: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
My entire family has a love-hate relationship with LeBron James. My Pops can’t stand him. I tend to argue because he is supposed to be the best player in the world. Pops always counters and says that the NBA chose him to market to be the best in the world. There is one person to blame in the middle of this argument because we are both right. LeBron is the best in the world, but only because everyone says it so much now perception is reality. LeBron likes the McDonald’s commercials, the cameras in his face when he wins but he has a flaw. He can’t take the heat (no pun intended) when he loses. He drove me nuts when he passed the ball to Chris Bosh against Indiana in the last seconds in a highly publicized game on ESPN. Then he turns around and whines in an Arby’s roast beef and cheddar hat about not getting the ball in the final seconds against the Timberwolves in a double overtime loss. Well boy, sometimes watch what you ask for because sometimes you just might get it. Lebron James got stopped at the rim like a nobody at Studio 54 in the 70’s. He got hung up like the kid back in the day in that Sprite commercial that thought he could dunk like Grant Hill. Brooklyn broke out the broom on the Miami Heat 88-87. It marked the third time this season the Nets have beaten the Heat by one point. Boy let’s lay this one out.
In what turned out to be the last play of the game, Rashard Lewis found LeBron James coming through the lane. LeBron goes up and get rejected on a dunk by Mason Plumlee. Let me say that name one more time. Mason Plumlee, a rookie…from Duke University. Now everyone is in an uproar because it looked like he got fouled. Grow up people. No referee going to call that at the end of the game. Here’s what needs to happen…
LeBron needs to put on some big boy drawers and stop whining.
It does not matter if you are in the NBA or playing in a pick up game at the YMCA, the best player takes a beating. LeBron is going to take the lion share of the contact because he’s the most dominant player. There are a lot of players in the NBA that are scared of LeBron. Brooklyn isn’t scared as long as Paul Pierce is around. He used to put that voodoo that he do on LeBron when he was in Boston and LeBron was in Cleveland. The other guys that don’t care to fear LeBron are those guys in the Windy City. These guys have no problems laying the lumber to LeBron which obviously bothers him. As big as Prince James is, he should have dunked the ball through along with Plumlee with it.
LeBron is going to have to pick a side. Either shoot the ball at the end every time or shut up!
Everyone wants that easy shine. That microwave gratification. All of the attention. The only problem is people don’t want to live with the consequences when things don’t work out. Michael Jordan is great not only for his makes, but for his misses. He missed a lot more than he made, but he had the heart to shoot the ball every time. If he made the play to set up a teammate cool but he was always willing to take that final shot no matter what. LeBron James is afraid of missing the game winning shot at the end of games. He does not want to deal with questions if he fails. Ask Craig Sager how LeBron can get. Sager asked a simple question if the Nets had the Heat’s number. He tells him “Get outta here Craig.” Hello? Brooklyn swept you! Questions like these come up when you lose to the same team four times! You’re just embarrassed that Plumlee stuffed you and you’re mad at yourself because you took the ball WEAK to the basket period. The Mount Rushmore guys would have been fouled. Trust me! No scratch that, they would have dunked the ball got fouled and won the game. Just sayin!
LeBron had better pray real hard the D-Wade’s legs hold out.
The Prince cannot take the Heat to the title by himself. He need Dwayne Wade. I’ve told people for years that LeBron may be the team’s best player, but Wade is the most important. Don’t believe that garbage that Head Coach Eric Spoelstra is spouting about Chris Bosh being the Heat’s most important player. He is only doing that for Bosh’s ego. Did you see him last year? The Miami Heat has been hiding his knee problems all year, now he has hamstring issues. You see Wade does not have the problems about taking final shots like LeBron because he has done it so many times before James showed up to Miami. He’s cool with his legacy. LeBron can cheese it up for the camera all he wants but he had better recognize Wade’s “gangsta”.
Let’s not ignore the Nets and what they are accomplishing. They continue their torrid pace since the All-Star break. Joe Johnson led the Nets with 19 points. Marcus Thornton had 16 points while Paul Pierce had 14 points. I have screamed Jason Kidd can’t coach and it has now been proven. Paul Pierce was handling one of the timeouts! Who’s next? Me? The one thing the Nets are doing these days is executing down the stretch. Last year, in the playoffs during the Bulls, they played loose and winged it. This year it’s not the case. The trade to get Pierce and Garnett may not be seen in the box score as much, but in the locker room leadership wise they are worth every dime. Ask the New York Knicks if leadership is important.
The Bulls play Minnesota Wednesday night who is coming off a big win against the San Antonio Spurs. Chicago can’t afford to fall asleep.