Ok how did LeBron James choke in his first finals? It's not like they had a lead in that series or were the favorites to win that series.
Barkley goes one-on-one about LeBron and NBA season: LeBron James and the Miami Heat tip off the NBA's new season against the Boston Celtics Tuesday night (TNT, 7 PM ET). Game On!'s Michael McCarthy went one-on-one went with TNT's Charles Barkley. The Inside the NBA analyst held forth on the new season, James' critically-panned ESPN special, The Decision, and the dancing celebration of James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. Has Miami Heat become the team to hate? 1).Outlook on new season: It's going to be a very interesting season. There's a bunch of good teams. I know everybody's going to jump on the (defending champion Los Angeles) Lakers bandwagon and the Heat bandwagon. But it's not going to be a cakewalk for them to get there. Either one of them...Miami's got a lot of questions about their depth. They've got three terrific players. But it takes a lot more than that. You have to stay (healthy). And you got to wonder at some point when Father Time is going to catch up with Kobe Bryant? The guy's hurt all the time. He's hurt all last season. Father Time is undefeated. You got to wonder at some point if its going to kick in. Oklahoma City (Thunder) and Utah (Jazz) are going to be real good in the West too...I like what (Miami) has done clearly. But Boston, Orlando (Magic) and Chicago (Bulls) are terrific in the East. 2).Who will be the leader of the Heat?: I think it's going to be LeBron. The leader's always the best player on any team. LeBron's the best player in the NBA. So it's his team. 3).On James calling out Barkley: No. 1, I did not get offended by (James) signing with the Heat. That's the biggest misconception. I made a mistake by using the word 'punk.' I thought that Decision thing was silly and I thought when they came out on stage, that was silly. I know the way the media works: they'd say I was calling LeBron a punk. Once it came out, I knew they would screw it up. It doesn't bother me. I made a mistake saying 'punk.' What I said was the Decision thing was silly, and when they came out on stage dancing around on stage, that was silly. Other than that I don't worry too much about what people think of what I say. 4).Are the Heat a team to hate?: I think LeBron's said some things that are really unfortunate. I think the only problem, myself included, have with this whole thing is how it was handled. I got no problem, no problem, with LeBron going to Miami. If you go back, I think most criticism has been about that Decision thing. I think he should have been more sympathetic to the fans (in Cleveland). He should have told the Cleveland Cavaliers in advance. That's No. 1. He should have taken their situation into account, to be honest with you. I really think that's where basically all the criticism came from, if you want to be realistic. It wasn't that people got mad he went to Miami. Just that Decision thing -- and how he handled it. 5).The role of racism in James' backlash: I did not think that. I've said that before, I did not believe that. Listen, let's get one thing straight. Other than the fact of how LeBron handled the situation going to Miami, I have not heard one person say anything bad about LeBron James. Myself included...It's no big deal he went to Miami. He was a free agent -- and he went there. Most of the criticism I've heard, and I've seen, has been about that Decision catastrophe and when they came out on stage dancing around. I have not heard anybody criticize LeBron. When we were at the Hall of Fame, Magic (Johnson), Michael (Jordan), Larry (Bird) and myself said we would not have went to Miami. That's just a basketball situation. That has nothing to do with anything, We just said we wanted to beat the other guy. That's not a criticism, that was just giving our opinion. My criticism, and the only criticism I've really heard about LeBron, is how he handled the situation. He should have been sympathetic to the people of Cleveland and just announced he was going to Miami. That's just a fact. That's not a criticism. That's just a fact. I have not heard anybody say LeBron was a bad guy. The only criticism has been about that Decision thing, that's really been the only criticism. That has nothing to do with race. He just should have handled that differently. 6).Pat Riley to the bench: I think it would be frowned up on in basketball circles if that happened. It happened one time with Stan Van Gundy. I think it's Erik Spoelstra's job right now. You can't really judge them by 3-4 games. It has to be how it turns out by the end of the year. 7).Political thoughts: I'm not thinking about politics right now because I think the system is so broken. This system, man, is just so bad right now. It's just a constant struggle between the Democrats and the Republicans...This political system is so broken right now. I just feel bad for the American people. It's a total joke right now.
well it's been all lebron this pre-season in regards to the heat. it may have been wade's team in the offseason.
I'm not debating anything. I agree "who's team is it?" is a silly topic, but Barkely attaches importance to it and its just funny how he flip-flopped.
It was worse than a choke, considering that his teammate shot 60% and was being defended by a midget. Kobe just couldn't fathom going 0/4 on Finals MVP opportunities.
It's the worst final series out of the 7 Kobe had. Call it a choke as you like, but still better than LeBron's only appearance. These 2 guys are not in the same league.
Finally we agree on something. Lebron's worst year is better than Kobe's best. Now, it's not even close.
Is "continuity" Kenny Smith's new word for the season? He said it like 5x and I've never heard him say it last year
I thought Brown & Blake played great in the 4th. What's amazing is that scrub Fisher will continue to start and get more minutes over these guys, when he really should be retired.
That's not clear at all. He was their best player tonight, but that will probably be the worst game you'll see from Wade all season and there will be days where he undoubtedly takes over down the stretch.
