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LeBron James and the hero-ball drug
June, 11, 2011 Jun 112:36PM ETEmail Print Comments30 By Tom Haberstroh
ESPN.com
Archive MIAMI -- Speaking at the Heat’s practice on Saturday, LeBron James was given the chance to explain his shooting woes in the Finals. His answer was interesting.

“One thing about me, you just be aggressive,” LeBron said. “And when you have the shot, you take them. Some of the same shots I've taken in the other series, they went in. They're not going in for me right now; that won't deter me from taking that opportunity once I get them again.”

Herein lies the problem.

Glenn James/NBAE/Getty

This 25-footer was LeBron James' latest attempt at hero-ball.
Back in the Chicago and Boston series, LeBron hit some impossibly tough shots with the game on the line. He played hero, nailing every pull-up jumper, every fadeaway, every ill-advised shot. He hit them all.

When hero-ball goes well, it's addictive. As we’re seeing now in the Finals, it’s the hardest of basketball drugs to kick. All the roaring crowds, the perpetual highlights on "SportsCenter," the chest bumps from teammates? That is a high. And LeBron wants to feel that way again.

So in Game 5, when LeBron pulled up from 25 feet with Jason Kidd guarding him and the Heat down by two points with a shade under two minutes remaining, that is LeBron desperate for his next fix. That is pure hero-ball.

There were 10 seconds left on the shot clock, but instead of driving against the 38-year-old Kidd, James pulled the trigger on a shot that would have given the Heat the lead. He fell prey to the dramatics. After the shot release, LeBron kept his right hand high, holding his follow-through for all to see when the ball splashed through the net.

http://espn.go.com/nba/truehoop/miamiheat/

Sorry, but that article is just stupid. That was a wide open 3 pt. shot. Wide open. Kidd was 5 feet off of him when he went up to take that shot and Kidd is 38 years old, 5 inches shorter and has no lift. Any scorer with any confidence in his shot takes that shot. It was no different from the open 3s that Kidd and Terry took in the last few minutes. Nobody is saying they were playing hero ball. Why? Because they are not LeBron and because they made theirs (and Terry also made a heavily contested 26-27 footer). And no, the difference is not that Terry and Kidd are much better 3 pt. shooters. They are all in the 33-36% range -- there is not a big enough difference between them to make those good/great shots for one guy and bad hero-ball shots for another.

DeeDub wrote:Sorry, but that article is just stupid. That was a wide open 3 pt. shot. Wide open. Kidd was 5 feet off of him when he went up to take that shot and Kidd is 38 years old, 5 inches shorter and has no lift. Any scorer with any confidence in his shot takes that shot. It was no different from the open 3s that Kidd and Terry took in the last few minutes. Nobody is saying they were playing hero ball. Why? Because they are not LeBron and because they made theirs (and Terry also made a heavily contested 26-27 footer). And no, the difference is not that Terry and Kidd are much better 3 pt. shooters. They are all in the 33-36% range -- there is not a big enough difference between them to make those good/great shots for one guy and bad hero-ball shots for another.

I agree, this is just the typical overreaction because it's LeBron. It was a very good look at the basket and a shot he's made too often to pass up on it. In this case, I'm not even mad at him for not attacking. He was too wide open, the paint was relatively packed and down 2 at that point of the game, the shot would've been huge. As I said so many times, LeBron's just in a funk or whatsoever, nothing else, but the people love to speculate about it.