Mike Tyson once defended LeBron James after Miami's shocking loss in 2014 NBA Finals: "It's him and Floyd Mayweather Jr."
Fame in being a great basketball player comes at a price, as LeBron James is well aware of throughout his long NBA career. After James lost to the San Antonio Spurs during the 2014 NBA Finals, he experienced harsh criticism from sports analysts about his failure in delivering the goods.
Interestingly, another athlete stepped up and defended LeBron James' honor by mentioning him alongside Floyd Mayweather Jr. as the two athletes who receive the most criticism in the sports industry. That athlete was Mike Tyson, according to a 2014 Sports Illustrated article by Lee Jenkins.
"I heard that he called himself the 'easiest target' in sports," Tyson said. "It's him and Floyd Mayweather Jr., no doubt about it. LeBron is great. When you comment about him, you get attention."
Despite different fields in sports, Mike Tyson understands that no matter how great a player is, they will always be scrutinized by the media for every shortcoming in their career.
During the 2014 finals, LeBron James was coming off two-straight championships and even defeated the Spurs during the 2013 finals. In the 2014 finals rematch, James averaged 28.2 points per game (57.1% shooting, including 51.9% from 3-point range), 6.9 rebounds and 6.3 assists.
Despite the impressive stat line, the San Antonio Spurs ended up winning in five games.
In the previous match-up during the 2013 finals, James averaged 25.3 ppg (44.7% shooting, including 35.3% from 3-point range), 10.9 rpg and 7.0 apg. While he had better stats in 2013-14, his efforts weren't enough as he didn't receive much help from the rest of the squad.
His one-two-punch tandem with Dwyane Wade wasn't that effective as the Heat guard only averaged 15.2 ppg (43.7% shooting, including 33.3% from 3-point range) and 3.8 rpg. Wade looked like a shell of himself during that series as he never got it going.
Chris Bosh, on the other hand, averaged 14.0 ppg (54.9% shooting, including 38.5% from 3-point range) and 5.2 rpg. The stats are good from an efficiency perspective but the Heat needed more production out of him, especially considering he was part of the big three.
Looking back on LeBron James defeating the Golden State Warriors in the 2016 Finals
Against the 73-9 Golden State Warriors, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers faced an incredible challenge in the 2016 finals.
They were down 3-1 at one point in the series, as all hope looked lost. However, James and the Cavaliers did the impossible by coming back from that deficit to even the series and finish off with a Game 7 victory.
After constantly coming up short during the first seven seasons in delivering a championship to Cleveland, his ninth season with the team finally ended up with a title.
LeBron James, in the 2016 finals, averaged 29.7 ppg (49.4% shooting, including 37.1% from 3-point range), 11.3 rpg and 8.9 apg.