Is Lebron James Unguardable?

There is nothing more frustrating for a coach then having a timeout at the very end of quarter, needing a defensive stop, and telling your team very explicitly which of the opposing players is probably going to get the ball, and what that player will be looking to do. And then they do it anyway!

In this most recent example it was George Karl telling his Denver Nuggets Friday Night with 4.5 seconds left in the 1st quarter that the Cavaliers would be going to Lebron James on the inbound in the backcourt. Karl then told his squad that Lebron would then most likely be looking to run the floor and go hard to the bucket seeking a foul.

So if you’re a Nuggets backcourt player you most likely would want to try and deny Lebron the pass on the inbounds, hoping the Cavs would have to go to another player. But if they did get him the ball on a cut, you would then want to give him a few feet of room to encourage him to shoot an outside shot versus taking the ball to the cup trying to draw the foul.

As you will see in the following video the Nuggets did neither of those things. It did however get me thinking when I was watching that even if they did lay off Lebron he would have just done the same thing but without the And1. You just may not be able to stop him from scoring. When it comes to players as special as Lebron James it doesn’t always matter what you do on defense. You can play the best defense in the world, but when an offensive player is as special as Lebron James he can score anyway. It really doesn’t matter what you do. The only defense you can play is possibly double or triple teaming him forcing him to give the ball up to a wide open teammate.

After watching quite a few Cav’s games this season, i’m starting to wonder if Lebron James is truly unguardable. Is it possible for a defender to force Lebron to do anything he doesn’t want to do? Or are you truly at the mercy of his decision making? He’s just too fast, too powerful, to damn good. Check the replay: