Players who played under tremendous pressure

[jstern]

Kevin Durant. But in his mind. He seems shook about being 27 years old and feeling as if he's going to end up as a ringless legend. Could have easily won a ring this last season, but the pressure just got to him. And despite having a team that could have easily won it all, if not for him choking because of the overblown pressure in his head, feeling as if he's under a microscope and every single person in the world is laughing at him, he decided to destroy his contending team, and join a 73 win team. Surely he's guaranteed to win a championship or two, even if he gets injured for the season. In his head he is ringless Lebron times 3, and that's a lot of pressure.

[RedBlackAttack]

Jesse Owens? Dont know much about him, but just saw a trailer lol....

You serious? Lol

The guy walked into Berlin, Germany at the height of Hitler's rein and personally sh!t all over his theory that "pure" blond haired, blue eyed whites were far superior in every way to any other race, and blacks were near the bottom of his list alongside Jews (we know how warmly he thought of them).

Strangely enough, Owens was so dominant that Hitler was reportedly impressed and a "fan" of his ability to run ridiculously fast. He may have even requested a private meeting iirc.

Unrelated: Owens is another product of the state of Ohio. What is with Ohio producing freakish athletes in all sports?

[BlakFrankWhite]

Wily.

But unfortunantly he wilted under the pressure.

[knickballer]

Some of the big soccer stars when they play for country. Messi and Ronaldo for example have tons of pressure on them when they play for Argentina and Portugal as they have the pressure of carrying a nation. In particular, Messi is often compared to Maradonna who won them a world cup. But when they play for their clubs they don't have much pressure as they play for very talented sides.

[Locked_Up_Tonight]

Some of the big soccer stars when they play for country. Messi and Ronaldo for example have tons of pressure on them when they play for Argentina and Portugal as they have the pressure of carrying a nation. In particular, Messi is often compared to Maradonna who won them a world cup. But when they play for their clubs they don't have much pressure as they play for very talented sides.

And their have been some countries that have killed (or tried to kill) some of their soccer players if they screwed up some way and lost.

(There was a report a couple of years ago that a referee handed out a red card to a player or two.... and was killed a couple of days later...... I believe it was some fans that killed the ref but that kind of behavior happens quite often...)

[FatComputerNerd]

And their have been some countries that have killed (or tried to kill) some of their soccer players if they screwed up some way and lost.

(There was a report a couple of years ago that a referee handed out a red card to a player or two.... and was killed a couple of days later...... I believe it was some fans that killed the ref but that kind of behavior happens quite often...)

That is seriously nuts.

It's a ****in' sport geez.


Sad that soccer/futbol has such nationalistic and xenophobic elements too. Damned hooligans.

[feyki]

Harrison Barnes

[bdreason]

LeBron has played with more pressure and expectation than maybe any athlete in the history of sports.

[SexSymbol]

The last time he played with great pressure was 2011 as he "finally" had a great team around him and got to the finals.
The vast majority then saw him as an underperformer in the playoffs after 10 and 11 failures there, that's the exact and only reason why OKC were favored by vegas to win the finals and why he had zero pressure in those finals to perform great, because if he failed, everybody would've thought the same thing, and if he performed above good level, he's adding to his legacy.
In 2013 he faced some pressure against the Spurs as they were pretty equal teams, but he was shrinking from it for most of the series. Doe we have to admit, his G7 is one of the GOAT games.
In 2014, there was even less pressure for him to perform than in 12, because he has been to 3 straight finals and tired and wade and bosh were falling off and everybody just knew that spurs would win. Then he played one good game to get Heat the win to solidify the theory that he's doing it all on his own and then obviously suffered the worst loss in finals history and it didn't really affect his legacy, because he was shying away from pressure in those finals by not taking nearly enough shots to justify those "great" stats.

Then he did the genius move to go back to cleveland, it's a young team with most talent in the nba, but young, inexperienced and that has never won, so again, zero pressure in 15, because how can you compete against the vast experience of '15 GSW, and obviously injuries to Love and Irving which were at least arguably, a blessing in disguise.
We get to 16, and there's again ZERO pressure as you're going against the best regular season team of all time, although with injuries and questionable suspensions.
07 finals he obviously had zero pressure with a Cavs team that could've won the finals if he had played 5 percent better, because of being young and inexperienced and going against a two time champ in Duncan. People don't understand that Cavs would've swept Spurs if Bron player a little better, all close games.

He faced real pressure in one finals, and then arguably in 13. That's it for his career, media always tried to spin him out as an underdog in case the man lost. Listen, I like LeBron, but he reminds me of Hillary, average, but system made him a candidate for the highest honor.

[JT123]

The last time he played with great pressure was 2011 as he "finally" had a great team around him and got to the finals.
The vast majority then saw him as an underperformer in the playoffs after 10 and 11 failures there, that's the exact and only reason why OKC were favored by vegas to win the finals and why he had zero pressure in those finals to perform great, because if he failed, everybody would've thought the same thing, and if he performed above good level, he's adding to his legacy.
In 2013 he faced some pressure against the Spurs as they were pretty equal teams, but he was shrinking from it for most of the series. Doe we have to admit, his G7 is one of the GOAT games.
In 2014, there was even less pressure for him to perform than in 12, because he has been to 3 straight finals and tired and wade and bosh were falling off and everybody just knew that spurs would win. Then he played one good game to get Heat the win to solidify the theory that he's doing it all on his own and then obviously suffered the worst loss in finals history and it didn't really affect his legacy, because he was shying away from pressure in those finals by not taking nearly enough shots to justify those "great" stats.

Then he did the genius move to go back to cleveland, it's a young team with most talent in the nba, but young, inexperienced and that has never won, so again, zero pressure in 15, because how can you compete against the vast experience of '15 GSW, and obviously injuries to Love and Irving which were at least arguably, a blessing in disguise.
We get to 16, and there's again ZERO pressure as you're going against the best regular season team of all time, although with injuries and questionable suspensions.
07 finals he obviously had zero pressure with a Cavs team that could've won the finals if he had played 5 percent better, because of being young and inexperienced and going against a two time champ in Duncan. People don't understand that Cavs would've swept Spurs if Bron player a little better, all close games.

He faced real pressure in one finals, and then arguably in 13. That's it for his career, media always tried to spin him out as an underdog in case the man lost. Listen, I like LeBron, but he reminds me of Hillary, average, but system made him a candidate for the highest honor.

What you have just typed is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever seen. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this forum is now dumber for having read it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

[Fire Colangelo]

The last time he played with great pressure was 2011 as he "finally" had a great team around him and got to the finals.
The vast majority then saw him as an underperformer in the playoffs after 10 and 11 failures there, that's the exact and only reason why OKC were favored by vegas to win the finals and why he had zero pressure in those finals to perform great, because if he failed, everybody would've thought the same thing, and if he performed above good level, he's adding to his legacy.
In 2013 he faced some pressure against the Spurs as they were pretty equal teams, but he was shrinking from it for most of the series. Doe we have to admit, his G7 is one of the GOAT games.
In 2014, there was even less pressure for him to perform than in 12, because he has been to 3 straight finals and tired and wade and bosh were falling off and everybody just knew that spurs would win. Then he played one good game to get Heat the win to solidify the theory that he's doing it all on his own and then obviously suffered the worst loss in finals history and it didn't really affect his legacy, because he was shying away from pressure in those finals by not taking nearly enough shots to justify those "great" stats.

Then he did the genius move to go back to cleveland, it's a young team with most talent in the nba, but young, inexperienced and that has never won, so again, zero pressure in 15, because how can you compete against the vast experience of '15 GSW, and obviously injuries to Love and Irving which were at least arguably, a blessing in disguise.
We get to 16, and there's again ZERO pressure as you're going against the best regular season team of all time, although with injuries and questionable suspensions.
07 finals he obviously had zero pressure with a Cavs team that could've won the finals if he had played 5 percent better, because of being young and inexperienced and going against a two time champ in Duncan. People don't understand that Cavs would've swept Spurs if Bron player a little better, all close games.

He faced real pressure in one finals, and then arguably in 13. That's it for his career, media always tried to spin him out as an underdog in case the man lost. Listen, I like LeBron, but he reminds me of Hillary, average, but system made him a candidate for the highest honor.

You can't possibly be this stupid.

LeBron was dubbed as the Chosen one as a 16 year old. ESPN was airing his High School games with Bill Walton, Jay Bilas and Dickie V. You either weren't around at the time, or didn't follow basketball. LeBron has literally been sitting under a microscope since 14 years old, he had THAT much hype.

I remember reading a Sports Illustrated article that talked about nothing else but how LeBron was going to dominate the league - this was when he was 16 years old.

Then he got drafted to his hometown as the #1 pick, immense pressure to win one for the cursed city of Cleveland (of all the teams to pick him). And he would come close while carrying them to the Finals for the first time in franchise history. Dude was only 22 at the time, but was scrutinized for every bad play he made.

You touched on 2011, but he had so much pressure in the 2010-2011 season (granted he brought it onto himself) after the Decision. Started out the season going 9-8 or something, and people started doubting/criticizing. He followed it up with a 21-1 run that would bring them atop of the Eastern Conference.
He ultimately wilted under that pressure and failed to win a championship in his first year. But what made me respect him was the amount of work he put in that summer to further perfect his game.

Now dubbed by the media as the "Frozen" One, he had so much pressure to win a ring in 2012. His legacy was going to go down the drain if he failed to win one this year - and he followed up with a spectacular season, and some unbelievable games in the playoffs.

45/15/5 - Game 6 vs Boston
29/10/7 - Finals against the Thunder

So he finally won a ring, the pressure is off right? No. Now the question was whether or not LeBron can repeat.

LeBron followed his 2012 season with once again a spectacular regular season including the win streak, and a dominant showing in the playoffs. Down 10 at the start of the 4th quarter in a crucial Game 6 - LeBron scored 15 in the 4th to bring them back in position for the Ray Allen shot.

And of course, LeBron had one of the GOAT game 7's in the 2013 Finals.

Won't touch on 2015 and 2016, you'd have to be retarded to think LeBron has zero pressure AFTER promising Cleveland he'd win one for them, and after trading their future in Andrew Wiggins for Kevin Love in order to win now.

[SexSymbol]

You can't possibly be this stupid.

LeBron was dubbed as the Chosen one as a 16 year old. ESPN was airing his High School games with Bill Walton, Jay Bilas and Dickie V. You either weren't around at the time, or didn't follow basketball. LeBron has literally been sitting under a microscope since 14 years old, he had THAT much hype.

I remember reading a Sports Illustrated article that talked about nothing else but how LeBron was going to dominate the league - this was when he was 16 years old.

Then he got drafted to his hometown as the #1 pick, immense pressure to win one for the cursed city of Cleveland (of all the teams to pick him). And he would come close while carrying them to the Finals for the first time in franchise history. Dude was only 22 at the time, but was scrutinized for every bad play he made.

You touched on 2011, but he had so much pressure in the 2010-2011 season (granted he brought it onto himself) after the Decision. Started out the season going 9-8 or something, and people started doubting/criticizing. He followed it up with a 21-1 run that would bring them atop of the Eastern Conference.
He ultimately wilted under that pressure and failed to win a championship in his first year. But what made me respect him was the amount of work he put in that summer to further perfect his game.

Now dubbed by the media as the "Frozen" One, he had so much pressure to win a ring in 2012. His legacy was going to go down the drain if he failed to win one this year - and he followed up with a spectacular season, and some unbelievable games in the playoffs.

45/15/5 - Game 6 vs Boston
29/10/7 - Finals against the Thunder

So he finally won a ring, the pressure is off right? No. Now the question was whether or not LeBron can repeat.

LeBron followed his 2012 season with once again a spectacular regular season including the win streak, and a dominant showing in the playoffs. Down 10 at the start of the 4th quarter in a crucial Game 6 - LeBron scored 15 in the 4th to bring them back in position for the Ray Allen shot.

And of course, LeBron had one of the GOAT game 7's in the 2013 Finals.

So okay, he was dubbed as the chosen one from 14-16 years old right? Doesn't that make him better and more accustomed to pressure as he enters the NBA as he has previously been considered the best and is MUCH more adjusted to exposure and the lights than an average NBA draftee? I'd argue that a guy who has a breakout year in the NBA, especially on a good team, has more pressure to perform next year, then a guy who's drafted to a bad team and has all the plays layed out to him. And don't talk about these articles as anybody cared about them, I've seen so many "young guy will dominate the league" articles that there's probably a hundred or more young chosen ones growing up right now, there's even articles like that on bron's son.
Hype doesn't always equal pressure. You can be hyped as the best player in the game but if your team is "hyped" as the worst supporting cast you don't have the insane pressure to perform as you can always fall back to the argument that your team is shit. Which is the case for most bron's career.

Your 2012 argument just doesn't make sense as you contradict yourself. So if the media frames him as the frozen one, that defines him as a player, which means that the media, and with them, then fans, expect him to freeze. If you're called the frozen one, that the person calling you that doesn't expect you to heat up, isn't that fair to say? So if he's expected to freeze, there's no PRESSURE for him to heat up or in more literal sense, win, because he's known as a loser, at least at that point, right? Yes, he had great games, yes, he had good to great finals, but the point is that vast majority of people didn't expect him to perform at that level based on his previous showings, which in turn means that there was zero pressure.
I agree that there was pressure on him in 13, but much less than before as he has proven the haters wrong and won a ring at that time.

I don't even think you read most of my post, because you repeated a lot of things that I said, about LeBron having one of the GOAT g7s in 13 and huge pressure in 11.
I'm sorry, but I'm just not following your argument for 12 as you contradict yourself in the same sentence.

[SexSymbol]

What you have just typed is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever seen. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this forum is now dumber for having read it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

Nice copy paste, mate.
You are welcome to refute any of my points with solid arguments, until then, don't interfere when people try to discuss things.

[Fire Colangelo]

So okay, he was dubbed as the chosen one from 14-16 years old right? Doesn't that make him better and more accustomed to pressure as he enters the NBA as he has previously been considered the best and is MUCH more adjusted to exposure and the lights than an average NBA draftee? I'd argue that a guy who has a breakout year in the NBA, especially on a good team, has more pressure to perform next year, then a guy who's drafted to a bad team and has all the plays layed out to him. And don't talk about these articles as anybody cared about them, I've seen so many "young guy will dominate the league" articles that there's probably a hundred or more young chosen ones growing up right now, there's even articles like that on bron's son.
Hype doesn't always equal pressure. You can be hyped as the best player in the game but if your team is "hyped" as the worst supporting cast you don't have the insane pressure to perform as you can always fall back to the argument that your team is shit. Which is the case for most bron's career.

Your 2012 argument just doesn't make sense as you contradict yourself. So if the media frames him as the frozen one, that defines him as a player, which means that the media, and with them, then fans, expect him to freeze. If you're called the frozen one, that the person calling you that doesn't expect you to heat up, isn't that fair to say? So if he's expected to freeze, there's no PRESSURE for him to heat up or in more literal sense, win, because he's known as a loser, at least at that point, right? Yes, he had great games, yes, he had good to great finals, but the point is that vast majority of people didn't expect him to perform at that level based on his previous showings, which in turn means that there was zero pressure.
I agree that there was pressure on him in 13, but much less than before as he has proven the haters wrong and won a ring at that time.

I don't even think you read most of my post, because you repeated a lot of things that I said, about LeBron having one of the GOAT g7s in 13 and huge pressure in 11.
I'm sorry, but I'm just not following your argument for 12 as you contradict yourself in the same sentence.

There are different kinds of pressure:

When everyone expect you to come in a dominate the league as a 18/19 years old, that's pressure.

When you're exposed to the media, and get hyped up as the next Michael Jordan before you start to grow pubes - there's pressure to live up to those expectations.

When you're getting criticized, and doubted - there's pressure to prove the doubters wrong.

You think Kobe didn't have pressure when "analysts" were talking about how his style of play was detrimental to his team? You think Kobe didn't have pressure to win rings after Shaq left the Lakers? Hell yes he did, that's what fuelled his championship run from 08-10.

Going by your logic, Kobe didn't have any pressure to win after Shaq left, because everybody already thought he couldn't win anymore.

[SexSymbol]

There are different kinds of pressure:

When everyone expect you to come in a dominate the league as a 18/19 years old, that's pressure.

When you're exposed to the media, and get hyped up as the next Michael Jordan before you start to grow pubes - there's pressure to live up to those expectations.

When you're getting criticized, and doubted - there's pressure to prove the doubters wrong.

You think Kobe didn't have pressure when "analysts" were talking about how his style of play was detrimental to his team? You think Kobe didn't have pressure to win rings after Shaq left the Lakers? Hell yes he did, that's what fuelled his championship run from 08-10.

Going by your logic, Kobe didn't have any pressure to win after Shaq left, because everybody already thought he couldn't win anymore.

Kobe didn't have that much pressure in 08 due to Boston just being a better team, he just played bad and got fouled and uncalled for it in the last games. And it's kinda unfair to compare the two in this kind of field as Kobe loves to put pressure on himself from various bullshit reasons, and LeBron generally tries to stay away from that. And I don't think that any of these ways are wrong, they're just polar opposites. There's a difference between being hated and being pressurized and I think you're mixing up the two.
And I don't agree that "everybody already thought he couldn't win anymore.

Don't act like LeBron was the first next MJ. Iverson, Carter, Tmac, Hill, all were hailed as the next MJ. I'd argue that Grant Hill has had the same amount of hype as LeBron.

Nobody really expected for him to come in and dominate the league at 18, stop it. Just because you read the word dominate on some of those articles that are made for people to click on them or read them in newspapers doesn't mean jack shit, like I said, there's so many people with these kinds of articles that it's ludicrous to think only LeBron's articles were legit and realistic expectations.

As regards to the bolded, you're confusing pressure with motivation. Pressure is when things change if you fail, not just when you succeed, and nothing changes for bron career wise if he fails in 12 finals.