The East Final reminds us how hard it is to beat LeBron James
After the Pacers opened the Easter Conference Final with a resounding win in Indiana, the Heat have responded with three consecutive wins - by a combined 28 points – to push the top-seeded Pacers to the brink of elimination.
There are many reasons and theories observers can point at to explain what’s gone right for Miami and what’s gone wrong for Indiana. In Game 4 in particular, Roy Hibbert was scoreless and in foul trouble, Lance Stephenson had one measly point heading into the fourth quarter, Chris Bosh exploded for 25 points on 7-of-12 shooting, Stephenson apparently motivated LeBron James with some Game 3 trash talk, and the Heat took 17 more free throws than the Pacers did, something Paul George referenced as the Game 4 game changer.
The Heat took 34 free throws and made 30 of them on Monday night, while the Pacers went just 11-of-17, so the free throw disparity was at least somewhat of a factor in what turned out to be a 12-point game. But it’s funny, George and the Pacers took all of the credit for their 11-point Game 1 victory without so much as a mention of the fact that they attempted 37 free throws to Miami’s 15 in the series opener.
And no one was really talking about free throws through three games, when the Heat already held a 2-1 series lead despite the Pacers having a 77-53 advantage in free throw attempts. Through four games, the Pacers still have a 94-87 advantage and have been called for four less fouls. Sorry, Paul, but the charity stripe ain’t what’s killing your team.
In addition, the Pacers have survived through Hibbert’s inconsistencies before and were down 2-1 in the series despite the All-Star center averaging 16 points and eight rebounds in Games 1-3, the Heat had already taken the series lead while Bosh’s jumper went cold, and James has had an alright career without players like Stephenson needed to ‘motivate’ him.
In his postgame podium time after Game 4, while trying to explain the importance of the free throw disparity, George mentioned that the Pacers shot the ball well (49%), won the rebounding battle and kept their turnovers down. Well they’re shooting about 47 percent from the field and 40 percent from deep for the series, they’re scoring nearly 107 (106.9) points per 100 possessions and they’ve grabbed 52.7 percent of available rebounds through four games while also getting to the free throw line more overall. So again, using those numbers now to suddenly try to highlight the importance of the free throw disparity in one game doesn’t make much sense.
Plus, we could point to the fact that the Heat are shooting over 50 percent for the series and have turned the ball over 10 less times than the Pacers have to rebut George’s points further. But that’s not necessary, because above all of the talk of free throws, mind games and whatever else the hot topic of the day is in Indiana, the fact of the matter is simply this – You’re not beating LeBron James four out of seven times.
The Spurs probably represent the best chance of dethroning the Heat and a healthy Thunder squad has a puncher’s chance of doing so, but the Pacers represented the Eastern Conference’s best chance of ending Miami’s reign. Instead, this Eastern Conference Final rematch has merely reminded us that few NBA teams – and certainly none from the East – can beat LeBron James when he’s at his legendary best.
With that, LeBron and the Heat are now one win away from becoming the first team in 27 years and the first non-Celtics/non-Lakers team to appear in four straight NBA Finals.
On Monday, James was in classic takeover mode, posting 32 points on 13-of-21 (61.9%) shooting to go with 10 rebounds, five assists and two steals. In the four East Final games against the Pacers, Miami is +6.6 per 48 minutes with LeBron on the court and -7.2 per 48 with him on the bench, according to NBA.com.
For the postseason as a whole, James is averaging 28.8 points on 57 percent shooting, 7.4 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 2.0 steals through 13 games for the 11-2 Heat. He’s also shooting 64.3 percent on two-pointers so far in these playoffs – the NBA record for a single postseason is 62.4 percent, set by Charles Barkley 28 years ago.
He has a postseason Player Efficiency Rating of 32.2 and a Player Impact Estimate of 21.9. As a reference, Kevin Durant’s PER and PIE from his historic regular season this year were 29.9 and 20.6, respectively. By the looks of it, claims that James was ‘coasting’ during the regular season and would re-establish himself as the undisputed best player alive come playoff time have been validated.
With his performance against the Pacers in Game 4, James now has more career postseason games of at least 25 points, five rebounds and five assists (74) than anyone else in NBA history, surpassing Michael Jordan’s mark of 73. It was also the 30th playoff game in his career in which he’s led his team in points, rebounds and assists. No one else has more than 13 such games. This is where I remind you that LeBron hasn’t even turned 30 yet.
It’s hard enough to beat that guy at his best one time between October and April, let alone four out of seven times between April and June when he has any kind of help, like the type Dwyane Wade and Bosh can still provide. The Pacers can talk about free throws, Hibbert, Stephenson and whatever else they want to. But that cold hard fact, especially as it relates to the Eastern Conference, remains the takeaway from this series so far.