LeBron James

The media named him King James, called him the best ever, put him on a pedestal, etc etc.
Is that his fault? Well I guess it could be for being an absolute phenom.
I smell jealousy.

I’d say you’re more of a Lebron hater than a Blazer supporter.
What do you benefit from that Aaron?

This happens every season. I see him in the regular season. I see him make insane plays. I see him play like he’s unconscious. I’ve heard people call him the next MJ. Believe it or not, he looked the part in the games I’ve seen him play in the regular season.

But come playoffs and he seems out of it for some reason. I noticed this when he was playing Cleveland. He doesn’t play well at all. He seems disengaged from the game. That aura of unstoppability just flat out disappear. I remember seeing it in a game against the Boston Celtics in 2008. I saw that in him in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2009. I saw replays of Game 5 of the 2010 playoffs against Boston. He looked like he was checked out. It was written all over him. In these Finals, I saw the same body language in him. He bricked shot after shot.

I’m starting to see a pattern stretching back to 2008-2009 season. Needless to say, the Cavs were phenomenal in the regular season. They cruised through the first two rounds. They swept the Pistons and the Hawks in blowout fashion. Then came the Conference Finals. The Magic were the Cavs’ first real competition in those playoffs. The Magic took Game 1. Lebron won Game 2 on a buzzer-beater. The rest was history and the Magic beat the Cavs. In that series too, I saw that look on Lebron, a look of disengagement. It looked like he was halfheartedly chucking up shots.

Fast-forward a few months to the 2009-2010 season. To handle Dwight, the Cavs signed Shaq. Again, they waltzed through the regular season. In the first round, the Cavs faced the Bulls. The Cavs effectively cruised through that one. Then came the Boston Celtics. This is the series where the infamous “Game 5” took place, where Lebron allegedly quit. I don’t know if it’s true, but there was something off about Lebron’s body language.

Fast-forward past the whole 2010-2011 season to the 2011 playoffs. The Heat creamed Philly. They faced a small challenge in Boston but a couple of games in and it was clear that the Heat would win that one. Then come the Conference Finals. They face a little more of a challenge in Chicago but they handle that one just fine. But then came the Mavs. The Mavs were again, the first REAL competition for the Heat. What does Lebron do? He again posts a pedestrian performance. I saw that body language on him again.

The pattern I’m seeing is that Lebron doesn’t perform well under adversity. If the opponent has any major weaknesses that lesser teams wouldn’t have caught, you can count on Lebron to find them. The Heat will exploit them to full advantage. But when the real competition arrives, Lebron just disappears. It’s happened three seasons in a row in some form or another.

With that said, if I were the Heat GM, I’m not exactly going to root against Lebron since he plays for my team. But I sure wouldn’t mind Dwight.

I caught a couple of Miami facial expressions when Berea got the ball,
like it was futile, or somehow beneath them to chase the ‘little guy’ around.
And sequences of Miami ‘red hot potato’ passing, to avoid working hard enough to break the zone. Cardinal, and Mahinmi? How dare they come on the court with the great ones
from south beach, but each offered a timely dagger to answer the disrespect. Then faux point guard D-Wade losing the ball against matador defense, AGAIN

But like the Blazers VS Bulls finals, their free throw shooting was suicidal,
keeping the point spread larger than their heart.

LeBron for Howard works well for Miami but Bosh for Howard works much better and is probably a workable deal.