I dont care what anybody says but when lebron is locked in he is one of the greatest defenders i have ever seen. His defense in games 3-7 of this finals was like a mixture of scottie pippen and ben wallace. He was locking everybody up along the perimeter and he was somehow defending the rim at the same time, we really don't appreciate how special he is because his defense is more valuable than his offense at times.
Yea even though Kawhi Leonard is a more physically gifted defender with his wingspan and all, when LeBron wants to be he's the best perimeter defender in the league and has been for sometime.
Marcus Golden, I hate to admit it but you are right. I'm a Kawhi Leonard and Spurs fan, but I know that Lebron can be better than Kawhi on defense. It's not that Lebron can't play this great defense every game, it is just that in his 30's Lebron needs to conserve himself and his body for the inevitably long post season. Kawhi is still in his 20's and is young enough to play hard on both ends of the floor through the regular season with consistency. Lebron is very smart on defense and studies player's tendencies so he isn't fooled easily. With an advanced knowledge of the game and all the moves that Lebron has seen, it would take someone with an equally advanced knowledge to beat him one-on-one when everything is on the line.
@22:04. The full defensive genius pf LeBron James shows on this play. From the time Schroeder was rolling the ball at half court, you knew EXACTLY what he was gonna do. LeBron dissected that play in nanoseconds, took a step into the paint to intimidate him, but KNEW two things that were decisive on that play, first that Schroeder drives to pass, and, second that the Cavs interior defense, as is, was gonna induce Schroeder to pass, so that he was waiting for the ball before it got there, eve though he was well away from the thrust of the attack. Great stuff.
Exactly bro. The defensive rules nowadays don't allow for more extensive and thorough defense which is a damn shame. It doesn't allow players like lebron to show their full abilities
+Londynrock Brockrock its my opinion cause ive never seen a player his size able to adapt so quickly on both ends and is able to do everything on the court
Great video, I would like to see more of these in the future. Some call LeBron an overrated defender because of his 1v1 defense (I somewhat agree, particularly with effort and his late reactions to contesting shots) but James still is a very good 1v1 defender when locked in. LeBron is certainly an elite all around defender: in transition, help defense, passing lanes, rebounding, post defense, close outs, rotations, switching (which is amplified by his speed and size). James has a strong case for DPoY in 2009, 2012 & 2013, finished 2nd in DPoY voting in 2009 and 2013. Not to mention LeBron is top five all time in Playoff defensive win shares. 2016 LeBron not making any defensive teams is a crime. His defense in the Finals was astounding, its the first time a player recorded 15 steals & blocks in a PO series, IIRC. Not to mention LeBron's defensive effort in 2016 ranks as the second highest DBPM in history, ahead of guys like Ben Wallace, Tim Duncan and Hakeem, just behind 2015 Andrew Bogut. As the primary defender in the Finals, James forced the opposition to shoot 21 / 58. This is against arguably the greatest offensive team ever. LeBron has locked up guys like Pierce, Carmelo, Rose & Parker during PO matchups. Has limited Kevin Durant in the 2012 Finals (guarded him 50% of the time, more than other HEAT player, while holding KD to 13/ 30 shooting when guarding him in 1v1 situations, no double teams), even put the clamps on lesser offensive machines like Joe Johnson and DeMar Derozan. LeBron has also had success guarding guys like Tim Duncan, Andre Drummond, Al Horford, Paul Millsap, in PO matchups, though in limited spans. However, James did a great job containing Draymond this past Finals (except for G7), and spent the majority of the series guarding him. The eye test + advanced stats support LeBron being an elite defender.
gerizzyYMcrew I'm using years where LeBron matched up with aforementioned players. Overall PO Runs = Tony Parker 07 PO's: 21 & 6 on 48% Joe Johnson 09 PO's: 16 & 4 on 42% Derrick Rose 10' PO's: 27 & 7 on 46% Derrick Rose 11 PO's: 27 & 8 on 40% Tony Parker 13 PO's: 21 & 7 on 46% Joe Johnson 14 PO's: 21 & 3 on 53% Tony Parker 14 PO's: 17 & 5 on 49% Derrick Rose 15 PO's: 20 & 7 on 40% DeMar Derozan 16 PO's: 21 & 3 on 39%
Kids, don't believe what ppl tell you: Defense isn't dead in the NBA, it's just played quietly w/ a high IQ, and LeBron si the perfect player to watch if you want to learn how to defend multiple positions
Some people really don't understand just how much better team defenses are in the NBA now. Because its you can't just be physical all the time you gotta pester and work together as one defensive unit.
Found this on Reddit a while ago: Last year's postseason was the best defensive run by a wing ever. (You could argue 2012 too after Bosh went down and LeBron had to play a full time PF/C against West/Hibbert and Bass/Garnett while somehow also defending George and Pierce at the same time, but we didn't have the Tracking stats back then). Opponents' shooting against LeBron in Games 5, 6, and 7 in the Finals Overall: 2.7/12.7, 21.1%, opponents usually shoot 47.9%, -26.8 Threes: .7/5, 13.3%, opponents usually shoot 40.4%; -27% Twos: 2/7.7, 26.1%, opponents usually shoot 53.3%, -27.2% Less than 6 ft: 1/5, 20%, opponents usually shoot 62.4%, -42.4% Less than 10 ft: 1.3/6, 22.2%, opponents usually shoot 57.3%; -35.1% Greater than 15 ft: 1/6.3, 15.8%; opponents usually shoot 40.5%; -24.7% LeBron 2016 Playoffs (21 games) 3.2/10.2 Defensive FGs defended Overall, held opponents to 31.8% FG (Their average FG% was 45.9% This is a differential of -14.1% (He held opponents to -14.8% their average FG%), which is by far the best mark... For comparison, Draymond was next best at -8.4% To break it down even further to perimeter defence and Rim protection.. 3PT DEFENSE LeBron was the Cavs best 3pt defender, and along with Livingtson and context taken into account, the best 3pt defenders 0.9/3.8 Defensive Field Goals Defended Held opponent 3pt shooters to 24.1% (Their average 3PT% was 36.7%) This is a differential of -12.6% Only one guy who played 15+ playoff games (Shawn Livingston) had a slightly better differential (Albeit on lower volume) RIM PROTECTION 1.4/3.3 Defensive Field Goals Defended Held opponents at the rim to 43.5% The best rim protection % on the Cavs For reference Bogut held opponents to 46.6%, and Tristan Thompson 49.2% Here's also some stuff comparing him and DPOY winner Kawhi Leonard in the regular season; The usual field goal percent of the shooter that the player is defending LeBron - 44.8% Kawhi - 44.9% Defense Dashboard 2pt FGs - Players shot 8.2% worse than their average when defended by LeBron 2pt FGs - Players shot 7.3% worse than their average when defended by Kawhi 3pt FGs - Players shots 2.7% worse than their average when defended by LeBron 3pt FGs - Players shot 1.3% worse than their average when defended by Kawhi Overall - Players shot 7.4% worse than their average when defended by LeBron on 8.4 Defended FGs Per Game Overall - Players shot 5.7% worse than their average when defended by Kawhi on 9.4 Defended FGs Per Game Play type When they were the closest isolation defender LeBron - 69 possessions, .59 points per possession allowed, 28.8% eFG Kawhi - 61 possessions, .69 points per possession allowed, 31% eFG When they were the closest defender to the PnR ball handler LeBron - 144 possessions, .66 ppp allowed, 37.1 eFG Kawhi - 243 possessions, .65 ppp allowed, 35.8 eFG When they were the roll man defender LeBron - 10 possessions, .7 ppp, 38.9 eFG Kawhi - 30 possessions, .5 ppp, 27.8 eFG Post defense LeBron - 43 possessions, .77 ppp, 40 eFG Kawhi - 31 possessions, .77 ppp, 41.7 eFG On spot up shooters LeBron - 210 possessions, .8 ppp, 41.6 eFG Kawhi - 200 possessions, .88 ppp, 43.6 eFG Hand-offs LeBron - 43 possessions, .49 ppp, 33.9 eFG Leonard - 58 possessions, .72 ppp, 39.5 eFG Off screens LeBron - 78 possessions, .74 ppp, 40.8 eFG Kawhi - 96 possessions, 1.05 ppp, 51.2 eFG Finals Averages 2.3 Blocks a game 2.6 Steals a game 2016 Playoff Averages 2.3 Steals a game 1.3 Blocks a game In the last 3 games, LeBron averaged 3 blocks and 3 steals per game It was also the second highest DBPM chamionship run behind only '04 Ben Wallace.
I feel like in 10-15 years, when we look back on LeBrons career, we’ll know we witnessed an all time great, and his struggles will slowly fade out of memory
3:58 easily one of the highest IQ players to ever step foot on a basketball court. He knew what play they were running and met Allen Crabbe exactly where he was to catch and shoot and forced an airball.
Damien Peters easily. and lets keep in mind that he's never had an elite coach to teach him his entire career. they've either been rookie coaches or just average coaches. LBJ is just that smart
+Londynrock Brockrock honestly defensively their tied, i love Kawhi's game but he really struggled against OKC in the playoffs. Offensively hes getting there, his shooting is getting to be really good, needs to work on his slash game tho.
Londynrock Brockrock very close offensively? offense has two sides 1. Individual (scoring ) 2. Creating for others (setting plays, facilitating, passing) no.2 is where kawhi is not even close even draymond is better at him in doing that so comparing kawhi to lebron offensively is very offensive LOL. the right term is he's close in scoring that's acceptable but offensively? nah he's not even top 10.
Notice the difference between LeBron's defense and Jordan's. LeBron plays defense with his FEET. Not as much reaching, grabbing and hacking as Jordan, no trash talking, no petty personal garbage, and when a foul is called, note that LeBron doesn't spend 2 minutes berating the ref. Finally, note that LeBron matches up usually with the other team's best offensive player like Durant, Carmelo, Rose, George, Leonard, not hide on chumps like Byron Scott, Jeff Hornacek, Craig Ehlo, Danny Ainge, and David Wingate.
Grabbing and hacking? its called hand checking you do realize that those things were legal in that era compared to this soft ass defense that is played today. And the reason that jordan didn't match up with the best offensive player was because he had the greatest defensive player ever on his team in scottie pippen. Before Pippen got on the team Jordan was matching up with the best offensive player on the opposing team. It's also hard to guard the best player and be a threat on offense because literally Jordan took on the majority of the scoring role every night while lebron has second and third options he can rely on to score like wade, bosh, kyrie, and love.
+Big Bucks Good reply. You just made my point. Joitook vacations on defense so he could focus on what he really cared about, scoring. But, he was given DPOY once when you admit he wasn't even the best defensive player on his TEAM. Heck, even Horace Grand has a better career defensive rating, but it was Jordan, who KEPT making First team all defense. And, hand checking was only legal 5 out of Jordan's 15 year career.
Emmanuel Enyinwa the year Jordan won that award Scottie pippen was not a consistent starter and only averaged around 20 minutes a game what does that mean? It means he had the luxury of watching Michael go out a shutdown players every night he eventually was able to incorporate Jordan's defensive into his own only he was better because of his height and length and once again its hard to focus on defensive when you are the only person that can truly take on the scoring load on a nightly basis.
I feel like Lebron gets a turnover, acts like he don't care then gets that look on his face like "oh sh*t, well I might as well block it...I guess" "I think they count those as stats so that's good"
I can't believe this guy didn't finish on an All Defensive team this season, fuckin BS I hate the voters rationale. It's not his fault they were 10th defensively he had Kevin Love and Kyrie on his team who are bottom of the league at their position dbrpm, how was the team supposed to be a top 5 defense with those 2 starting? Voters are idiots. just b/c it's not the 2012 LBJ doesn't mean he's not great. I watched him all year and it's criminal he didn't finish in the top 10 defensively. LeBron defended his ass off in 2016, rarely gave up points, no opposing SF went crazy, more so than 2013-14. This is total bs and screws up his legacy. League were fucking biased against LBJ since GSW got good
Playing passing lanes, chase down blocks and a solid 1 on 1 defender. THE ONLY THING is he's so incredibly inconsistent with when he wants to play defense. When the playoffs come around he flips the switch but I wish he showed effort on defense every game
2 X runner up for DPOY. Got robbed blind during the 2012-13 season. LeBron was runner up to Marc Gasol for DPOY, but Gasol was 2nd Team All Defense and LeBron was 1st Team. How in the name of all that is good and holy can the DPOY be 2nd team and the runner up be 1st team? LeBron was top 5 in every defensive metric you can measure that season. If he were not robbed, he would have had Regular season MVP, DPOY, and Finals MVP that season. He would have been the 3rd, (Giannis would later become the 4th) player in NBA history to win both MVP and DPOY in the same season, and would have been only the 2nd ever to win MVP, DPOY and FMVP in the same season, (Hakeem Olajowon was the other). But he got robbed.
Myth - LeBron is an elite defender and can guard 1-5 well Reality - LeBron has been outscored in 4 of 8 NBA Finals by the other team's top perimeter scorer 2007 Parker 2011 Terry 2012 Durant 2017 Durant In all of these 4 instances, the player that outscored LeBron increased their Finals PPG and FG% against LeBron compared to their regular season and rounds 1-3 PPG and FG% averages. In 6 of 8 NBA Finals, the opposing teams top perimeter player increased BOTH their PPG and FG% in the Finals against LeBron compared to BOTH their regular season and Round 1-3 averages. 2007 Parker 2011 Terry 2012 Durant 2014 Leonard 2015 Iguodala 2017 Durant In the 2014 Finals, Leonard shot 65% when guarded by Lebron according to the ESPN article "MVP Leonard Does it All." This led to Leonard shooting the highest FG% of any Finals MVP in history at 61.2% FG. Up to 2017, Kevin Durant (6th - 55.2%) and Kawhi Leonard (8th - 55.0%) are both in the top 8 all-time for highest FG% for an NBA Finals career. Both have played in 2 NBA Finals apiece, and all of their NBA Finals games came against LeBron's vastly overrated defense. LeBron evidently has far too much trouble guarding his own position let alone guarding all 5 positions. Even in the year LeBron was supposedly "robbed" of DPOY he was badly lit up by Paul George in the 2013 ECF, who only had 17 ppg on 42% in the season and shot 40% for Rounds 1-2 combined. like the aforementioned players, his PPG/FG% increased in his ECF series against LeBron compared to his season and Rounds 1-2 averages. pbs.twimg.com/media/BLN22gOCYAAXLoV.jpg Lebron was also outscored by Paul George in the 2014 ECF. There are many other examples of Lebrons vastly overrated defense being exposed but not near enough time to list them in one post.
I dont care what anybody says but when lebron is locked in he is one of the greatest defenders i have ever seen. His defense in games 3-7 of this finals was like a mixture of scottie pippen and ben wallace. He was locking everybody up along the perimeter and he was somehow defending the rim at the same time, we really don't appreciate how special he is because his defense is more valuable than his offense at times.
Yea even though Kawhi Leonard is a more physically gifted defender with his wingspan and all, when LeBron wants to be he's the best perimeter defender in the league and has been for sometime.
the last block is like a kingkong flying in the sky so cool
Marcus Golden, I hate to admit it but you are right. I'm a Kawhi Leonard and Spurs fan, but I know that Lebron can be better than Kawhi on defense. It's not that Lebron can't play this great defense every game, it is just that in his 30's Lebron needs to conserve himself and his body for the inevitably long post season. Kawhi is still in his 20's and is young enough to play hard on both ends of the floor through the regular season with consistency. Lebron is very smart on defense and studies player's tendencies so he isn't fooled easily. With an advanced knowledge of the game and all the moves that Lebron has seen, it would take someone with an equally advanced knowledge to beat him one-on-one when everything is on the line.
his defense was atrocious during the finals 😂😂😂
Nathan Drake where was his defense in this year finals 😂😂😂😂
LeBrons gotta have the most chase down blocks in NBA history. XD
Easily
However you wanna rank LeBron all time, I believe he's #1 all time in terms of utilizing his physical abilities.
Zach Falbe well said
@22:04. The full defensive genius pf LeBron James shows on this play. From the time Schroeder was rolling the ball at half court, you knew EXACTLY what he was gonna do. LeBron dissected that play in nanoseconds, took a step into the paint to intimidate him, but KNEW two things that were decisive on that play, first that Schroeder drives to pass, and, second that the Cavs interior defense, as is, was gonna induce Schroeder to pass, so that he was waiting for the ball before it got there, eve though he was well away from the thrust of the attack. Great stuff.
The way he reads every play is truly an amazing moment of basketball. He's a genius.
lebrons defense on 2k is underrated
Not really
KD is so overpower as a defender on 2k its some bullshit. They make him like how Lebron is here.
he is better than anybody and is the best the king .
Can you imagine what Bron would’ve done if he was allowed to hand check like Jordan? He’d have multiple DPOYs easily
Exactly bro. The defensive rules nowadays don't allow for more extensive and thorough defense which is a damn shame. It doesn't allow players like lebron to show their full abilities
easily one of the best defenders to ever playbthe game
no hes not. great defender yes. he isnt easily the best.
+Londynrock Brockrock he is in the top 10 for sure
+Aaron Rampersad how many defensive player of the year awards?
+Londynrock Brockrock none but tony allen is an excellent defender and he got none
+Londynrock Brockrock its my opinion cause ive never seen a player his size able to adapt so quickly on both ends and is able to do everything on the court
Great video, I would like to see more of these in the future.
Some call LeBron an overrated defender because of his 1v1 defense (I somewhat agree, particularly with effort and his late reactions to contesting shots) but James still is a very good 1v1 defender when locked in. LeBron is certainly an elite all around defender: in transition, help defense, passing lanes, rebounding, post defense, close outs, rotations, switching (which is amplified by his speed and size). James has a strong case for DPoY in 2009, 2012 & 2013, finished 2nd in DPoY voting in 2009 and 2013. Not to mention LeBron is top five all time in Playoff defensive win shares.
2016 LeBron not making any defensive teams is a crime. His defense in the Finals was astounding, its the first time a player recorded 15 steals & blocks in a PO series, IIRC. Not to mention LeBron's defensive effort in 2016 ranks as the second highest DBPM in history, ahead of guys like Ben Wallace, Tim Duncan and Hakeem, just behind 2015 Andrew Bogut. As the primary defender in the Finals, James forced the opposition to shoot 21 / 58. This is against arguably the greatest offensive team ever.
LeBron has locked up guys like Pierce, Carmelo, Rose & Parker during PO matchups. Has limited Kevin Durant in the 2012 Finals (guarded him 50% of the time, more than other HEAT player, while holding KD to 13/ 30 shooting when guarding him in 1v1 situations, no double teams), even put the clamps on lesser offensive machines like Joe Johnson and DeMar Derozan. LeBron has also had success guarding guys like Tim Duncan, Andre Drummond, Al Horford, Paul Millsap, in PO matchups, though in limited spans. However, James did a great job containing Draymond this past Finals (except for G7), and spent the majority of the series guarding him.
The eye test + advanced stats support LeBron being an elite defender.
gerizzyYMcrew my post was based on the PO's.
gerizzyYMcrew
I'm using years where LeBron matched up with aforementioned players.
Overall PO Runs =
Tony Parker 07 PO's: 21 & 6 on 48%
Joe Johnson 09 PO's: 16 & 4 on 42%
Derrick Rose 10' PO's: 27 & 7 on 46%
Derrick Rose 11 PO's: 27 & 8 on 40%
Tony Parker 13 PO's: 21 & 7 on 46%
Joe Johnson 14 PO's: 21 & 3 on 53%
Tony Parker 14 PO's: 17 & 5 on 49%
Derrick Rose 15 PO's: 20 & 7 on 40%
DeMar Derozan 16 PO's: 21 & 3 on 39%
Kids, don't believe what ppl tell you: Defense isn't dead in the NBA, it's just played quietly w/ a high IQ, and LeBron si the perfect player to watch if you want to learn how to defend multiple positions
Some people really don't understand just how much better team defenses are in the NBA now. Because its you can't just be physical all the time you gotta pester and work together as one defensive unit.
@@geordiejones5618 exactly look at the 2020 heat
Found this on Reddit a while ago:
Last year's postseason was the best defensive run by a wing ever. (You could argue 2012 too after Bosh went down and LeBron had to play a full time PF/C against West/Hibbert and Bass/Garnett while somehow also defending George and Pierce at the same time, but we didn't have the Tracking stats back then).
Opponents' shooting against LeBron in Games 5, 6, and 7 in the Finals
Overall: 2.7/12.7, 21.1%, opponents usually shoot 47.9%, -26.8
Threes: .7/5, 13.3%, opponents usually shoot 40.4%; -27%
Twos: 2/7.7, 26.1%, opponents usually shoot 53.3%, -27.2%
Less than 6 ft: 1/5, 20%, opponents usually shoot 62.4%, -42.4%
Less than 10 ft: 1.3/6, 22.2%, opponents usually shoot 57.3%; -35.1%
Greater than 15 ft: 1/6.3, 15.8%; opponents usually shoot 40.5%; -24.7%
LeBron 2016 Playoffs (21 games)
3.2/10.2 Defensive FGs defended
Overall, held opponents to 31.8% FG (Their average FG% was 45.9%
This is a differential of -14.1% (He held opponents to -14.8% their average FG%), which is by far the best mark... For comparison, Draymond was next best at -8.4%
To break it down even further to perimeter defence and Rim protection..
3PT DEFENSE
LeBron was the Cavs best 3pt defender, and along with Livingtson and context taken into account, the best 3pt defenders
0.9/3.8 Defensive Field Goals Defended
Held opponent 3pt shooters to 24.1% (Their average 3PT% was 36.7%)
This is a differential of -12.6%
Only one guy who played 15+ playoff games (Shawn Livingston) had a slightly better differential (Albeit on lower volume)
RIM PROTECTION
1.4/3.3 Defensive Field Goals Defended
Held opponents at the rim to 43.5%
The best rim protection % on the Cavs
For reference Bogut held opponents to 46.6%, and Tristan Thompson 49.2%
Here's also some stuff comparing him and DPOY winner Kawhi Leonard in the regular season;
The usual field goal percent of the shooter that the player is defending LeBron - 44.8% Kawhi - 44.9%
Defense Dashboard
2pt FGs - Players shot 8.2% worse than their average when defended by LeBron
2pt FGs - Players shot 7.3% worse than their average when defended by Kawhi
3pt FGs - Players shots 2.7% worse than their average when defended by LeBron
3pt FGs - Players shot 1.3% worse than their average when defended by Kawhi
Overall - Players shot 7.4% worse than their average when defended by LeBron on 8.4 Defended FGs Per Game
Overall - Players shot 5.7% worse than their average when defended by Kawhi on 9.4 Defended FGs Per Game
Play type
When they were the closest isolation defender
LeBron - 69 possessions, .59 points per possession allowed, 28.8% eFG
Kawhi - 61 possessions, .69 points per possession allowed, 31% eFG
When they were the closest defender to the PnR ball handler
LeBron - 144 possessions, .66 ppp allowed, 37.1 eFG
Kawhi - 243 possessions, .65 ppp allowed, 35.8 eFG
When they were the roll man defender
LeBron - 10 possessions, .7 ppp, 38.9 eFG
Kawhi - 30 possessions, .5 ppp, 27.8 eFG
Post defense
LeBron - 43 possessions, .77 ppp, 40 eFG
Kawhi - 31 possessions, .77 ppp, 41.7 eFG
On spot up shooters
LeBron - 210 possessions, .8 ppp, 41.6 eFG
Kawhi - 200 possessions, .88 ppp, 43.6 eFG
Hand-offs
LeBron - 43 possessions, .49 ppp, 33.9 eFG
Leonard - 58 possessions, .72 ppp, 39.5 eFG
Off screens
LeBron - 78 possessions, .74 ppp, 40.8 eFG
Kawhi - 96 possessions, 1.05 ppp, 51.2 eFG
Finals Averages
2.3 Blocks a game
2.6 Steals a game
2016 Playoff Averages
2.3 Steals a game
1.3 Blocks a game
In the last 3 games, LeBron averaged 3 blocks and 3 steals per game
It was also the second highest DBPM chamionship run behind only '04 Ben Wallace.
LeBron a god,
Wow, what a research, Great job man!!!
6 blocks on Curry on the finals? Did Curry even get blocked 6 times in the entire regular season?
Zach Falbe curry falls off in the finals
2022 was the only year where Curry really had a great true mvp finals, I still think he should have one for 2015 though
Lol that is was an absolute bar from the announcer "he wore *rodney* like a *hood* ornament" 🔥
I feel like in 10-15 years, when we look back on LeBrons career, we’ll know we witnessed an all time great, and his struggles will slowly fade out of memory
Zach Falbe absolutely
Easily one of the greatest defenders
Pretty much 80% of Mike Breens commentary during the Finals was BLOCKED BY JAMES! lol
i hate when people say LeBron chokes on D,damn it man
Wow I never seen these footage before like how come he never been a defensive player of the year OMG his too good
This is why he is the king
3:58 easily one of the highest IQ players to ever step foot on a basketball court. He knew what play they were running and met Allen Crabbe exactly where he was to catch and shoot and forced an airball.
Basketball IQ on display
The highest basketball IQ I've ever seen
maybe magic but yeah he is up there
Damien Peters easily. and lets keep in mind that he's never had an elite coach to teach him his entire career. they've either been rookie coaches or just average coaches. LBJ is just that smart
Best offensive and defensive player in the game.
kawhi leonard is better defensively. and very close offesively.
+Londynrock Brockrock honestly defensively their tied, i love Kawhi's game but he really struggled against OKC in the playoffs. Offensively hes getting there, his shooting is getting to be really good, needs to work on his slash game tho.
Londynrock Brockrock very close offensively?
offense has two sides
1. Individual (scoring )
2. Creating for others (setting plays, facilitating, passing)
no.2 is where kawhi is not even close even draymond is better at him in doing that so comparing kawhi to lebron offensively is very offensive LOL. the right term is he's close in scoring that's acceptable but offensively? nah he's not even top 10.
Notice the difference between LeBron's defense and Jordan's. LeBron plays defense with his FEET. Not as much reaching, grabbing and hacking as Jordan, no trash talking, no petty personal garbage, and when a foul is called, note that LeBron doesn't spend 2 minutes berating the ref. Finally, note that LeBron matches up usually with the other team's best offensive player like Durant, Carmelo, Rose, George, Leonard, not hide on chumps like Byron Scott, Jeff Hornacek, Craig Ehlo, Danny Ainge, and David Wingate.
Agree
Grabbing and hacking? its called hand checking you do realize that those things were legal in that era compared to this soft ass defense that is played today. And the reason that jordan didn't match up with the best offensive player was because he had the greatest defensive player ever on his team in scottie pippen. Before Pippen got on the team Jordan was matching up with the best offensive player on the opposing team. It's also hard to guard the best player and be a threat on offense because literally Jordan took on the majority of the scoring role every night while lebron has second and third options he can rely on to score like wade, bosh, kyrie, and love.
I'm not hating either lebron is a beast.
+Big Bucks Good reply. You just made my point. Joitook vacations on defense so he could focus on what he really cared about, scoring. But, he was given DPOY once when you admit he wasn't even the best defensive player on his TEAM. Heck, even Horace Grand has a better career defensive rating, but it was Jordan, who KEPT making First team all defense. And, hand checking was only legal 5 out of Jordan's 15 year career.
Emmanuel Enyinwa the year Jordan won that award Scottie pippen was not a consistent starter and only averaged around 20 minutes a game what does that mean? It means he had the luxury of watching Michael go out a shutdown players every night he eventually was able to incorporate Jordan's defensive into his own only he was better because of his height and length and once again its hard to focus on defensive when you are the only person that can truly take on the scoring load on a nightly basis.
33:00 of highlights over one season. god damn man.
And just defense that too
He just straight up a great defender & dis video was on point 💯 I also lyk the fact dat ya put THE BLOCK on there from EVERY ANGLE POSSIBLE 💪
I feel like Lebron gets a turnover, acts like he don't care then gets that look on his face like "oh sh*t, well I might as well block it...I guess" "I think they count those as stats so that's good"
Liked. This deserves more views
14:49 when lebron coming at you full speed he cant be stopped
Underrated and Overlooked Defender...
Its like LEBRON takes a adrenaline shot lol
The greatest all-around player then add scoring list record too and you have King James
lebron is not normal hes just too good
I can't believe this guy didn't finish on an All Defensive team this season, fuckin BS I hate the voters rationale. It's not his fault they were 10th defensively he had Kevin Love and Kyrie on his team who are bottom of the league at their position dbrpm, how was the team supposed to be a top 5 defense with those 2 starting? Voters are idiots. just b/c it's not the 2012 LBJ doesn't mean he's not great. I watched him all year and it's criminal he didn't finish in the top 10 defensively. LeBron defended his ass off in 2016, rarely gave up points, no opposing SF went crazy, more so than 2013-14. This is total bs and screws up his legacy. League were fucking biased against LBJ since GSW got good
So true
W
damn right !!
Whenever someone talks bad about James's defense, you can tell they just started watching basketball 2-3 years ago.
He just has moments, games and plays where he doesn't look interested in playing defense. Unless it's the playoffs he can be a liability at times
BOTH SIDES OF THE BALL
LETS GO
LBJ
CHASE DAT GHOST BOI
Fav player💪🏾🤙🏾
igoudala and curry havin nightmares...😂😂😂
He wore Rodney like a Hood ornament!!
Damien Peters could you do LeBron James Defense 2016 - 2017 Season please.
KING JAMES
Great video
great video man
Mozgov was really the difference maker in the 2015 finals barely even played
LeBron needs to watch this and reawaken his lion within
Are they repeating the same plays?
31:14 What the vertical is that. Almost he dunk his head 😂😂
How is Kyrie gonna leave this man???? Its gonna be his loss if Bron wins another ring. He still has room for potential and thats scary.
Kyrie gone which is great because looks at the cavs now.
very good video bro
Thanks brother
The latest defensive reel had trouble uploading. Will be uploading it again soon.
please do a lebron clutch plays 2015/2016
Already done, check it out :)
Playing passing lanes, chase down blocks and a solid 1 on 1 defender. THE ONLY THING is he's so incredibly inconsistent with when he wants to play defense. When the playoffs come around he flips the switch but I wish he showed effort on defense every game
Remarkable
I miss this cavs team Jefferson delly shumpbert kyrie mazgov mo Williams
nice video
How did Lebron never win defensive player of the year
He's finished in second place like 3 times to Dwight lol
*****
I honestly think at least one of them should have gone to LeBron even though Dwight was the man at this time.
He was robbed twice.
+TheeCM5 personally I think it's because D12's primary objective is defense, while LeBron averages 28/7/7 so it's kinda like "how good can he be?"
2 X runner up for DPOY. Got robbed blind during the 2012-13 season. LeBron was runner up to Marc Gasol for DPOY, but Gasol was 2nd Team All Defense and LeBron was 1st Team. How in the name of all that is good and holy can the DPOY be 2nd team and the runner up be 1st team? LeBron was top 5 in every defensive metric you can measure that season. If he were not robbed, he would have had Regular season MVP, DPOY, and Finals MVP that season. He would have been the 3rd, (Giannis would later become the 4th) player in NBA history to win both MVP and DPOY in the same season, and would have been only the 2nd ever to win MVP, DPOY and FMVP in the same season, (Hakeem Olajowon was the other). But he got robbed.
When LeBron ripped the shoulder sleeves
Imagine this version of lebron james guarding guys like jokic or giannis rn
lebron is the goat
ppl say it would be different if he was smaller... He'd just won DPOY because his offense wouldn't overshadow his defense like it does now
Where did the 2017 defensive highlights go my dude?
9:17 bad call
Goat🐐
Music name please
thank god i didnt see a hater in the comments but im not sure if theres any
G.O.A.T
king james
❤
I expected a lot more Stephen Curry haters here. xD
I'm a Cavs fan but I like the Warriors but not so much the mean fans.
MJ >> Lebron >> Shaq >> Kobe >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Choke Curry
5:17 El CaBron James
145th
WOW. LeBron is the greatest of all time!
Just kidding. LBJ is gREat. MJ is gOat.
Nah you was right the first time
🐐👑James
Iggy a better defender than him,easily.
yep....no...
Nope take that L
What are you smoking Lebron just ended his career with that block
lebron gave him a block party.. easily
Did you call him Iggy cuss you needed to take the L from Iguadola?
That nigga got from halfcourt to dunkin in less than 3 sec and weighs 250
Myth - LeBron is an elite defender and can guard 1-5 well
Reality - LeBron has been outscored in 4 of 8 NBA Finals by the other team's top perimeter scorer
2007 Parker
2011 Terry
2012 Durant
2017 Durant
In all of these 4 instances, the player that outscored LeBron increased their Finals PPG and FG% against LeBron compared to their regular season and rounds 1-3 PPG and FG% averages.
In 6 of 8 NBA Finals, the opposing teams top perimeter player increased BOTH their PPG and FG% in the Finals against LeBron compared to BOTH their regular season and Round 1-3 averages.
2007 Parker
2011 Terry
2012 Durant
2014 Leonard
2015 Iguodala
2017 Durant
In the 2014 Finals, Leonard shot 65% when guarded by Lebron according to the ESPN article "MVP Leonard Does it All." This led to Leonard shooting the highest FG% of any Finals MVP in history at 61.2% FG.
Up to 2017, Kevin Durant (6th - 55.2%) and Kawhi Leonard (8th - 55.0%) are both in the top 8 all-time for highest FG% for an NBA Finals career. Both have played in 2 NBA Finals apiece, and all of their NBA Finals games came against LeBron's vastly overrated defense.
LeBron evidently has far too much trouble guarding his own position let alone guarding all 5 positions.
Even in the year LeBron was supposedly "robbed" of DPOY he was badly lit up by Paul George in the 2013 ECF, who only had 17 ppg on 42% in the season and shot 40% for Rounds 1-2 combined. like the aforementioned players, his PPG/FG% increased in his ECF series against LeBron compared to his season and Rounds 1-2 averages.
pbs.twimg.com/media/BLN22gOCYAAXLoV.jpg
Lebron was also outscored by Paul George in the 2014 ECF. There are many other examples of Lebrons vastly overrated defense being exposed but not near enough time to list them in one post.
Lebron "the Exposed" James in 2017 finals LOL. KD and Steph embarrassed his ass
Lebron avg a triple double
This shit was so corny
KING JAMES