LeBron had a poor defensive performance in the 2007 NBA Finals as well as his struggles on offense. On offense, LeBron became the only player to shoot under 40% with 5+ TOpg in an NBA Finals. Defensively, Tony Parker outplayed him for the series, Manu schooled him a few times, and LeBron made some mistakes at inopportune times. Some of the biggest ones were picking up 2 early fouls in Game 2 and failing to secure a rebound on 3 possessions towards the end of Game 4.
LeBron did not "carry" the 2007 Cavs to the Finals. He led a mediocre supporting cast past even worse competition. The 2007 East was so bad, that the 2007 Pistons with no Ben Wallace tied for the 3rd-worst record by a 1-seed in the 4-round format at 53-29, after the 2002 Nets (52-30) and 2003 Pistons (50-32). If every team in the conference is weak, of course a weak team will make the Finals by default. The 2007 Cavs are the only team since the 1987 Lakers to beat two 0.500 or worse teams to make the NBA Finals. For comparison, Jordan only faced two 0.500 or worse teams in his entire playoff career, yet LeBron's path was so easy that he matched that in 2007 alone.
Jordan took a worse team than the 2007 Cavs to 6 games against a much better team than the 2007 Spurs in the 1989 Pistons. The 1989 Pistons were 15-2 in the playoffs, tied for the 2nd-best playoff record ever in the 4-round format. The 2007 Spurs had lost 4 playoff games in the West alone before sweeping the Cavs in the Finals. In the 1989 and 1990 Playoffs, the Pistons were 22-2 against non-Jordan teams.
1989 ECF best scoring teammates
Hodges 12.0 ppg on 45%
Cartwright 10.5 ppg on 41%
Pippen 9.7 ppg on 40%
Grant 9.3 ppg on 50%
2007 Finals best scoring teammates
Gooden 12.8 ppg on 50%
Gibson 10.8 ppg on 44%
Pavlovic 9.8 ppg on 36%
Varejao 7.5 ppg on 67%
The Cavs were also ranked 2 of 30 in rebounding, as opposed to the Bulls' 22 of 25 rank in rebounding. The 2007 Cavs held Duncan to under 45% FG in the Finals, the 2nd-worst shooting series in Duncan's Finals career after 2005. The 2007 Cavs clearly had far superior defensive and rebounding help than the 1989 Bulls, holding the Spurs to 85 or less in 3/4 games. This defensive success was in no part to LeBron, who was lit up and outplayed by Tony Parker for the series.
And remember, MJ played great in the 1989 ECF
30-6-7-2 on 46%
unlike LeBron in the 2007 Finals
22-7-7 on 36% and 5.8 TOpg
and LeBron was badly outplayed by Tony Parker
25-5-3 on 57%.
Keep in mind Tony Parker averaged under 20 ppg for both the 2007 season and rounds 1-3 of the playoffs combined.
So MJ was doing way more to create those opportunities for his teammates, and was far more responsible for whatever production they had than LeBron for his teammates, and MJ was playing against a way better team.
LeBron played so poorly, that he was the only player in Finals history to shoot under 40% FG (35.6%) with 5+ TOpg (5.8 TOpg) in an NBA Finals. The only person to average more TOpg in an NBA Finals is Magic Johnson with 6.0 TOpg in 1983, but he also had 12.5 apg when no one else has reached 11.5 apg in an NBA Finals.
Jordan only has one series in his entire career where he shot under 40% FG, with 39% FG against the 1997 Heat. And even in this 1997 ECF, Jordan still averaged 30-8-4-2-1 on 43% in the 4 wins of a 5-game series. The Game 4 loss in which Jordan shot 9/35 depressed his series averages in a 5-game sample. Jordan also never averaged 5 TOpg in a playoff series, let alone 5.8 TOpg like LeBron which is the 2nd-highest in Finals history. So there is no chance whatsoever of Jordan playing nearly as badly as LeBron in these 2007 Finals. Keep in mind that following the early 2000s rule changes, Jordan at age 38 averaged 25-6-5 pre-injury for 46 games, more than half the season. Only Tracy McGrady had at least 25-6-5 by season's end.
Despite LeBron's all-time historically bad performance, the 4 games were only decided by an average margin of 6 PPG. Had you replaced LeBron with prime Jordan in 2007, the Cavs would have swept the weak East 12-0, maybe 12-1 if they got unlucky
- Two 0.500 teams (only team since 87 Lakers to beat two 0.500 or worse teams to make the Finals). - Jordan only faced two 0.500 or worse teams in his entire playoff career
- Pistons with no 4x DPOY Ben Wallace or Larry Brown
- tied for 3rd-worst record by a 1-seed in the 4-round format
And beat the Spurs in 5 or 6 games, with Jordan shutting down Tony Parker along with playing great offensively being the difference. Jordan has shut down much better offensive threats than Parker.
Jordan himself was a much better defender than LeBron as established earlier, so the Cavs' defense that held the Spurs to 85 or less in 3 of 4 games would only further improve with a DPOY like Jordan.
