Letters to the Editor
-
Great column
Thanks, King. As a Cavs fan who thinks they blew their chance to win the series last night, I think you nailed it.
Someone said, as someone always does: "I hate columns like this; if Donyell makes the 3 and the cavs win, Lebron made a brilliant play." That misses the point by a mile. King was careful to say that it's not about this one play in a vacuum. The problem is that this play seems to be characteristic of LeBron, it's symoblic of his play generally. Even though Jordan passed up a few shots at critical moments, nobody would look at his play overall and say he was reluctant to take over a game. We can disagree about this being a tendency for LeBron, but it makes no difference whether Marshall made that particular shot, and it's worth noting again what Magic's and Barkley's opinions are on this question.
-
Damned if he does....
So LeBron needs to be more like Kobe, so when he forces shots at the end of games the sports writers can dog him for being too selfish and not trusting his teammates. Now, admittedly, he DID have a pretty nice-looking path to the basket, but still..... Such is the beauty of being a writer - you can always take either side, depending on how things turned out. Call it the Skip Bayless Method of Sportswriting - criticize EVERYTHING and eventually you'll be right about SOMETHING.
-
Please stop w/ the MJ comparisons
Jordan never passed up a chance like that. MJ passed up tough shots to get it to Wennington, who had a wide open layup, and Kerr, who had a wide open 15-footer.
Watch the replay - LeBron could've gone up and dunked that ball back to the stone age. Probably he had his mind made up to look for Donyell as soon as the play started. Maybe he saw Rasheed coming out of the corner of his eye and knew he would get fouled into the concession stand. I take this play as another symptom that LeBron just isn't that into it.
The other thing - Donyell Marshall is an ok 3 point shooter, but hardly great. Two years in Cleveland, he's 32.4% and 35.1%. Lebron wasn't exactly hitting Mark Price out there.
-
huh?
I like LeBron. He's obviously a tremendous basketball player. He absolutely dismantled my high school team. He's a really good Ohio product. But, "he should have learned how to be a superstar by now" is a little selfish. Look, he just didn't have that Jordan swagger last night, but I don't expect anyone to have that. I'm sure LeBron is sorry he didn't rise to the level of the greatest American athlete ever.
I found his last second dish refreshing. As Steve Kerr said, "he did a good job getting rid of the ball for a wide open look at the shortest three-pointer on the court." (or something to that effect).
In a 'me first' era, LeBron's outlook should be lauded.
Don't worry, that whole 'superstar' thing is in there somewhere, if that's all you care about.
-
LBJ did the right thing
I think you're getting a little too wrapped up in one play here. At the end of a game, on the road, a team is better off going for the win rather than the tie.
On the other hand, we can take LeBron to task for his lack of aggressiveness earlier in the game; had he taken more shots and forced the action then, his team likely would not have been trailing by two with a few seconds left. So I agree with your overall premise. Shooting too little can be as selfish as shooting too much.
-
amazed it was that close
The Pistons game plan was to neutralize James, and it worked. Yet I amazed it wasn't more of a blow-out for Detroit. Hughes, Gooden, Pavlovic, Snow- none of those guys had good games. On the other hand Varejao, the Cavs version of Brian Sipe (always on his back or always going down), was getting rebounds, steals -in other words, finally earning his paycheck.
Maybe Detroit was just not taking the game seriously. Still, i'd be suprised if this series doesn't go six games. Go Cavs!
-
Competing sports cliches
The nice thing about following sports is that there is an easily-available cliche for every outcome.
LeBron passes and the open player misses the shot? He's not "taking over" like a superstar should!
LeBron passes and open player makes the shot? Why, LeBron's gone to the next level of superstardom -- making your teammates better! After all, the Cavs can't be a championship team if LeBron is a one-man show, can they?
LeBron takes the shot himself and makes it? Now THAT'S what superstars do down the stretch! Make the big play!
LeBron takes the shot and misses? He was too selfish, given that there were at least two Pistons around LeBron, while Marshall was wide open (flashbacks for Pistons fans of Horry's shot in the 2005 finals, BTW); plus, Marshall made 6 three-pointers in the previous game; and you should always go for the win on the road (especially given how Chauncey Billups was heating up and the Pistons had generally outscored the Cavs in the second half, what were the Cavs's chances in OT?)
There's actually some truth to all of these statements. But I'll say, as a Pistons fan, I would much rather see a Cavs team with LeBron taking the Whole Weight of the World on his shoulders and the other guys not really getting into it. Michael Jordan didn't start winning championships because he got more selfish or started taking more big shots. He started winning because he got Scottie Pippen and an overall better "supporting cast." IMHO, the jury's out on LeBron's supporting cast more than it is on LeBron -- although Z had an excellent game last night, and I agree with the person who wondered why he wasn't in the game on the last possession.
Anyway, weird game last night (apart from LeBron's odd stat line, when was the last time Billups had more turnovers than shot attempts?).
-
Magic Johnson's an idiot.
At least Barkley is an amusing, better-spoken idiot. You know how many of those 5 rings Magic would have without Kareem? Pretty close to none. Easy to talk about being a "superstar" when all you have to do to get out of a double-team is pass it to the sky-hook king.
Perhaps if LeBron had gone to college for a few years, got his ego real pumped up on easy wins and mountains of co-eds, he'd already have that "superstar state of mind"? But what do I know.
At least he's making a kabillion dollars to be another almost-Jordan. Sure he won't regret never winning a ring.