`King James` joins all time greats

Washington: Lebron James is establishing his place among the all time greats with his second straight NBA Finals trophy and a second Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) title.

`King James` had a game-high 37 points and 12 rebounds when leading Miami Heat to a dramatic 95-88 Game 7 victory over the visiting San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night, reports Xinhua. He was awarded the Finals MVP, becoming only the ninth player to win multiple NBA Finals MVP awards, joining Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Hakeem Olajuwon, Larry Bird, Shaquille O`Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tim Duncan and Willis Reed. The championship capped James` 10th season when he bagged his fourth regular season MVP award in five seasons and averaged 26.8 points, 8.0 rebounds, 7.3 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.0 blocked shots a game in 76 appearances. He also finished second in NBA Defensive Player of the Year voting to Spaniard Marc Gasol of the Memphis Grizzlies. Arguably the best player currently in NBA, James was constantly compared to legendary Jordan but had to deal with the daily criticism that Jordan never had. The latest round of criticism came with defending champion Heat`s loss as people questioned James why he only switched to attacking mode in the fourth quarter. At the award ceremony, James answered his critics. "I work on my game a lot, through the whole season I put a lot of work to it. For me I can`t worry about whatever everybody said about me. I am Lebron James from Akron, Ohio from the inner city. I was not even supposed to be here," said James. "I am blessed," added James, born to a 16-year-old single mother and going through poverty in his childhood. INAS