For the fourth straight season, LeBron James carried the Cleveland Cavaliers to the NBA Finals, but the team lost the much talented Golden State Warriors.
With this latest loss, James dropped his record in the NBA Finals to 3-6.
While James has three championship rings - two with the Miami Heat and one with the Cavaliers, the number of titles is always being considered during talks about who's the Greatest of All Time between him and Michael Jordan. Jordan won six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls, making him superior to James when it comes to title rings.
Bryant Issues Unsolicited Advice to James
Count former Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant to the list of people who consider title rings when measuring greatness. In an interview with Howard Beck of Bleacher Report, Bryant said that he measured greats such as Jordan, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson in terms of the number of championships each player has won.
"Everybody's going to value things differently, which is fine. I'm just telling you how I value mine," Bryant tells Beck. For his part, Bryant won five NBA championship rings during his 20-year stay with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Bryant then gave James some unsolicited advice, telling the Cavaliers superstar to figure out a way to win when he turns free agent in the summer. "It's not about narrative. You want to win championships, you just gotta figure it out," Bryant said, referring to James' impending free agency.
Meanwhile, James has several options in the summer. He can stay with the Cavaliers by exercising his $35.6 million player option or test the free-agent waters, where several suitors including Los Angeles Lakers, Philadelphia 76ers, and the Houston Rockets await.
Bryant Received Motivation from Jordan
Before Game 3 of the NBA Finals, Bryant commented that James was obviously exhausted from carrying his team and due to lack of support from his teammates, which should not be the case. "I would say he's working too much. He should be doing less, actually," stressed Bryant.
Bryant said he was in the same situation as James when he and the Lakers faced a stacked Boston Celtics in the 2008 NBA Finals. The Celtics then had the Big Four composed of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo.
When he complained about it before the 2010 NBA Finals, Bryant said he some advice from Jordan, who told him to figure it out. The Lakers then went on to beat the Celtics, 4-3, to give Bryant his fifth NBA crown.
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