Jeff Budlong, On the Rebound

LeBron James has carried the Cleveland Cavaliers to the NBA Finals with a host of other players many casual fans would have a hard time naming. It is an impressive feat no doubt especially when you consider his game five performance in which he scored the Cavs final 25 points. And let&8217;s not forget that the series with Detroit could have easily been a sweep had Donyell Marshall hit the open 3 in game one or James gotten his last-second shot to fall in game two.

James is a special player who did something Michael Jordan couldn&8217;t do until he got Scottie Pippen and some other better pieces around him &8212; beat the beast of the Eastern Conference in Detroit.

However, despite the media&8217;s best attempts, James is not and will not be MJ.

Sure, LeBron got past the Pistons in his second playoff run-in with them, but these were not the Pistons of Bill Laimbeer, Rick Mahorn, Dennis Rodman and Isiah Thomas. They created the &8220;Jordan Rules&8221; which equaled take Michael&8217;s head off at every opportunity.

The &8220;LeBron Rules&8221; never really materialized for several reasons. Flip Saunders is no Chuck Daily and you have to seriously question his coaching ability watching the final four games of this series. LeBron is also a much bigger guy than Jordan and no one for the Pistons wanted to battle him physically except maybe Rasheed Wallace who is boarderline crazy on the court and an aging and slow Antonio McDyess who got tossed from game five anyway.

LeBron had a good series. He certainly was not as bad as some tried to make him out to be for passing up a shot in game one or missing a last-second opportunity in game two. Conversely, he is not as great as some would want us to believe he is now.

Dr. J revolutionized the game, Bird had Magic, Magic had Bird and Michael elevated the game to heights that will probably never be seen again.

I grew up watching Michael dominate the Lakers, Jazz, Phoenix and the other Western Conference squads on his way to six NBA titles coming in a pair of three-peats.

It is great for LeBron that he got through a watered down and talent poor Eastern Conference, but until you beat a team led by Tim Duncan in the finals and then add another five or so titles after that Michael is Michael and he stands alone compared to today&8217;s NBA player.

The biggest winner in all of this &8212; besides the fans who have to wait a month for the finals to run their course from start to finish &8212; is of course the NBA which has its biggest star on the biggest stage. I am not particularly interested in the finals myself, but I do find one interesting twist.

San Antonio has suddenly become the villains this postseason which means instead of team ho-hum there could be some drama. We have team flop thanks to Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, Bruce Bowen and even Tim Duncan against the feel-good story in the Cavs.

Here&8217;s the thing, I don&8217;t think it matters who is on the floor because this one is going to be won thanks to the coaches. Greg Popovich can coach, he can make adjustments and he knows how to use his personnel. Mike Brown on the other hand, well … not so much.

LeBron&8217;s one-on-five act, while extremely entertaining against the Pistons will come up just a little short against the Spurs.

My prediction: Spurs in five.

Sports editor Jeff Budlong&8217;s column appears every Wednesday.