Here is why Kobe's 7 finals in 11 years in the West is BETTER than Lebron's 8 straight final

So I'm gonna kick this whole thing off talking about health if we're just being objective here you absolutely cannot deny that LeBron literally caught more than a few breaks during his time in the East I'm not blaming him for other team's misfortunes because you obviously can't control what happens to your competition but LeBron built some of the most powerful teams in the East while the other powerful teams were constantly crashing and burning and in this specific conversation that counts let's take a look at the would have been contenders he was facing through all this time in 2011 the Celtics were actually most people's picked to win the East the heat stumbled a bit figuring out how to make the big three work meanwhile the Celtics were the defending Eastern Conference champions and had done a good job retooling for another run luckily for Miami Danny Ainge traded Perkins betting that Shaq would return from injury opponents took 10 percent less shots in the paint with Shaq in the game for Boston and their offense was just better overall when he played so Danny Ainge took that gamble Shaq could barely move when he came back from the akiles Jermaine O'Neal and Delonte West who were both important support pieces were hampered by injuries and then Rondo's elbow came off in the middle of their heated playoff series with those factors in play Boston was disposed of in five games and it only went downhill for them from there they gave the Heat a run for their money in 2012 despite losing Jeff Green to heart surgery but I'm gonna be honest and tell you I don't think that series would have went seven if Bosch hadn't have gotten hurt in the second round but let's back up a step in the first round of the 2012 playoffs a very special young man by the name of D Rose started a permanent track of knee injuries which basically took the bullets out of syria's contention forever without that injury the Bulls retool and battled the heat for years to come but instead the Celtic symbols each fell out of contention while Miami was only getting better and their places popped up the Indiana Pacers they took them six games in 2012 during yet another series that wouldn't have been so close at Bosh didn't go down the 2013 Pacers took them to seven games but I don't think that swell version was ready for a healthy big three so yeah for the next two seasons the only team that even had the slightest shot in the dark of beating Miami in the East was an up-and-coming Pacers team that was mostly defensive minded and while they did come close nobody came into those seasons really expecting that they could ever overcome Miami and then guess what happened to them they prematurely fell out of contention after Paul George broke his leg which basically led to Indiana blowing up the roster so far that means you had to legit teams that probably would have given LeBron led teams were problems through those years as they retooled their rosters instead and the Pacers place popped up the absolute worst of what was considered the bronze top competition in the Eastern Conference those pretending Toronto Raptors great regular season team but never a great playoff team they were either a losing to some team that nobody thought they should lose to be almost losing to some team nobody thought they should lose to or see being humiliated by LeBron James over three playoff series against LeBron they want a whopping total of two games say it with me amazing so to remain objective we look at the two playoff runs I actually do think he should have lost 2015 was definitely impressive to me after Kevin love's injury Kyrie was also hobbling around for most of those series and on top of that when it was time to play the Bulls jr. Smith got suspended for the first two games and they still managed to defeat them when I thought Chicago really should have won the Sall got hurt yeah but fan this was still an impressive win regardless I called the Bulls and I'm not gonna lie about it and then after that Kyrie Irving only played two games in a sweep of the 61 Atlanta Tamura Carol and kyle korver both got hurt during the series but we should be clear that nobody had any real expectations for Atlanta anyway so I don't really think that matters that much and 2018 was also impressive to me as well this was the closest thing I've seen to the o7 Cavs since the o7 Cavs could have easily lost to the Pacers definitely should have lost at least two games to the Raptors and the Celtics with no curry or Heyward was still playing better team basketball than Cleveland so 2015 and 2018 are the two times I thought there was a real chance of him losing and major props to him for those wins because I think those legitimize his other runs take note that I've only really been naming LeBrons biggest competition to this point by the way his biggest competition either fell apart due to injury or they were just plain average in the grand scheme of things to begin with some other teams too Brian had to face where the retirement home nets with no Brook Lopez a 38 win bucks team the Bulls with no Derrick Rose Alou all Dane a rebuilding Celtics team the Bobcats need i say more the superstar of this Pistons a worst version of the 2015 Hawks Paul George by himself and Isaiah Thomas is pretending Celtics after IT went down with the hip injury those are the teams he faced while he always had at least two other all-stars save for the 2015 Celtics when love got injured

Lebron Competition

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------now this is the perfect time to slide right into the Kobe runs because there's a vast difference in so many ways we can start with the fact that outside of being legitimate championship contending teams rarely ever were they hampered by injuries in 2000 they squared off with the 59 wind blazer team featuring Pippen Rasheed Wallace sabonis and Damon Stoudamire just barely escaped with that one during the 2001 run in back-to-back series they swept a 55 win Kings team with Webber in his prime and the Spurs team with Duncan and Robinson in 2002 they beat the Spurs again this time in five games and that was a 58 win team that now had Bruce Bowen and Tony Parker on in two rounds later they again barely escaped against an improved Kings team that had won 61 games as time and regardless of what you think about that series the Kings dropped Game seven on their home court and just nearly dropped the game for when they were seconds away from taking the 3-1 lead in 2004 they again dropped the Spurs who were not only a 57 win defending champion but also now had Manu ginóbili after them they took all a 58 win Timberwolf squad with Kevin Garnett as the MVP surrounded by Cassell and Latrell Sprewell the next time Kobe Bryant made the finals was the year 2008 after receiving power Gasol halfway through the season the Lakers went on to again beat the Spurs in the playoffs who were again a 56 win defending championship team Lakers won that one in five games by the way and that's a good one to focus on because I have a feeling that people would just don't Shaquille O'Neal in my face right here but they came back and Kobe Bryant yet again beat the Spurs and Pau Gasol is not Shaquille O'Neal in 2009 they beat one of the best Nuggets rosters to date to advance to the NBA Finals and in 2010 their last obstacle was the Suns team led by the duo of Nash and Stottlemeyer 54 wins so just like with LeBron what I've just listed here were Kobe's best competition during each trip to the NBA Finals do you notice a difference here's a few a aside from David Robinson on the 2002 Spurs none of his best competition was sabotage by injury again that's not LeBrons fault that guys were always getting hurt this is literally just for the sake of discussing competition be notice how many actual championship teams Kobe and the Lakers had to face if we're talking real defending champions he played the Spurs twice and killed them in 2008 if we're talking teams that could have very well went on to win the championship in the given year we're looking at the 2000 Blazers the 2001 Kings and Spurs 2002 Kings and probably still dispersed and the 2009 Nuggets how many teams can you look at during LeBrons eight-year run to the finals and say wow that team was actually competition for a championship not just the Eastern Conference title well let's be fair and look the 2011 Bulls were definitely on the championship radar the 2011 Celtics without injuries could have made it I'd say the 2014 Pacers had more people convinced in the 2013 version maybe you can stretch it and say the 2015 Bulls had a shot in the dark but not really and then no team in the east aside from the ones LeBron were on had any serious title hopes since then and out of all that I just listed the only for sure championship team would have probably been the 2011 bull if I have to explain by now that the Raptors were always pretenders then they were always pretenders and just look at how those teams match up to what Kobe was facing almost none of them had recognizable superstar duo's or trios that are memorable none of them were teams that anybody is gonna look back on with any kind of significance aside from the Celtics who were injured and passed their best days but we're always gonna look back favorably on their 2002 Kings squad right we're always gonna remember Nash in stottlemyre as one of the West's best deals for years we're always gonna remember the 2000 Blazers the Spurs have consistently been the league's best franchise and they were consistently knocked out by the Lakers but let's stop here up to this point and just like for LeBron I was only showing you Kobe his top competition the team's I didn't mention are as follows a 53 win Suns team led by Penny Hardaway who averaged over 20 points a game against the Lakers in the 2000 playoffs a 50-win Blazers team that was a little bit worse than the one that lost in 2000 the 51 Nuggets with Iverson MLO 54 when jazz duo with Boozer and Williams and a 50-win Thunder team that were running circles around the Lakers in the first round at times a 50-win team in the first round they were in eighth seed in the year 2010 that 51 Thunder team would have tied the Boston Celtics 4-4 spot in the East the 2010 Celtics that made it to the NBA Finals and took

the Lakers seven games had the same record as the 2010 Thunder that the Lakers dealt with in the first round when LeBron had other all-stars around him the best team he played in the first round of the playoffs were a 44 win Pistons team in 2016 a lot of the times the Lakers competition in the first round was probably something LeBron would have seen in the second or third round do you see a difference between Katie harden and Westbrook in the first round as opposed to say Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis so in conclusion because I know this is gonna upset people and make them cry about hating and all of that this video is not to degrade with LeBron accomplished over eight seasons what I found out about LeBron stands is that you absolutely cannot present facts that don't favor him without them sending you with the M asking why you hate him so much individually LeBron has had an eight-year like nobody I've ever seen and that record stands no matter what anybody says but the question of comparison between the two finals runs requires that we look at what actually happened by itself eight straight finals is amazing no matter how you slice it because you have to take into account the fact that he was never injured that he stayed focused long enough that he didn't lose motivation everything that it takes to play into June every single season compared to Kobe's runs now we're taking into account things like oh I don't know the fact that everyone kept getting hurt the fact that he was almost always playing with the superior squad the fact that barely any of his top competition were real contenders and most of that is opposite of the truth of what happened in Kobe's bronze we already know the West has been tougher than the East pretty much for the whole two thousands as they've always had more contenders that by itself means the level of competition was simply higher Kobe and Shaq are one of the best duo's ever Kobe and Gasol were an amazing duo but 95% of the teams they had to play in the postseason were always above average and that's starting from the first round LeBron Wade and Bosh were an amazing trio LeBron Kyrie and love were a good trio but they were all tested maybe once a year in the playoffs in 2001 when the Lakers only lost one game in the whole playoffs they played 351 teams in the West in 2002 two of those teams had close to 60 wins 2008 351 teams in the defending champion 2010 350 win teams the whole time the Bron was dominating the East he never had to deal with three straight 51 teams in one playoff run nor did he ever have to go through multiple healthy teams that could have actually won a title his eighth straight finals in the East were amazing when looked at by themselves but in what I assume will be an unpopular opinion Kobe Bryant seven finals and 11 years which included a pair of three-year runs is more impressive to me in comparison