Honestyly tho, Jordan never faced adversity like this, because he crushed his opponents... He never even faced an elimination game in the finals, much less lose 4.
I know the cool thing to do is to over romanticize the past, but you say this as if it is somehow an indictment of LeBron.
Lebron has choked in the finals in a way few superstars ever have. Yes, it is in an indictment if we are talking about the GOAT.
Jordan never faced adversity on the biggest stage because when there was actual adversity, his teams were bounced out of the playoffs before the finals. Jordan never beat his biggest foes. I will give him a pass on the early losses to the Celtics since it was early in his career, but he was eliminated three years in a row by the Pistons.
He had terrible teams behind him at that time. I know LBJ made it to the finals with a bad team too, but in '07 LBJ did not face an all-time great team like the Pistons. And I am not sure why you are so down on the teams Jordan beat in the finals: the Lakers were definitely well past their prime, so no surprise there, but the Trailblazers, Suns, Sonics and Jazz were all really good teams, with a lot of depth. Lebron also beat some good teams (Spurs, GS) and lost to good teams (Spurs, GS, Mavericks) he beat a decent OKC team. In terms of the strength of opposition I see them as pretty even and in their championship prime, they both came out of weak conference's.
It wasn't until the Pistons hit a decline that he got the better of them, and then the Pistons were never heard from for over a decade.
Which is pretty much the same situation LBJ had with the Celtics. Call it even?
You want to argue that this single postseason run was better than any of Jordan's you could probably make a case, and it would be close, but overall body of work, c'mon now... Jordan is impeccable.
You qualify this in a weird way, almost like it would take an effort to see why this championship was so significant. LeBron's team beat the best regular season team in NBA history.
The best team with the MVP having an MCL injury requiring surgery, and their key defensive player receiving a shitty and probably unwarranted suspension at a pivotal moment. Not saying this to disqualify the run, but it would not be like if Seattle beat the Bulls in '96, where the Bulls were firing on all cylinders.
First title to Cleveland in over 5 decades.
Irrelevant. The championship is significant for Cleveland, but I don't see how it makes Lebron a better player.
3rd team ever to force a game 7 after being down 3-1 in the finals, first team ever to win that game 7.
This is probably what makes the run the most special. That it came on the back on a shitty suspension to the player that was making Lebron look mediocre thus far cannot be overlooked. Again, it does not disqualify the run, but it also does take some of the fairy tale out of it for me.
All of that was achieved by literally beating the team that won more games in one season than any other, besting Jordan's 95-96 Bulls. If you can point me to a more significant championship from Jordan, I would love to see it.
Jordan never faced the kind of adversity LBJ faced mostly because he demolished good teams. That is why it is tough to look at this series for me and say it was better than anything Jordan ever did, because Jordan was never in a comparable situation. He never went in to the finals as the underdog, and not because the teams he faced weren't of high quality, but because he was so dominant and such a thorough and excellent closer, that it was never really a series like this one was. Basically when it came time to take care of business, Jordan took care of business. He may have had off-nights shooting wise, but he never looked mediocre out there, even at the age of 36.
What Jordan did do is 3-peat as champion, which no team since the Celtics of the 50s and 60s had done, not the Showtime Lakers, not the Bird Celtics, and he did it twice. This left many left to speculate, if he didn't retire, could he have won 8 straight? And many think that that would have been a definite possibility. This idea is unfathomable for Lebron who has been too inconsistent in his finals closing and who appears at times uncomfortable asserting his game. Look at the 2011 finals, games 1-3 of this final or when Lebron was saved from the choking tag in his win against the Spurs by Ray Allen and Chris Bosh.
Jordan has the highest playoff scoring average and the highest efficiency rating of any player in NBA/ABA history. In the '93 finals, for example, Jordan scored 40+ over 4 games, including 55 in game 4. This series win, where he was just on another level from even fellow HOFers, clinched the first 3-peat and was Jordan at the absolute unchallenged height of his power. Beyond that one finals, Jordan had all sorts of classic games along the way (check out
this for some highlights), with the Flu Game, Game 6 of the '98 finals, and his 3-point onslaught against the Trailblazers coming to mind right away. It is performance at an extraordinarily high level for a long period of time that distinguishes Jordan, not one run, or put another way, his run of note was over an 8 year period.
The fact is that as it stands, Jordan is still the best player we have ever seen (not including arguments about Magic, Russell, etc.). But, at age 31, Jordan and LeBron had the same number of titles. We don't know if he will be able to amass 3 more, or even one more for that matter. But it isn't unfathomable for LeBron to dethrone His Airness when all is said and done.
It isn't unfathomable but you said:
It was off the chain, yo. LeBron is officially and forever the GOAT.
Which is a much different position.
Lebron is going to have a tough time taking Jordan off his throne though because of all the losses and because he will likely fade at an earlier age than Jordan because he started playing 4 years earlier and will likely not take 1 1/2 years off in the next two seasons. It is not impossible, and Lebron is the kind of physical freak that may have stamina and longevity that will surprise me. I hope one day that I begrudgingly have to dethrone Jordan because of LBJs continuing exploits, as I may be forced to do in Tennis with Novak Djokovic (total aside I am totally convinced Novak is on PEDs, but have no way to prove it). I hope I do have to, because that would be monumental and extraordinary and the kind of thing that makes me a sportsfan.
It will be interesting to see where the NBA goes from here, considering many, including myself were dethroning Lebron before the playoffs even started. In taking out Lebron, he can safely assert his King title again and wait for Draymond, Curry and Klay to come knocking again. I wonder if Lebron will be in a Cleveland uniform when it happens or if Lebron might be elsewhere, perhaps with Chris Paul this time.