Before supplanting Michael Jordan as the N.B.A.’s career playoff scoring leader while cementing an extraordinary seventh straight trip to the league finals, LeBron James pleaded for comparative restraint, for a focus on the here (Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant) and now (Game 1, Thursday night).
It’s all about the ring, about Cleveland and Golden State.
The Jordan-versus-James debate, he said, is only “great for barbershops.” Bar stools, too, and press boxes.
But with a keen sense of the real world, James understands that the Jordan argument is not for him to make, because it’s one he can’t win, even should he engineer a second straight upset of the Warriors.