Long road to top for LeBron

THE sight of LeBron James hoisting an NBA championship trophy as Most Valuable Player of the title series was no surprise but the path he took to a fourth career crown was anything but usual.

“I can’t sit here and say one is more challenging than the other or one is more difficult than the other,” James said after capturing his fourth NBA title with a third team, and his fourth Finals MVP award.

“I can just say that I’ve never won with this atmosphere. None of f us have. We’ve never been a part of this.” This championship series unfolded in the

NBA’s quarantine bubble in Orlando, Florida, where teams spent three months finishing out a season that had been brought to a halt in March by the coronavirus pandemic.

James said the isolation of the bubble made this title run a unique challenge.

“It played with your mind,” he said.

“It played with your body. You’re away from some of the things that you’re so accustomed to to make you be the professional that you are.

“So this is right up there,” he said of where he ranks his first championship with the Los Angeles Lakers, after title runs with the Miami Heat in 2012 and 2013 and the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016.

“I heard some rumblings from people that are not in the bubble: ‘ Oh, you don’t have to travel, whatever. People just doubting what goes on in here.

“This is right up there with one of the greatest accomplishments I’ve had.”

James’s four Finals MVPs are second only to the six of Michael Jordan.

He posted a triple- double of 28 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists in the title- clinching 106- 93 victory over the Miami Heat in game six.