Lebron James and the Los Angeles Lakers are off to an uphill battle to claim this year’s NBA championship.
One month from now, the NBA bubble Playoffs will kickoff. The atmosphere will not be similar to the tournaments of the past. However, the intensity of the competition on the court is still expected to be high. Now more than ever, teams want the claim to be world champions because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Giannis Antetokounmpo himself said that this year’s championship would be the toughest. Not only did the teams enter a forced four-month hiatus, but they are also suddenly thrust into competition mode in just one month.
Despite all odds, Lebron James and his team will enter the Playoffs armed and ready after missing the Playoffs last season.
Lebron James and the greatest of all time hunt
The 35-year-old superstar has been under the microscope ever since he entered the league at 18 years old. No one can deny the fact that he has shown promise since that time. Seventeen years later, he’s still out there, proving his haters and doubters wrong.
James is in a virtual head-to-head match with Antetokounmpo for this season’s MVP award. Their stats are somewhat similar, and their impact on their respective teams is equally tremendous. However, the narrative of this year’s award may tilt slightly to Giannis just because the Bucks hold the best record.
Nonetheless, James only has his eyes on the championship trophy. He’s accepted the fact that no matter what he does, he will still get judged. He said,
“There was a lot of conversation about, you know, `LeBron can do those things in the East but if he ever came to the West, what can he do?’ I heard all of that, and to have our team at the top of the Western Conference and playing the way that we were playing at that time and the way I was playing, you know, that’s definitely a good feeling.”
For Kobe and Gigi Bryant
Calling this season abnormal is an understatement because of what had happened the past nine months. The pressure on Lebron this season could be the biggest he’s ever had to carry. It has been a bittersweet year for him. On the one hand, he’s surpassed Kobe as the third-highest scoring player ever to have played the game. On the other, Kobe died shortly after he achieved the feat.
Also, it has been a complete 180 turn for the Lakers team. They failed to reach the Playoffs last year, but with a restacked team, they are comfortably sitting on top of the Western Conference ladder. They will look to defend this title when Playoffs arrive, and seeing ‘Playoffs-Lebron’ could silence some more Lebron critics along the way.
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