Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports
Brandon Jennings drew a comparison between Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ dominance over the Buffalo Bills in recent years and LeBron James dominating the Toronto Raptors in the playoffs when he was a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Mahomes and the Chiefs beat the Bills in a playoff game on Jan. 21. The quarterback threw for 215 yards and two touchdowns compared to zero interceptions in Kansas City’s three-point road win.
Back in 2021, Mahomes led the Chiefs to a 14-point victory over Buffalo in the AFC Championship Game. The 28-year-old arguably performed better than he did in his most recent playoff game against the Bills, as he racked up 325 passing yards and three passing touchdowns while completing 29 of his 38 passing attempts.
James dominated the Raptors in the playoffs during his second stint with the Cavaliers organization similarly to how Mahomes has dominated the Bills as of late. The Cavaliers saw the Raptors in the 2016, 2017 and 2018 playoffs and won all three of those series.
The Raptors gave James and the Cavaliers the most run for their money in 2016, when the two teams met in the Eastern Conference Finals. The series was tied 2-2 at one point, but Cleveland went on to win the next two games of the series to eliminate the Raptors in six games.
The next two playoff matchups between the Cavaliers and Raptors were much more one-sided. Cleveland swept Toronto in the second round of the 2017 playoffs and again in the second round of the 2018 playoffs. Following the Cavaliers’ 2018 playoff run — which came to an end when the team lost to the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals — James decided to sign with the storied Los Angeles Lakers franchise in free agency.
The comparison that Jennings made between Mahomes’ dominance of the Bills and James’ dominance of the Raptors makes a lot of sense when breaking down the numbers behind it. However, Mahomes has a long way to go before he has a resume that stacks up with that of the latter.
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