What greats do is break their opponents mentally. I think the Eastern conference is sort of weak, but I also think Lebron has just beat down those teams for so long it’s in their heads that he’s coming. You even see this Steph Curry and while he’s a bit of a one trick pony, he is such a good shooter that he is always on the opponents mind no matter where he is on the court. Lebron has owned the east, and I think their are examples of teams that are better than his that just couldn’t jump the mental gap, the pacers a few years ago, Toronto, Washington, they all have a huge mental block.
Michael did this to the east and kind of the entire NBA back in his day too. Teams just think they can’t beat these guys especially four times. Very, very few teams and players have done this and even guys Like Kobe, or Durant teams are very much aware of them, but still believe they can beat them. Even Duncan didn’t break opponents the way Lebron does and that is why Lebron belongs in the top 3-5 of all time in opinion. I still have Michael and Kareem as my 1-2 with Lebron at 3 but Lebron is phenomenally gifted as an athlete and has worked really hard to be an amazing basketball player as well.