league when the NBA's designer made his silhouette the logo that same year. How fitting if James followed the Logo.
Any way you look at it, James is everything to the Cavs. ----
bshelly
"You (Fisher) could get fired, Les Snead could get fired, Kevin Demoff could get fired, but I will always be Eric Dickerson.” (c) The God
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