{"id":6909,"date":"2017-05-21T12:51:21","date_gmt":"2017-05-21T16:51:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/?p=6909"},"modified":"2017-05-21T12:51:21","modified_gmt":"2017-05-21T16:51:21","slug":"lebron-james-proving-value-nba-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2017\/05\/21\/lebron-james-proving-value-nba-playoffs\/","title":{"rendered":"LeBron James Proving Unquestionable Value in NBA Playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>So far this postseason, <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LeBron James<\/a><\/strong> has been unstoppable. From taking control of games, to simply dominating his opponents, James is playing like a true MVP. After sweeping the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/category\/pacers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Indiana Pacers<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/category\/raptors\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Toronto Raptors<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/category\/cavaliers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> look set to do the same to the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/category\/celtics\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Boston Celtics<\/a>. Currently leading 2-0, with two straight home games on the way, James and the Cavaliers appear unbeatable. However, it seems that James&#8217;s work isn&#8217;t appreciated by all. Every season, the NBA media votes on the league&#8217;s most prestigious awards. From the regular season MVP to the All-NBA teams, the media decides. Recently, the NBA announced the association&#8217;s All-NBA first, second and third teams. The dominant James may have been surprised by the results.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>LeBron James Proving Unquestionable Value in NBA Playoffs<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3><strong>Eastern Conference Finals (Games 1 and 2)<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>To say this series has been a mismatch so far\u00a0is an understatement. The gulf in talent is clear as day, with the Celtics\u00a0being beaten in every area. Not only are the Cavaliers dominant, but James is putting on a show every night. In Game 1, James put up 38 points and seven assists. Game 2 saw the King rack up 30 points and seven assists, leading Cleveland in both categories for the second straight contest. Furthermore, the Cavaliers star has led the team in scoring in all but one playoff game this postseason.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Best of LeBron James Game 2 Eastern Conference Finals | May 19, 2017\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xdrx8cZtW94?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3><strong>The Non-Unanimous Vote \u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Now, back to the point at hand. James has arguably been the NBA&#8217;s best player for the last 10 years. Despite bringing his best every season, James seems allergic to the regular season MVP award. This is because we&#8217;ve all gotten used to James&#8217;s greatness. Elite performances by the 13-time All-Star just seem to be the norm.<\/p>\n<p>When the NBA announced this season&#8217;s All-NBA teams, James, as one would expect, found himself on the All-NBA First Team. However, the Akron, Ohio, native was a non-unanimous selection. This would come as a shock to some, especially with James in such dominant form. James received 99 out of 100 First Team votes. He was joined by <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/category\/thunder\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> star <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/westbru01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Russell Westbrook<\/a><\/strong>, with the OKC star also receiving 99 First Team votes. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/category\/rockets\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Houston Rockets<\/a> guard <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hardeja01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">James Harden<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0was the only unanimous First Team selection \u2013 a decision that would disappoint some, but not all.<\/p>\n<p>Now, when we look at what James is doing, compared to Harden in the playoffs, who should really have been the unanimous selection?<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Jaylen Brown and Bradley Beal Should Know Better\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>One player who called out the three-time NBA champion\u00a0was Celtics rookie <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/brownja02.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jaylen Brown<\/a><\/strong>. Brown was quoted as saying &#8220;LeBron&#8217;s a good player, but I look at him as just a regular guy,&#8221;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CelticsCSN\/status\/865680346129481728\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">in an interview with\u00a0<\/a><em><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CelticsCSN\/status\/865680346129481728\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Celtics on CSN<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em>That night, the Cavaliers thrashed Boston 130-86, in a game which was over before half-time. Next time, Brown should think before he speaks and remember that for the next two games, he&#8217;s still a rookie.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/category\/wizards\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Washington Wizards<\/a> guard <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bealbr01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bradley Beal<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0went after the team more so than James.\u00a0Now, Beal should know better and be more aware of his situation. The Wizards were outed by the hapless Celtics in the previous round. Despite taking the Celtics to seven games, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/2017\/05\/17\/washington-wizards-peaked\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Washington missed its best chance<\/a> in years to reach the Conference Finals. Beal felt the need to call out the Cavaliers in a very confusing way. Beal was quoted as saying &#8220;Cleveland didn\u2019t want to see us. I always said that. I felt like that\u2019s the reason they didn\u2019t play us in the second round.&#8221; That&#8217;s a confusing statement, seeing as the Wizards couldn&#8217;t beat a team that the Cavaliers appear ready to dispatch.<\/p>\n<p>One Cavalier didn&#8217;t appreciate Beal&#8217;s comments. As one would expect, guard <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/smithjr01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">J.R. Smith<\/a><\/strong> had to have his say on the matter:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">If you don&#39;t knock it off! Win game 7 an then talk. Till then sit home an enjoy the show! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/aZkZ7Lpi4u\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/aZkZ7Lpi4u<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; JR Smith (@TheRealJRSmith) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheRealJRSmith\/status\/865784421269610496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 20, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Cleveland is on a collision course to play the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/category\/warriors\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Golden State Warriors<\/a>\u00a0for the\u00a0third year in a row. James and the Cavaliers are taking everything that teams are throwing at them and hitting it out of the park, as a once cursed team looks to go back-to-back for the first time in franchise history.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.ca\/detail\/661235802\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 71.548822% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/661235802?et=78Lqw_uCRuJS8h4xT8N0YQ&amp;tld=ca&amp;viewMoreLink=off&amp;sig=E0EY6JaISbOqntPrxMNcL8ahV4Tf68YIvhsLhFZhWOQ=&amp;caption=true\" width=\"594\" height=\"425\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"margin: 0;\">\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LeBron James proving unquestionable value: the Cavs superstar has been on fire this postseason, and his performances could lead to three straight sweeps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":638,"featured_media":6925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,62],"tags":[65,302,311,39,450,38,96,596],"class_list":["post-6909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cavaliers","category-nba","tag-basketball","tag-boston-celtics","tag-bradley-beal","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-jaylen-brown","tag-lebron-james","tag-nba","tag-nba-playoffs"],"modified_by":"Lior Kozai (Managing Editor)","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/638"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}