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LeBron James just passed Michael Jordan in another category of all-time greatness LeBron James passed Michael Jordan in being named to h...

LeBron James just passed Michael Jordan in another category of all-time greatness

LeBron James passed Michael Jordan in being named to his 11th All-NBA first team Thursday, and by this time next year he should have the most selections of all time.

James joined Kobe Bryant and Karl Malone as the only 11-time selections in NBA history. Jordan was an All-NBA first-teamer 10 times in his 15 seasons, while James has surpassed that in his 14th; he averaged 26.4 points, 8.7 assists and 8.6 rebounds in a league-leading 37.8 minutes per game.

LeBron James ties @NBA record with 11th Selection to All-NBA First Team (Karl Malone, @kobebryant ) pic.twitter.com/DORC62lm7v

— NBA History (@NBAHistory) May 18, 2017

James now has made one of the All-NBA teams 13 times, just two shy of the record shared by Bryant, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Tim Duncan.

James was a first-team selection along with Houston’s James Harden, Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook, San Antonio’s Kawhi Leonard and New Orleans’ Anthony Davis.

James and Westbrook were on 99 first-team ballots and second-team on the lone other. Harden was the only unanimous first-teamer.

Finalists for the awards, including MVP, will be announced Friday night. Winners will be announced in New York on June 26 after the NBA Finals.

gallery: Russell Westbrook, LeBron James highlight All-NBA team

NBAE

LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, James Harden Headline 2017 All-NBA Teams

James Harden and Russell Westbrook were in a heated one-two race for MVP throughout the 2016-17 regular season, but they shared the spotlight Thursday when they both nabbed First Team All-NBA honors. 

LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard and Anthony Davis round out the prestigious starting five, while Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant headline the Second Team. 

The complete rosters, as voted on by members of the media, can be viewed below, courtesy of Bleacher Report's Howard Beck: 

Based on their record-setting regular seasons, it should come as no surprise that Harden and Westbrook waltzed their way into First Team selections.

For Harden—who was also a First Team All-NBA selection in 2014 and '15—the honor comes after he averaged 29.1 points, a league-high 11.2 assists and 8.1 rebounds during a season that saw the Rockets romp their way to 55 wins. 

According to Basketball-Reference.com, Harden joined Oscar Robertson as the only players in league history to average at least 29 points, 11 dimes and eight boards for an entire season. 

Westbrook, though, shares a more notable designation with Robertson after he became the second player in NBA history to average a triple-double (31.6 points, 10.7 rebounds and 10.4 assists per game). He also set the single-season triple-double record with 42.

Westbrook was also lauded for shouldering an unprecedented workload for an Oklahoma City Thunder team that lost Kevin Durant in free agency and appeared headed for a year trapped in Western Conference purgatory. 

The Thunder outscored opponents by 3.3 points per 100 possessions when Westbrook was on the floor. When he sat, they were outscored by 8.9 points per 100 possessions, according to NBA.com's lineup data.  

Not to be overlooked is LeBron, who continued to produce historically significant figures en route to a record-tying 11th First Team selection. 

James averaged 26.4 points, 8.7 assists and 8.6 rebounds while shooting 54.8 percent from the field. As a result, he joined Robertson (1962-63) and Michael Jordan (1988-98) as the only players to produce those per-game averages while knocking down better than 50 percent of his shots over the course of a full campaign. 

Finally, it's worth shining a spotlight on Leonard—who has picked up First Team honors two years running and is now in line for a big raise, according to The Vertical's Bobby Marks:  

A two-way stud who finished the season with the fourth most win shares (13.6) and a career-best scoring average (25.5 points per game), Leonard was the driving force behind a Spurs team that powered its way to 61 wins and a Southwest Division crown. 

As Sports Illustrated's Andrew Sharp wrote, "Leonard isn't just the most complete player in the NBA—he might be the best player, period (and also the MVP)."

And while First Team snubs on the wing like Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jimmy Butler had worthy cases, to be sure, they had to settle for second (and in some cases third) billing in a year defined by historic brilliance and unparalleled individual dominance.

Isaiah Thomas' foolhardy attempt to stop LeBron James sums up the Eastern Conference Finals

The Celtics went into Game 1 against the Cavaliers believing that they were the exception to the rule. Since no one gave them a chance in the two previous series they won, the same was possible against the Cavaliers.

“They didn’t give us a chance in this series,” Isaiah Thomas said after the Celtics won Game 7 against the Wizards. “They didn’t give us a chance when we were down 2-0 to Chicago. We got the No. 1 seed, they didn’t give us a chance. They don’t ever give us a chance. We just keep going. We don’t care about what others say.”

Here’s what happened in Game 1.

Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

Thomas’ bold attempt to block LeBron James looked like the scene in The Wolf of Wall Street where Leonardo DiCaprio is crawling towards Margot Robbie and she shoves her heels in his face. Thomas summoned all the energy in his body, only to run into a brick wall.

Thomas prevented the and-1, which is commendable, but he almost lost his life in the ill-advised endeavor. James was Ant-Man in his giant form and Thomas was War Machine being smacked away.

It’s easy to call this brave, but I don’t think Thomas knew what bravery really is in these few seconds. Thomas has been underestimated his entire life and has developed a fearlessness because of that. That’s fine. This lack of fear is a huge reason why he’s become a superstar in a league dominated by people much taller and bigger than him.

But bravery isn’t the absence of fear. As Mufasa explained it to Simba, you don’t go looking for trouble. For basketball purposes, I’m going to change the characters in this conversation, replacing Simba with Thomas and Mufasa with Brad Stevens:

Stevens: Isaiah, I'm very disappointed in you.

Thomas: I know.

Stevens: You could have been killed! You deliberately disobeyed me! And what's worse, you put Kelly Olynyk in danger!

Thomas: I was just trying to be brave like you.

Stevens: Isaiah, I'm only brave when I have to be. Being brave doesn't mean you go looking for trouble.

Thomas: But you're not scared of anything.

Stevens: I was today.

Thomas: You were?

Stevens: Yes. I thought I might lose you.

Thomas: Whoah. I guess even coaches get scared, huh?

Stevens: Mmm-hmm.

You can even see Jaylen Brown give off the impression that he would contest the shot before deciding it was a bad idea. After his little leader was stiff-armed in mid-air by a giant, he slowly backed away from the scene of the crime. He knew there was blood on his hands:

Had Brown contested the shot, he could have saved Thomas from endless internet memes. He could have protected the face of the franchise from being treated like an insolent child. Whereas Thomas was foolish, Brown, in his cowardice, watched James do the basketball equivalent of reporting his friend as spam while whistling and walking away.

The other side of Thomas’ sacrifice was him trying to score on James.

It’s time for us to be honest. The biggest sporting cliché is that nothing is impossible. It fits well with the lives of the athletes, who overcome great external obstacles to make it this far. Thomas, of course, has defied an even greater physical disadvantage to achieve greatness.

Because of this, we’ve decided that anything or anyone can be the exception to the rule. That’s how Thomas and the Celtics can say that since they’ve been doubted before, that they can beat James and the Cavaliers in the same manner they beat their other opponents.

No.

This world has laws. It has things that can happen and things that can’t. The Celtics were doubted against the Bulls and the Wizards because they often played badly enough to warrant the disbelief. People didn’t believe, not because they personally didn’t like the Celtics, but because the Celtics didn’t always inspire confidence. They were still the No. 1 seed, after all. No top seed can really be an underdog.

That delusion is not going to work against the Cavaliers. Unless Thomas receives divine assistance like David, Goliath will mush him over and over and knock his headband off until the message if clear.

There is no hope here.