The comparisons will never stop. The more MVP trophies and NBA championships LeBron James wins, the more he will be compared to the like of the great Michael Jordan. Game 7 of the NBA finals certainly pushed that topic even more and James recognizes that. Jordan was known for clinching shots and James believes he had one of his very own in that final game.
With 39 seconds left in Game 7, the San Antonio Spurs were only down by three. James had the ball in his hands at mid-court. As the clock continued to countdown down, Mario Chalmers set the pick and James drained a 19-foot jump shot, clinching the NBA title for the Miami Heat. The highlight was played over and over again. James told Sports Illustrated that shot was his Michael-Jordan moment.
"I know it wasn't the magnitude of MJ hitting that shot in '98, but I definitely thought about him. It was an MJ moment. It was an LJ moment," James said.
During the run of the finals, James spent a lot of time watching old Jordan NBA Finals games and learning, including the 1998 jump shot that is in every NBA highlight montage ever. It seemed to have paid off when James made one of his very own.
James brings a lot of the comparisons on himself. He has made comments about wants to be remembered as the greatest player in the game of basketball. There was also the now infamous tweet of "I'm not MJ, I'm LJ." He will constantly live in the shadows of Jordan, who currently holds on to that title. At 29, Jordan was 2-0 in the NBA Finals. LeBron is 2-2 and will be 29 next season.
"As my talent continued to grow, as I continued to know about the game, appreciate the game, continued to get better, I felt like I had the drive, first of all, the passion, the commitment to the game to place myself as the greatest of all time, the best of all time, however you want to categorize it. I don't do it to say I'm better than this guy or that guy. I do it for my own inspiration," James said.
