LeBron James puts up one of the worst defensive performances of all time in the 2014 NBA Finals. He makes James Harden look like Dennis Rodman. He was able to get away with poor defense against Indiana in the 2014 ECF but the Spurs beautiful team ball made him pay. Letting people blow by him with ease, leaving shooters wide open, just very poor defense.
Now to analyze LeBron's 2014 Finals in full context. LeBron was only productive for the first 2 games of the series. In the final 3 games, LeBron didn't show up on offense or defense, and was completely outplayed by 13 ppg Kawhi Leonard across the board. The majority of LeBron's stats over the last 3 games were padded in blowout situations (being down 15+). LeBron by no means was "carrying" his team in these Finals. The majority of LeBron's stats over the last 3 games were padded in blowout situations (being down 15+). LeBron by no means was "carrying" his team in these Finals. And he got outplayed by Kawhi Leonard over the last 3 games
Games 3-4-5
Lebron scored 51 of his 81 points (63%) being down 15+
Leonard scored 27 of his 71 points (38%) being up 15+
Leonard outscored Lebron 44-30 in non-blowout situations
Leonard 23.7 ppg on 69%
LeBron 27.0 ppg on 55%
(Leonard 14% more efficient)
And again, Lebron stats were heavily padded in garbage time, in non blowout situations Leonard outscored him
Leonard 9.3 rpg
LeBron 7.7 rpg
Leonard 2.0 spg
LeBron 1.7 spg
Leonard 2.0 bpg
LeBron 0.7 bpg
Leonard 2.3 apg with 1.7 TOpg
LeBron 4.7 apg with 3.7 TOpg
Leonard had a slightly better ast:TO ratio
Through games 3-4-5, Leonard scored much more efficiently (and more in non blowout situations) and outrebounded, outstole, and outblocked Lebron with a better ast:TO ratio
Game 3
Lebron had 14 points and 0 TO in first quarter, then 8 points and 7 TOs for the last 3 quarters. LeBron had 22-5-7-5 with 7 TOs on 64%, Wade had 22-4-2-2 with 5 TOs on 67%.
But over the last 3 quarters, LeBron had 8 points and 7 TOs to Wade's 20 points and 3 TOs. The Heat cut the lead from 15 to 9 without LeBron, after Wade subbed in for him, from the 5:00 to 1:00 mark of the 3rd quarter, but even with that help LeBron still lost.
Game 4
Lebron had 9 points in first half and the Heat were blown out by 19 at halftime. He padded his stats from there, and did not score on Leonard in the first half.
Game 5
Lebron had 1 FG in 2nd quarter (2:30 mark) to bring the Heat within 5. Then he did not score again until the Heat were down 21 with 4:40 in the 3rd. He shot 1-6 against Leonard in this game according to ESPN "MVP Leonard Does it All," and according to that same article Leonard shot 65% on LeBron's overrated defense for the series - espn.go.com/blog/statsinfo/pos...
Leonard clearly outplayed Lebron over the final 3 games, even with Lebron padding his stats, and Lebron failed to score consistently until after his teams were getting blown out. LeBron did not play well in the 2014 Finals after Game 2, he only padded his stats. LeBron's 2014 Finals was a repeat of the 2011 Finals after Game 2, the only differences being that LeBron's teammates disappeared along with him, and LeBron padded his stats to save face. So any notion that LeBron had an "amazing" series, and still lost because of his teammates is false. LeBron failed his team over the Final 3 games, and that's why he lost. He did not contribute offensively or defensively. The Spurs did have great offensive execution in this series, but their great offensive was largely successful due to the poor defensive leadership of LeBron, who got exposed by Kawhi Leonard - allowing Leonard to shoot 65% when guarded by LeBron's vastly overrated defense