he once scored his teams last 25 points to win a double-OT playoff game. last year he closed out the boston series on a personal 10-0 run. and hit big shots in the game before. he hit the game-tying 3 and game-winning jumper to close out the chicago series last year. and had big shots in a few of the other games. those were all at least as important as last night's game.
He scored 16 points in the 4th quarter of game 1 v. the pacers to win the game. This only happened like 3 days ago. Game 2 was his first choke job in the 4th in a very long time this year, since the Warriors game earlier this year I believe.
How soon people forget and I guess MadMax didn't watch the Boston and Chicago seriers last year when Lebron owned the 4th quarter and I'm guessing he didn't watch Lebron much in Cleveland.
Did you miss Game 1? He scored 16 of their 25 4th qtr points and when Miami was only up 1 at the 4:30 mark he scored 8 of their last 9 points to seal the game? Or does Game 1 not matter?
Are you serious? I remember during the old Mike Brown days in the ECFs, against the Celtics, I believe, they literally would play the 4-corners offense by sending everybody out to the fringes and having LeBron drive and shoot on every single play for an entire quarter. I'd never seen anything like it at that level..ever. If he were a race horse, PETA would have thrown a bucket of red paint on Mike Brown's windshield.
Let me get this straight, missing 3 free throws in the in the last 3 and a half minutes was a real game-changer: 3:11 Dwyane Wade misses free throw 1 of 2 0.54 LeBron James misses free throw 1 of 2 0.54 LeBron James misses free throw 2 of 2 Though missing missed 5 of them in the same time span is not significant? 3:24 David West misses free throw 2 of 2 1:20 Paul George misses free throw 1 of 2 1:20 Paul George misses free throw 2 of 2 0:32 Roy Hibbert misses free throw 1 of 2 0.14 George Hill misses free throw 2 of 2
Observation: anyone who has their BBS moniker named after an NBA superstar (i.e., TMac, Francis) will tend to be highly supportive and sympathetic towards other superstars.
Simple question - is he afraid to go to the foul line late in tight games, or not? Not sure any of the examples you provided refute that. Was he afraid to touch the ball against Dallas last year? What about against the Pacers last night? What great player has EVER been afraid to have the ball in his hands?
Not necessarily taking the shot, but definitely making the play. LeChoke was standing on 3pt line with single coverage and passing to Wade who's heavily covered. And he's been doing this every time.
Jordan '86 against Boston, Game 2. Jordan scores 63 pts in a loss. Chicago gave Jordan the ball at half court on one sideline of the court and put the 4 other players at half court on the other sideline, then Jordan would race to the basket one-on-one. The illegal zone rules were changed after that. During the game, the four other Celtics defenders had to remain within arms distance of a Bull or run over and double team Jordan. They could not move back down to within the 3 point line, much less the lane. After that year, they created the rule where you only had to be one zone away from the guy you were defending.
Cool story, but it didn't happen. There are about 20 youtube videos of that game posted, including some with every point scored, and I don't see any instances of a clearout like that. Are you saying that happened for more than one play? I watched it on TV at the time and sure didn't see it. one video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QB0ZS8HWw5A game action starts at 0:55
he doesn't seem to be particularly good at it, but i don't know if he's afraid. i think in the detroit game i mentioned he had back to back layups to win the game in the 2nd OT. he also has several other playoff winners on drives on layups. and last year several of the heat's missed game winners were on lebron going to the basket. maybe, he was certainly way too passive. he scored double digits in the 4th, took a shot with 1:21 left and probably would have gone back up with a shot after the rebound had he not been fouled before missing those 2 free throws, so i would say no. lebron may have been single covered, but in what world was wade heavily covered? he was single covered posting up in the paint and there was no big man behind him at the basket, which not coincidentally is how he ended up with an uncontested layup a few seconds later. he just happened to throw it into the bottom of the rim instead of make it like he usually does.
You're right, and I said it too strongly. It just seems to me that quite frequently he goes absent for long stretches late in close games. Where he literally seems completely uninvolved. And I did see the stat on his FT percentage in late/close playoff games, and it's about 35% below his average otherwise.
In his defense, he IS the main reason they are even in a position to win games but it seems like he is either tired OR he feels like he has done enough and doesnt wan the responsibility of closing out the game. Either way he needs to close out the games like he used to in Cleveland.
Selective memory or personal preference with alot of posters, if they are going to mention his shortcomings at end of games, you have to mention his late game successes or 4th quarter performances from each game. For his lost against the Pacers or the Jazz. I can bring up his late game performances against the Nets, two games against the Knicks, the Game 1 against the Pacers, and etc. There's alot of picking in choosing versus judging his overall body of work. He's been the reason Miami has won alot of games in the 4th Quarter. I do not know why people are so obsessed with the last second shot. You have to do other things in the 4th quarter -- avoiding turnovers, (if you are playmaker or point guard) you have to set up your teammates, hit your shots, and most of all, you have to play good defense. You can criticize him for not hitting the shots or taking those shots, but at same time, you have to ask are these really good shots or bad shots. There's also the other options, you have an open teammate who is a good shooter, why wouldn't you past them the ball. It does not make sense for him to take a shot with he is about to be doubled or the teams are packing the paint. People watch so many game-winning shots, and do not realize the low rate of them compared the previous 46 minutes or 47 minutes. Kobe is another example, he's always willing to take the last shot or late in games. At the same time, his percentages, like most players - stars or not, are still a bit lower than the regular averages. He's the best closer the game, but let's not pretend that he (or any other player) is flawless at the end of games or hitting game winning shots @ a 44% or higher rate. The highest I've seen field goal percentage at end of games are in the low 40s and high 30s, and some of those players are centers and power forwards. Robert Horry was the greatest at hitting last second shots, but would I take him over someone like Karl Malone, Chris Webber, Alot of posters are taking bias slant in these discussion, if you are going to discredit player on a few games, then you have give them credit in other games.
To be clear, I'm not saying he sucks. My reaction to Lebron's performance comes in the context of an intense amount of hype as we're all "witnesses" to "not 1...not 2...not 3...." and on and on....and on the heels of a Finals appearance where he seemed to shrink big time as those games got close/late. There is no doubt that he has been an amazing player. I don't think anyone is doubting that.
