The year was 1993 and Michael Jordan and his Chicago Bulls found themselves in an 0-2 series hole against the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Jordan—who was criticized by the New York Times for gambling in Atlantic City during the playoff series—decided to take things into his own hands, absolutely going mental by leading his Bulls to wins in the next four games to reach the NBA Finals, which included a 54-point thrashing in Game 4 to even the series.
Phil Jackson, MJ’s coach during that series, thinks that LeBron James could do the same thing with his Cleveland Cavs trailing the Golden State Warriors in this year’s NBA Finals—assuming Bron channels his inner Mike.
Per the New York Daily News:
“It did something to Michael Jordan. You learned something about pulling the cape of Superman. It’s not a good idea. He was a man possessed after that,” Jackson said via the New York Daily News. “I think it’s going to take something for LeBron to step into that. Put his cape on and say, ‘I’m going to have to take over a lot of this series, doing the things beyond my level or my normal capacity.’ He’s been a team player up until this point, but I think he’s going to have to step beyond that.”
James and his Cavs teammates have been absolutely worthless in the first two games of their anticipated Finals rematch with the Dubs, losing by a combined 48 points on Golden State’s home floor. And with Kevin Love, likely, out with a concussion, it’ll be up to LeBron to play like a man possessed if Cleveland has any chance to make this a series.
Can James do it? I mean, a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in awhile, right?