Quote:
Originally Posted by KC_Connection
Every loss gets shit on endlessly until he wins again. That's just the nature of the beast when you are LeBron James. He's learned to bear that weight and he's been doing it for almost 15 years now.
A loss to the Celtics (who are quite good actually and remind me a bit of the young Thunder team a decade ago that LeBron also beat) would most certainly not be good, but assuming he plays well, it would hardly be on Mavericks level (one of the few playoff series in his career where LeBron wasn't very good at all).
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If he played for any other team but the Lakers, I'd agree with you.
It's the 'Lakers vs. Celtics' aspect of it, for a guy who hand-selected the Lakers. He managed to insert himself into the NBA's marquee rivalry and if he comes up short, that will resonate in perpetuity for Lakers fans and for many 'old school' NBA fans.
It will literally be ONLY because of the color of the jerseys involved. Yes, the Celtics are a good team and if he played for the Clippers there'd be no shame in losing to them. But since he plays for the Lakers it means something different.
As a Lakers fan and a HUGE Kobe fan, had the 2010 series not happened, the 2008 one would've been a black mark on Kobe's entire Lakers career to me. Specifically what happened in game 4 was something that made me question a decade of unqualified adoration I had for Bean. I think I said it on this board at the time - any attempts to put him in the same breath as Jordan died right then because as far as I was concerned, that's nothing that Jordan would've ever let happen.
Now I don't know if that was fair or accurate - but it was passion from a massive Kobe fan - THAT'S what the Lakers/Celtics rivalry means. And had Ron Artest not happened in Game 7 of 2010, Kobe's 6-24 night goes down in infamy. Fortunately they won it and a lot of 2008 was wiped away.
But yes, it means something different because of the teams involved. This isn't about LeBron as a player at this point - it's now about his presence as the focal point in this rivalry.