“It was like being in a car accident. LeBron James ran over 18,000 people.”
-Bill Simmons on Game 6
That’s fine, everyone has a different take on it. Kobe is, and will remain, one of the most polarizing players in the game, even if it weren’t for the stuff that happened in Colorado. You’re right that I was definitely knocking him in 2007. I couldn’t believe the Lakers lost to Phoenix after being up 3-1, I couldn’t believe Kobe refused to shoot in that game 7. I remember the bad plays, the turnovers, and the 6/24 shooting in their game 7 with Boston which they won. But more than that, I remember the game winners, the 81 points, averaging 35 points a game, and the 15 rebounds in that same game 7. The stuff about killer instinct is not just a vague talking point designed to make Kobe look better.
When Kobe fails, and he has failed a lot, people rightly knock him. But he is capable of almost willing his game to amazing heights so that it would make you forget those bad performances. In 20 years when Kobe’s retired, most people won’t remember the letdown in Phoenix, they’ll remember the 5 (or more, hopefully!) championships, the back to backs, the Shaq-Kobe dynasty.
Compare that with Lebron. Let’s say he does win one or two. But his history will be fraught with things like him giving up, the jokes about him not having a 4th quarter, the fact that he had to team up with Wade, a proven champion, to get his. Unless the guy wins like 5 championships in a row or something, Lebron’s legacy will be peppered with failures, and unlike Kobe, these are failures he created himself. Say what you want about Kobe, but generally, he doesn’t take games off (with few exceptions, as noted above). Lebron seemed to have taken whole series off. After his team got punched in the mouth by Boston, or Orlando, he just checked out. This kind of consistent pissy and childlike tantrums makes me mad as a basketball fan and makes me hate him even more.
As his list of failures grown, so must the heights in which he would have to achieve to make us forget about it. Kobe has done that. He’s made up for the bad plays, the turnovers, the petulant behavior with championships and last second shots, wins over everyone, accomplishment that will be hard to touch, and a fighter’s mentality that is equal to none. Lebron has yet to really do that, even though he’s had some spectacular seasons, it still does not make up for his failures. Maybe to some people it does, but not to me, and not to a great many basketball fans
Its like the thing everyone says: He has to do it when it counts. Stats and last second shots may be as official as championships, but most people won’t count how many scoring titles you’ve won or stats unless you’ve shown you can win it all. That’s kind of my fear too. If he does win one or multiple championships, I’m afraid people will forget all of the bad behavior for the past few years and just start remembering the good. I don’t want that to happen, that’s why I don’t want Lebron to win.
Games which count are being played in the present. In games which would have been counted as hugely significant moments if he’d failed in them, he was historically great instead. What you are hoping for is to be able to discount them retrospectively.
Selective memory is fine and probably it’s the basis for being a fan of anything, but let’s call it what it is rather than treating it as something more substantive. The 81-point game was amazing and I’d say it was at least as impressive as Chamberlain’s 100, but it’s not like it had any great significance. It was a blowout over a lousy Raptors team in a late January game. The 61 points in three quarters vs. Dallas was also amazing. LeBron has had his share of those, too. He’s never scored 81 points and he’s not the pure scorer Kobe is - although he has a higher career scoring average because he started as the centerpiece for a bad team instead of a contributor to a good one - but he’s had tons of impressive individual games. He won’t score 35 a game for a mediocre team either, but he’s had a bunch of incredible seasons already. According to PER, he’s had three of the 10 most efficient seasons ever so far, and he’s had five seasons that were more efficient than Kobe’s best (which was '05-'06). I don’t think he’ll ever average a triple-double for a full season, but it’s unlikely we will see anybody come closer anytime soon. He hasn’t won any championships and The Decision was douchebaggy. No question about any of that.
And that’s definitely not coming from someone who wanted to forget about it, right? 
One thing that will be fun in the coming years is that I think Kobe/Bynum is headed in the same direction Kobe/Shaq went, except this time Kobe is the older guy who’s won championships and the center is the young guy who doesn’t want to listen to anybody else. I think the rest of Bynum’s Laker tenure may be fraught with some interesting historical echoes.
I, too, am on the deny-Lebron-a-championship bandwagon and it is partially because of the decision, but mostly becuase of the ridiculous celebration that immediately followed. You can’t say stuff like, “we’re gonna win not 1, not 2…not 7 championships,” and, “practice will be so tough that when we play games it’s gonna be easy,” and expect to win over people who aren’t already your fans. On top of that, LeBron just seems like a bit of a flake. All that said, I can’t deny he’s the best player in the NBA right now. When he wants to be.
Is it that obvious? 
Hey, I’m open and honest about the reasons why I hate Lebron. I don’t like him, don’t want to like him, and don’t want anyone else to like him. So far, for 7 years, I’ve been able to hold the “no rings” argument over Lebron’s head. I hope to continue doing it for 7 more years and for the rest of his career.
Thunder rolls.
The game was intense. I still think the series could go either way.
I’m feeling good about the series. Durant always plays good. Westbrook usually does. Harden was a non-factor. If he gets going, the Thunder will be very hard to stop.
But then, I thought the Spurs were going to sweep the Thunder.
This illustrates the problem with the “Dream Team” approach. Miami’s starters played 80% of the minutes while OKC’s starters played 67% of them.
OKC’s bench was +17 while in the game and Miami’s bench was -19.
DWade has really not been spectacular this whole playoff season. LeBron got them through the ECF by himself, but I don’t think he can do it against OKC. DWade and Bosh both need to contribute more. Miami’s role players need to just not play horribly, which is what actually killed them last year against Dallas.
He’s been bad at times. I’m seeing people wonder if he’s injured.
OKC’s dream team of Durant Westbrook and Harden is just as good as Miamis though. The difference is building your dream team through the draft lets you build a team around them while they are still in rookie contracts while getting three established stars leaves you jack shit to fill the rest of the team.
There were reports I heard on the radio that Wade has been getting his knee drained. He doesn’t look like his regular self, he looks like that year Miami had like the worst record in the league and Wade was out for like 50 games.
I almost forgot. Not only am I rooting against Lebron, but I’m also rooting for former Laker Derek Fisher. His hard fouls and taking charges (some would call flopping) notwithstanding, I’ve always felt he was a pretty stand-up guy. I would be very happy for him if he won his 6th ring. In fact, the only player I don’t like on the Thunder is Perkins, being a recent former Celtic.
It’s astonishing how my Derek Fisher hatred has evaporated now that he no longer wears a Laker uniform.
You can’t hate Fish! He’s awesome! He’s not a great player, but he can still be useful.
At the end, if it had been anyone other than LBJ guarding Durant, a foul would have been called and Durant would have had a chance to tie it. But you can’t get down by 17 and then blame the loss on the refs.
Unless Danny Crawford is reffing. Miami is 15-3 in playoff games he’s officiated since 04.
Flip side, if it had been anyone other than Durant with 5, it wouldn’t have been a block by Battier a bit earlier in the 4th.
That said, if the Thunder start off that poorly again, I think the state may riot.
Come on - I won’t say there wasn’t contact and that a foul couldn’t have been called, but it’s ridiculous to say that the ref didn’t call a foul out of some sort of deference to James.