The San Antonio Spurs are the real rival of the Cleveland Cavaliers megastar LeBron James.
Yeah, sure, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors have had two of the most entertaining NBA Finals series in history in the last two seasons. But the San Antonio Spurs, who created “The LeBron Rules” in 2007, are LeBron James‘ real rival.
What are “The LeBron Rules”? Make him be a scorer by taking away his passing outlets and, above all else, concede space to him at the three-point line so that he can’t wreak havoc inside the paint.
With those rules, the San Antonio Spurs, who have managed to fly under the radar while being either 1st or 2nd in their division for the past decade, have defeated James in two NBA Finals series. Like the 2015 NBA Finals that saw James take on a fully healthy Warriors squad without Kyrie Irving or Kevin Love available, James was trying to overcome nearly insurmountable odds in 2007. Yet in 2013 and 2014, he had a better chance to win it all even though 2014 was a year that had shown James that the Miami Heat roster was creeping towards decrepitude.
Yet, it’s not about wins and losses, necessarily in this rivalry. It’s about the work James has had to put into each NBA Finals series against the Spurs. Against the Warriors, James isn’t just the best player on the court, he plays like the best player of the court nearly every minute.
Against a Spurs, and hounded by “The LeBron Stopper” Kawhi Leonard, James still plays like the best player on the court. The only difference is that the player who makes him work the hardest to score is the best player on the Spurs team.
That wasn’t the case in 2007, when James was being hounded by Bruce Bowen and Michael Finley on the way to an abysmal 35.6 percent field goal percentage. It wasn’t the case in 2015, as James was being guarded by Andre Iguodala and only made 39.8 percent of his field goal attempts.
It was beginning to be the case in 2013, as James was being guarded closely by Leonard. James still converted 44.7 percent of his shots and scored 25.3 points per game against the Spurs in that series, but in that season James was knocking in an insane 56.5 percent of his jumpers in the regular season. He made 49.1 percent of his field goal attempts overall in the playoffs, a number that no doubt would have hovered above 50.0 percent with greater efficiency against the Spurs.
Leonard only scored 14.6 points per game in that series but he knocked in 51.3 percent of his shots, had 11.1 rebounds per game and 2.0 steals per game. Looking at his all-around performance against the best player in the league, it was the beginning of Leonard’s ascension in the eyes of the masses. If Ray Allen didn’t save the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 6, Leonard would likely have won the NBA Finals MVP award, at 21 years old.
In 2014, as James was again being guarded closely by Leonard, the King scored 28.2 points per game and knocked in 57.1 percent of his field goal attempts, including 51.9 percent of his shots from three-point range. Leonard scored 17.8 points per game and knocked down 61.2 percent of his field goal attempts, including 57.9 percent of his three-point attempts. The series ended in five games and Leonard was named NBA Finals MVP at the age of 22.
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