Lebron Makes A Ton Of Shots In Game Seven, But Not The Ones That Mattered

Sunday, May 18, 2008


It's hard to blame someone who scored 45 points and got almost zero help from his teammates in a Game Seven, but Lebron James once again missed important shots at the end of an important game.



The Celtics looked on their heels a couple of times, but in the end role players like PJ Brown and Eddie House along with 41 from Paul Pierce won it for Boston. Lebron has been criticized in years past for taking jumpers at the end of games rather than driving to the rim, but this Playoffs showed you why James probably should be taking those jumpers. It's certainly a Catch 22 for one of the NBA's most dominating players, but in the end those are shots he has to make to be considered one of the greats.

Also, can a ref maybe look at Lebron's feet every so often? The guy takes upwards of four steps at times on his way to the basket. Oh wait, according to Celtics Blog there's a new NBA rule.....
I've figured out why Lebron is so good. Article 6.54 of the NBA rule book: "Any player named Lebron is allowed four steps on any drive to the hoop. Such named player is also allowed to throw the opposition out of bounds after they out hustle you down the court to make a layup. Further the call of palming or carry shall not apply to this player."
1st Half Thoughts (Celtics Blog)

28 Comments:

I think it is complete bullshit to rip on LeBron after this game. He scores 45 points and his team loses and you have the balls to call him out for missing an end of game shot? He has no help! Paul "The Complete and utter Lie" Pierce showed up when it mattered so I'll give him that. He also had KG and a host of other players that had the situations been reversed, LeBron and the cavaliers would have won comfortably. As for the complaints about the traveling, I will be the first to say that in the NBA stars get favorable treatment. However, LeBron has been hacked a lot in the playoffs. He has hurt his case because he overreacts to some small fouls, but he gets hit more than any NBA player I've seen.

As a Cavs fan I didn't go into the game expecting to win so I was taking the loss fine, until I saw this post. I love the blog but this was a severe misjudgment.

Anonymous said...
May 18, 2008, 9:12:00 PM  

DID YOU EVEN WATCH THE FOURTH QUARTER?? HE HIT ONE BIG SHOT (THREES INCLUDED) AFTER ANOTHER TO GIVE THEM A CHANCE. You should have stopped with "he has no help."

Anonymous said...
May 18, 2008, 9:16:00 PM  

I agree 110% with the guy above. AA, stick to the announcing commentary, leave the bad analysis to ESPN.

Anonymous said...
May 18, 2008, 9:18:00 PM  

You are all crazy. He routinely chokes in big game situations. I would never give him the final shot if I was his coach.

Anonymous said...
May 18, 2008, 9:31:00 PM  

you wouldn't be coaching in the NBA very long.

Anonymous said...
May 18, 2008, 9:34:00 PM  

Look stars hit big shots and he doesn't. I'm not saying he's horrible but America's love affair with him is insane.

The guy is all ego and no substance.

May 18, 2008, 9:40:00 PM  

isn't this the same guy who had multiple game winners vs the Wizards last year? Was I dreaming when I saw a man-child named Lebron score the last 25 points for his team to lead them to the NBA finals with players that would crack most teams starting 5.

Anonymous said...
May 18, 2008, 9:53:00 PM  

And what happened in those Finals?

Anonymous said...
May 18, 2008, 9:55:00 PM  

Woah, AA.

No substance? The guy did score 45points. Almost half of the team's points. I think you're overreacting. His jump shot isn't great, but it's definately improving. The Cavs had no business even being in this game but Lebron stepped up and it just didn't work out.

AJ said...
May 18, 2008, 9:59:00 PM  

"And what happened in those Finals?"

You people are so dense.

LeBron has no help in Cleveland! One man can only do so much. Get LeBron some teammates that are worth a lick and watch the rings come.

Anonymous said...
May 18, 2008, 10:00:00 PM  

Lebron gets away with more physical play than any other player in the NBA. From shoving Pierce out of bounds on his "steal", to fouling and pulling Pierce's jersey to force a "turnover", he makes every series he is in ugly. Then there was his reaction to getting a foul call after he smacked Pierce on the arm and raked his eyes... priceless. If the refs didn't coddle him, maybe he would actually develop a consistent jumper. As is, he's Andre Iguduala with amazing passing ability and historic hype.

Anonymous said...
May 18, 2008, 10:01:00 PM  

He's one of three players to average 30 7 and 7 and none of those players is named Andre Iguodala.. kill urself

Anonymous said...
May 18, 2008, 10:03:00 PM  

If an announcer said what AA wrote, AA would rip on the announcer. Crazy.

Anonymous said...
May 18, 2008, 10:09:00 PM  

AA, you know better than to rile up fans of Ohio teams here. Having said that...

2008 LeBron = 2006 Dwyane Wade

At least D-Wade got a title out of all the calls he got.

Anonymous said...
May 18, 2008, 10:17:00 PM  

AA, you are absolutely out of your mind. How the fuck can you criticize other people's commentary, then rip LeBron after that game? If he didn't hit a bunch of "big shots" earlier in the game, there wouldn't have even been the opportunity at the end. Replace LeBron with almost anyone else in the NBA and the Cavs would have lost that game by 15.

Anonymous said...
May 18, 2008, 11:00:00 PM  

well in 06 most people would say he clearly traveled on the two (I believe) "game winners" he hit.

Laws said...
May 18, 2008, 11:53:00 PM  

It is fairly obvious here that Lebron has zero help. This is true, make no mistake. However, there is this underlying ideology present, which states that Lebron is the best basketball player in the league, the next MJ, etc.

That kind of thinking is incorrect.

Lebron is good, in fact he is a great player. He is also a product of hype from ESPN as well. ESPN loves Lebron.

My question to you, is why? Yes he is tremendously gifted, but what has he ever won in the NBA? It is true that Michael Jordan did not win a championship until his seventh year, but Jordan was always making his teammates better. Always.

Lebron does not. Until that changes, he will be seperated from all of the winners.

Luke said...
May 19, 2008, 12:09:00 AM  

Always? Really? Like when he scored 63 vs the Celtics and they lost. Or when the Bulls were referred to as the Jordanaires. Give me a break. Yes, Jordan was the best ever, but if you listened to what people said about him yould believe he never missed a game winning shot, never shot below 60%, never was a young selfish player, and never lost a playoff series. It was Jordan's will to win that made him stand out among the giants of the game. You can see Lebron has that same fire, 23 years old Game 7 and he has the best game of the series. You can tell that winning is what drives him. Wait until he matures and finds a BJ Armstrong, let along a Scottie Pippen and the rest of the league will crumble in his wake.

Anonymous said...
May 19, 2008, 12:31:00 AM  

Dano, you are holding on to a dream that will never happen. Sorry.

"wait till he gets his Scottie Pippen."

It's almost laughable at this point.

He may be 23, but he's also a five-year vet.

Until your reincarnated Scottie Pippen comes along, go ahead and get the tissues ready for Bron Bron. He's fresh out.

Luke said...
May 19, 2008, 12:52:00 AM  

I want to preface this by saying I generally love this site.

Now, having said that, LeBron James should not be taking any heat for this loss. The man is the only reason the Cavs were here in the first place, and basically single-handedly kept them in it against a team that was orders of magnitude better in terms of talent (seriously, after LeBron, the Celtics had probably the 6 next best players) and gave them a shot to win late. Yes, he missed some shots late. Jordan missed some shots in big playoff games, as well. LeBron, to his credit, has at least 3 late game-winning shots, an assist (and a psych-out) on another game winner, and is, at this young stage in his career, 5-3 in playoff series. If we're comparing him to MJ, it should be noted that at this point in his career, Jordan was 3-5 in playoff series.

Anonymous said...
May 19, 2008, 1:13:00 AM  

AA, when you're the only guy who can take any shots on your team (much less the important ones), you're going to miss a few. Until he has some sort of supporting cast, I think it's too early to be saying he can't get it done. (Let's not forget the Jordan-era Bulls weren't exactly Jordan and 11 scrubs - they won 55 games the year after his first "retirement". That's at least 30 more than this year's Cavs would have won without LeBron.)

Anonymous said...
May 19, 2008, 1:24:00 AM  

Dude, come on. He cannot control the ESPN hype machine. It took MJ seven years to win his first. Lebron's got two more years to get there, and with far inferior talent and a mismash of role players around him.

He took the best team in the league to the limit with 30 seconds left. I think that's pretty good. A great game, we should be praising the duel and not bashing anyone.

Anonymous said...
May 19, 2008, 2:48:00 AM  

Detroit in 6

Ray Allen is an absolute joke, KG disappears down the stretch, and Thug Pierce will quit when the going gets tough against the Piston defense.

Outside of Isaih is there a worse coach in the league than Doc Rivers?

Anonymous said...
May 19, 2008, 3:56:00 AM  

Lebron dives and fakes injuries worse than Sergei Federov, Ulf Samuelsson, and Emmitt Smith combined.

What a bitch.

"ooh, he didn't have any help, boo hoo."

E Buzz said...
May 19, 2008, 8:58:00 AM  

AA, I agree with you most of the time, but this is mind boggling.

HE was the one that got them IN the game! It's the Cleveland defense that made PJ Brown look like a hall of famer.

James is what, 23 years old? Give him time dude..


Or are you just upset he's ripped the $&%^ out of the Wizards 3 years running?

TJX said...
May 19, 2008, 10:00:00 AM  

"The guy is all ego and no substance."

AA, you're great man, but I simply cannot understand how someone who watches as much sports as you do can say something like that with a straight face.

Last year's OT nonsense in Detroit was one of the greatest playoff peroformances ever, and he scored 45 points yesterday!

And the ego shot doesn't really make sense to me either, it's not like the guy makes excuses after games, bitches about practice like AI, or demands to be traded like Kobe. I'd say, all things considered, he's about as good as you can expect from an NBA star as far as ego goes.

TheFolkist said...
May 19, 2008, 10:06:00 AM  

A lot of tough talk coming from a Wizards fan, the ultimate "all talk, no substance" team.

Anonymous said...
May 19, 2008, 3:53:00 PM  

New rule: If Paul Pierce is on your team, you are NEVER allowed to complain about another player getting the benefit of calls or whining for calls.

End of story.

Anonymous said...
May 20, 2008, 2:43:00 PM  

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