Nick Wright's myth that Lebron took the belt as "best player in the world" after his "48-point special" against the 2006-07 Pistons needs to be called out.
Nick bringing up the 2007 ECF as the moment that Bron ”took the belt” and did something comparable to what Wemby is cooking up right now is just... delusional.
Forget the two 41-41 teams that Bron beat before facing the Pistons. That 2006-2007 Detroit team won 53 games. The "winner of the worst conference in the history of professional sports."...
https://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/061129
No Ben Wallace. No Larry Brown. Fat Chris Webber and old-ass Antonio McDyess trying to compensate for the loss of the defensive identity that had made them great in 2004 and 2005.
Wade had a better series with a fading Shaq in 2006 against a superior version of the same team. That team won 60 games and still had Big Ben...
Wade 2006 ECF: 27/6/5 on 62 fg%
Lebron 2007 ECF: 26/9/8 on 45 fg%
And we know what Wade went on to do in the finals compared to Bron. But somehow that did not make Wade the greatest player in the world in the eyes of Nick Wright. But Bron's 2007 ECF leapfrogged him over peak Kobe and prime Duncan? The guy who shot 35fg% against the Celtics in 2008 and had back-to-back years with basketball panic attacks in 2010 and 2011?
Was the game (and maybe even the series) an amazing "coming out party" for a 22-year old Lebron? Yes. Like Kobe's back-to-back 45+/10+ games in the 2001 playoffs. But best player in the world?
It needs to stop.