Jerry West was 1-8 in the NBA Finals, so as I listened to him defend LeBron’s 2-4 Finals record, I understood why he was doing it.
You are what your record says you are, but there is nothing wrong with providing some context. West made a lot of good points about LeBron’s greatness and how it should be appreciated regardless of his Finals records and that is something I have spoken about a lot.
There was one quote I disagree with West on though.
“The most ridiculous thing is how many times (LeBron’s Teams) have they been the favorite? None. Zero.”
That is just factually incorrect.
The 2011 HEAT vs Mav and 2013 HEAT vs. Spurs were favorites. The 2012 HEAT vs. OKC and 204 HEAT vs. Spurs were considered more 50-50 tossups.
As a clear favorite LeBron is 1-1 in Finals, in 50-50 matchups LeBron is again 1-1. His two Cavs teams (2007 & 2015) not counting this were clear underdogs and he lost both of those matchups.
Those two Cavs teams are two of the worst NBA Finals teams of all-time, so it is a testament to LeBron he carried them to the Finals.
This current Cavs team while fully healthy is a distinct underdog against a team that now holds the record for most ever regular season games won. Jerry West does have a point, LeBron hasn’t had many dominant teams, but out of his 7 Finals appearances, he has had a few teams that were better or on par with his opponent and he lost some of those matchups.