If LeBron James ‘carries’ Cavaliers to NBA finals, he deserves Michael Jordan comparison

With Kevin Love out and Kyrie Irving struggling with bad knees, Jonathan Raymond asks if LeBron James can carry the Cleveland Cavliers past Atlanta and into the NBA finals.

LeBron James will have to get the Cavaliers to the NBA finals without Kevin Love and Kyle Irving. Tony Dejak / AP Photo

It is a position he should remember well from his previous seven seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers. But it must feel a bit distressing, all the same.

LeBron James is out there alone.

It is not entirely fair to the likes of Iman Shumpert or Timofey Mozgov or other Cavs who filled a role this season. But with Kevin Love out and Kyrie Irving hobbled by a bad knee, James’s most accomplished teammates will contribute little or nothing.

This is pretty much going to be a one-man show the rest of the way.

Does James, at age 30, have it in him to drag a team the distance? He couldn’t quite get there in his first stint in Cleveland, when he was at his physical peak.

But he is a smarter player now, twice a champion in Miami. If savvy can make up for strength, he might have a shot. But strength sure helps when carrying 11 other men.

Irving talked about James "putting us on his back" as Cleveland fought back to get past the Chicago Bulls. The Atlanta Hawks will pose a similar problem in the Eastern Conference finals. They are deep and cohesive. Their style is similar to Chicago's; they are just better at it.

James probably can still overcome that. He could get the Cavaliers into the NBA Finals, where an even stiffer challenge, the Golden State Warriors, likely would be waiting for him.

Defeating the top seeds in both conferences is a hard “ask” for a player, even one as great as James.

He will remember the criticism he took, in his previous Cleveland days, for not winning a championship, for “not being Michael Jordan”. It often was overlooked that Jordan’s Bulls were an exceptionally well-constructed team, even putting aside that they had the greatest player ever.

If James manages to wring a title out of the cast he has with him now, he will deserve every Jordan comparison, and more.

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