LeBron James: The Most Scrutinized Athlete ... Ever

Move over Dwayne Johnson, no longer are you the most electrifying man in sports entertainment.



Well, that has been the case for over a decade. But nonetheless, the most recent NBA Finals has helped to prove Miami Heat forward LeBron James is the center of attention. Despite how well or how poorly he is playing, it is obvious the camera and the pressure is on LeBron.

After all, we have seen nothing like this in sports before. LeBron is, without argument, the most scrutinized athlete ... ever.

As LeBron made the leap from high school directly to the Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA fans were in his pocket. Anointed The King at the ripe age of 18, the expectations were set for LeBron, as he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders to prove he could be the second-coming of the great Michael Jordan.

His first game he dropped 25 points. We were sold.

And you know the rest of the awards and accolades. LeBron earned Rookie of the Year honors his first season after averaging more than 20 points per game. Those numbers only escalated. LeBron surpassed superstar Kobe Bryant to become the league's leading scorer in 2009, then took home the MVP trophy in 2009 and 2010. Add in LeBron is a three-time member of the NBA All-Defensive team and a seven-time All-Star.

Like with every sport, though, great athletes distinguish themselves with not only exception statistics, but championship trophies. Jordan was the MVP of six NBA Finals, while Bryant added two more championship rings during LeBron's time in the league to bring his total to five.

But for LeBron, disappointment was a common theme during his tenure with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

LeBron carried his Cavs to the playoffs every season from 2006 to 2010, his final year with the team. Averaging 29 points per game in his playoffs career, there was not much else LeBron could do with the cast of characters around him.

With the pressure to succeed, to surpass Jordan as the greatest of all time, blaming the poor makeup of the Cavaliers roster was a common excuse for LeBron's post-season failures. The best players to surround him include an unproven shooter in rookie Daniel "Booby" Gibson in 2006, and out-of-their-prime stars like Shaquille O'Neal and Antawn Jamison.

Still LeBron willed his team to an NBA Finals appearance, although the Cavs were swept cleanly by the San Antonio Spurs. He experienced similar failures each year after, losing to the Boston Celtics (the eventual NBA champions) in the second round in 2007, the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2008 and the Celtics in the semis in 2009, despite owning the best record in the league during the regular season.

LeBron regressed.

Standout regular seasons were meaningless without post-season success, especially with the bar set so high. What other athletes have had to deal with this pressure?

Unlike LeBron -- Mr. Basketball during his high school basketball days -- Jordan failed to make the cut for his high school team.

When the New York Yankees called up a skinny shortstop in 2005, no one singled him out and suggested he would be the captain and World Series hero a decade later.

Tom Brady was a fifth-round flier in the NFL Draft. If not for an injury to Drew Bledsoe the New England Patriots would likely be short of three Lombardi Trophies.

Other superstars did not beg the attention that LeBron did, therefore they did not inherit the pressure he did. And while some may argue that this is unfair, a national television appearance to announce his new team may have changed their minds.

This past summer, "The Decision" took place live on ESPN, where LeBron announced he would take his talents to South Beach, joining fellow superstar Dwyane Wade and perennial All-Star Chris Bosh on the Heat.

But pairing up with other star players -- for LeBron that was unprecedented. After all, he was supposed to deliver the Cavs a championship, a quest he began the moment he put on his No. 23 jersey.

"The Decision" was golden material for LeBron critics, like Skip Bayless, because it put LeBron in a different light. Instead of the league's most popular player, he became the most hated.

Surrounded by other All-Stars, LeBron essentially asked for help to win a title. Forget that Shaq and Kobe were a dynamic tandem, or Jordan and Scottie Pippen, or Kareem and Magic. 

If that was not enough to enrage NBA enthusiasts who hoped LeBron would help Cleveland to earn their first-ever championship and salvage a city who is accustomed to post-season disappointment, an ensuing after-party did.

Along with his new teammates, LeBron promised not one, not two, not three, not four ... you get the deal ... championships for the Heat.



Not only were Cavs fans pissed off; the entire country was.

More antagonizing, though, was seeing LeBron succeed on his new team. LeBron and Co. -- The Big Three -- cruised through the first round of the NBA playoffs past the Philadelphia 76ers, easily put away the defending Eastern Conference champion Celtics and defeated the No. 1-seeded Chicago Bulls.

And did I mention LeBron was outstanding during those three rounds?

During the series against the Celtics and Bulls, LeBron looked like a different species than we had seen in years past. Clutch shot after clutch shot, LeBron appeared unguardable. And on the defensive side of the ball, he became the go-to stopper against the opposing team's best player.

This was absolute chaos for the critics. And following a strong start to the NBA Finals, LeBron claimed he was "unguardable."

Perhaps that comment incited the Dallas Mavericks, as now the series has moved to 3-2 in favor of the underdog, and the most-hated team in the history of NBA -- and perhaps professional sports -- is on the brink of elimination.

And LeBron, who used to have NBA fans across the globe in his corner, rooting for him to succeed and capture a championship ring, has become the reason for his team's failures.

Most notable is the lack of "clutchness" LeBron has displayed in the fourth quarter of these NBA Finals. It has been the knock on LeBron for most of his career. Just like his regular season success, the first three quarters of the game are often meaningless unless he can come through when it means the most -- the fourth quarter.

Jordan and Kobe made their reputations on late-game heroics. On their championship teams it was not a question of who was going to handle the ball with the game in the balance. That is clearly not the case with the Heat.

When you are paired with other superstars, or stars for that matter, there must be that closer -- the alpha male -- to close out games. Pippen was a Hall of Famer and one of the best to play the game, but it was Jordan who was going to have the last shot.

With the Heat, there is plenty of question marks surrounding whether LeBron or Wade should handle those responsibilities. During the regular season this was the knock on this team, and more often than not they made the wrong decision at the end of the games and they paid for it.

But with all of the scrutiny, all of the pressure mounted on LeBron these Finals to be the MVP, it is without question Wade has been the Heat's best player. And in the fourth quarter LeBron is trying to be that closer -- like Jordan, like Kobe -- and he cannot seem to do it.

LeBron has totaled just 11 fourth quarter points through five Finals games. And let's be honest, the easy layup in Game 5 -- his "biggest game ever" -- came when the Mavericks had a lead and chose not to foul him.

In the fourth quarter, according to SB Nation, LeBron has taken 16 shots on average, seven less than he averaged in first and third quarters during the series.

LeBron is averaging just 2.2 points in the final quarter versus the Mavericks, according to ESPN Stats & Info, compared to the 7.6 points in the three prior series. The cherry on top? He is scoreless in the final five minutes of games when the score is within five points, shooting a porous 0-7.

Even after a sub-par eight-point effort in Game 4 was followed up with a triple-double, perhaps the most meaningless trouble-double of all time.

As the series shifts back to Miami, the focus remains on LeBron.

Will he bounce back? Will his fourth quarter numbers improve? Is he going to be a Jordan or Kobe, or ring-less like Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley and Karl Malone?

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The anticipation is building up for Game 6 and how LeBron will respond to the enormous attention on him. His legacy depends on it, because since he was 18 he was burdened with this challenge.

How many other athletes have garnered this much attention? What other teams have a specific beat on ESPN to examine their every move? Which other players have their legacy debated on a near-daily basis?

So much depends on Game 6, and possibly Game 7 of the NBA Finals, including LeBron's future in Miami.

Will he respond to his critics or crack under pressure? Our answer comes Sunday night.