Current players Chicago Bulls fans love to hate: LeBron James
Bulls fans have three main reasons for sports-hating LeBron James:
- The 2011 playoffs
- The 2015 playoffs
- Michael Jordan comparisons
Let’s go through these in order.
2011 was supposed to be the year for the Bulls. It was going to finally be when they had success in the post-Michael Jordan era. Derrick Rose won the MVP award, and the Bulls won 62 games. It was simply magical. Then, they ran into a three-headed monster in the Eastern Conference Finals: The LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade-led Miami Heat.
The Bulls won Game 1 and every Chicago fan was on cloud nine. Then, LeBron took over and the Heat won the next four games, advancing to the Finals to play a Dallas Mavericks team that I firmly believe the Bulls would’ve beaten.
In 2015, the Bulls weren’t as exciting as they were in 2011, but they still had a real chance to make some noise in the playoffs and possibly advance to the Finals. Once again, LeBron was their biggest nightmare.
In the 2015 Eastern Conference Semis, the Bulls took Game 1 over Cleveland. The Cavs bounced back in Game 2. And then in Game 3, Derrick Rose hit the most famous shot of his career. Once again, Bulls fans were on cloud nine. Then, LeBron did this:
The life was immediately sucked out of the Bulls, and the Cavs won in six. Ugh.
Finally, Bulls fans are fed up with the LeBron-MJ debate. Whether it’s fair or not doesn’t really matter at this point. It’s just annoying and it leaves a bad taste in the mouths of the Bulls fans.
Of course, this is a great example of sports hate that’s driven by fear and reverence. If LeBron wasn’t dominant enough to knock off the two best Bulls teams since MJ and also be in the GOAT conversation, no Bulls fans would sports-hate him. But since he’s good, here we are.
The sports hate for LeBron is strong in Chicago.