DWadeno3 wrote:I'm not saying he was exceptionally great in every game, but he did his job. He found spots in their defense to attack last night several times early on, but they also adjusted to that and forced him into more outside shots, which weren't falling for him. Don't get it twisted, they're not giving LeBron a free pass to the basket, he worked his tail off to get open off the ball and create scoring opportunities for himself. At some point, they noticed it probably wasn't a good idea to allow him those all night. Nevertheless he attacked their defense without the ball in his hands, which is something I've rarely ever seen Wade do and which is something Dwyane is usually pretty good at. My whole point is, while LeBron wasn't always superb, at least he was there all the time, which is why it's odd that you'd call him out.
I just don't see how you can call it 'doing your job' when you're putting up points in the midst of your team getting blown out. That alone demands further examination from me, because LeBron is not some scrub on a bad team, he's a superstar. How is his best or even good effort alone not even worth his team not getting blown out? These are guys who have played with some pretty pathetic casts (LeBron before 2008, Wade after 2007) and still managed to keep games against contenders that should be laughers close. I know what LeBron James is capable of by himself, which is why I'm not not fooled into thinking he's playing as well as his number suggest.
But I do agree that LeBron has been waaay more active off the ball than Wade, and its resulted in easy looks. LeBron being a bigger target helps him, but Wade is not even trying half the time. Just standing in the corner with his hands on his knees. Disgraceful.
Also, instead of claiming LeBron's stats are empty because we still go down 20, I'd be more concerned about the fact that we go down 20 early despite LeBron scoring efficiently. Have you ever thought of the reason for that? The main reason is our defensive effort, or lack thereof, and our lack of preperation for their gameplan. It was mind-numbing to see them do the easiest things over and over again and be successsful with it. They exposed our fronting, they abused our extreme hedging and our defensive gameplan against Rondo, whereas we run around like chickens with their heads cut off on offense.
I don't really want to call them empty, they are not. And I don't want that type of accusation to detract from what I'm saying. I also agree that our sleep walking defense is a huge factor as well, I never denied that. All I was doing was introducing some questions I had about LeBron's performance too.
With all that being said, I'm still confident in winning this series, I'm still very confident in Wade breaking out and silencing everybody because contrary to what LeChosen1 said, if they both go off, we will win no matter what. When D-Wade and LeBron both have it going, our offense will not only look that much better but we'll also limit their transition opportunities because they have to inbound the ball from the baseline more often and that was a big part of their offense in the past couple of games.
I don't know if I see Wade breaking out without a change in our offensive game plan, but I think at least Bosh coming back will relieve a ton of pressure off of him. I can see LeBron recognizing what I'm saying and attacking even more. Wouldn't be surprised to see a 40 point game. Regardless, as long as its in a win, I don't rightly care.
