How come LeBron never lost in the 1st round

[NauruDude]

Losses in the 1st round:
MJ lost 3 times
Kareem lost 3 times
Bill Russell never
Magic Johnson lost twice
Wilt Chamberlain lost twice
Shaquille O'Neal lost three times
Tim Duncan lost twice
Larry Bird lost twice
LeBron James never
Hakeem Olajuwon lost 8 times ( )

Just for the sake of it:
Kobe Bryant lost 2 times

Conclusion
As you can see, not losing in the 1st round is one of the hardest achievements one can possibly obtain.

Only two members of the consensus GOAT 11 managed to do it - Russel and LeBron.

As we can see, those two just do not care about the quality of their teammates. They simply try their hardest from the 1st game of the 1st round to the very end, trying to achieve as much as possible with their limited options.

That is very different from the others, who quit in the moment they knew they were not going to win anything.

Examples:
MJ in '86 knew he could not defeat the Celtics, so he famously quit in Game 3, scoring just 19 points and fouling out of the game on purpose.
Kobe's famous quit in '06. Nothing else needs to be said there.

Important questions:
Should the losing in the 1st round be used against the ranking cases of those that lost?
Is the losing in the 1st round on par with not losing in the Finals?
What would've come of some of those series and subsequently of the whole playoffs , if the quitters tried their hardest?

[MMM]

can't remember him losing often in the 2nd round either
maybe only twice or 3 times

pretty impressive that he is usually in the ECF or finals

[RagaZ]

Lolcats
Bucks
Injured Knicks team
76ers
Del Negro coached Bulls team
Old Pistons team
3x Wizards(Wizards had Arenas injured in one of those series iirc)

That's why.

[Trollsmasher]

1st round losses should be subtracted from the total ring count

MJ - 3 rings
Kobe - 3 rings
LeBron - 2 rings

[Mr. Jabbar]

lebron plays in the weakest conference ever, and ive brought proof: dwight got to the finals there

[russwest0]

Lolcats
Bucks
Injured Knicks team
76ers
Del Negro coached Bulls team
Old Pistons team
3x Wizards(Wizards had Arenas injured in one of those series iirc)

That's why.

holy shit, the east is easy as ****

[ThePhantomCreep]

LeBron missed the playoffs twice .

[deja vu]

What's so special about the first round?

Do they give an award for winning the first round?

[buddha]

Lolcats
Bucks
Injured Knicks team
76ers
Del Negro coached Bulls team
Old Pistons team
3x Wizards(Wizards had Arenas injured in one of those series iirc)

That's why.

this lol, I'm positive LeChoke would have multiple first round exits if the cavs were in the western conference.

the 9th seed in the west would literally be the 3rd seed in the east

[eriX]

What's so special about the first round?

Do they give an award for winning the first round?

the question was why is losing in the first round not as important as losing in the finals. That if you got to the finals and then lost compared to losing in the first round, which is holds more importance.

[ThePhantomCreep]

this lol, I'm positive LeChoke would have multiple first round exits if the cavs were in the western conference.

the 9th seed in the west would literally be the 3rd seed in the east

Or worse. The 2008 Cavaliers would have finished 10th in the Western Conference that year. They were a 4th seed in the Least.

No wonder he colluded with his super buddies in Miami.

[ThePhantomCreep]

the question was why is losing in the first round not as important as losing in the finals. That if you got to the finals and then lost compared to losing in the first round, which is holds more importance.

Losing in the first round only matters if your team is expected to do better and they flame out. Context is everything. Trying to hold the Bulls' first round loss in 1986 against Jordan is idiotic. Those 1986 Celtics would skull rape the current NBA champions, what chance did Jordan have with his mediocre roster?

[Warfan]

LeBron missed the playoffs twice .

As a 19 and 20 year old...

[MellowYellow]

He missed the playoffs twice, which is basically worse.

[MastaKilla]

Check the number of 50 win teams hes faced in the playoffs and you will find your answer