The Lebron Thread (Pt. 2)

[colts18]

Touche. Didn't think of him (was thinking of smalls).

LeBron is more similar to Karl Malone than the smalls. Malone is listed at 6' 9 250. LeBron at 6' 8 240.

[toodles23]

And yet he employs it consistently enough to be an elite midrange and long-range shooter? Seems odd.

It is odd. He's more consistent with his jumpshooting form than he is with shooting at the line. He changes up his FT form every week or so, and it's mind-boggling as to why he can't just shoot one way for a whole season, but he does with his jumper.

He doesn't use any lower body in his FT, it's all arms. He also starts with the ball at his left knee and has too long of a wind-up, and brings the ball over to his right in the process (which also leads to inconsistent elbow placement). He also often does a lot of unnecessary leaning. His jumpshot looks much cleaner than his FT.

At this point, you've just got to live with him being a mid-70s FT shooter. It's extremely unlikely that it's going to change this late in his career.

[SideshowBob]

http://espn.go.com/nba/powerrankings

If you suspect that no one in the East dared to make a big deadline-day deal because trying to unseat the Heat is a futile exercise, you're not alone. And if you're not the sort who pays much mind to PER ... even you've got to be impressed when you hear that LeBron's PER is 37.1 in February.

Pretty impressive. That's 09 and 10 playoffs territory. I'd love to see him return to that level this postseason (or better); that was one of the best 4.5 round stretches I've ever seen.

[PCProductions]

http://espn.go.com/nba/powerrankings

If you suspect that no one in the East dared to make a big deadline-day deal because trying to unseat the Heat is a futile exercise, you're not alone. And if you're not the sort who pays much mind to PER ... even you've got to be impressed when you hear that LeBron's PER is 37.1 in February.

Pretty impressive. That's 09 and 10 playoffs territory. I'd love to see him return to that level this postseason (or better); that was one of the best 4.5 round stretches I've ever seen.

For some reason, his 2010 playoff run is criminally underrated. He reason why his PER is lower than 09 is simply because he had more shot and free throw attempts. He was just as efficient otherwise, if not more so.

[SideshowBob]

That's 10 straight quarters of relative passiveness now, he's bound to flip the switch back again sooner or later.

[mademan]

That's 10 straight quarters of relative passiveness now, he's bound to flip the switch back again sooner or later.

He's looked very lackadaisical lately. It looks like he's bored out there.

[toodles23]

He's looked extremely human here tonight, but I think it's really just a matter of aggressiveness. As was just noted above, it seems like he's bored right now. Not even bothering to try to create.

[SideshowBob]

Well, there's a Sunday afternoon game in MSG, so we'll know he's going to be active in that one.

[toodles23]

Wade continues to be awful in last minute situations. So predictable that he'd brick at least one of the FTs, and then badly brick a long 2 at the buzzer.

[SideshowBob]

Wade continues to be awful in last minute situations. So predictable that he'd brick at least one of the FTs, and then badly brick a long 2 at the buzzer.

That's what I came in here to post. Called everything in my head as soon as Wade got the ball on that inbound before he went to the line. Happens every time with Wade and yet he continues to be hailed as some amazing god-like late game player.

[jjgp111292]

Wade is by far the most schizophrenic crunch time player. He'll hit big shots but he almost ALWAYS bricks crucial FTs, going back to Game 6 of the '06 finals where he left the window open for Dallas to tie.

But enough about Wade. 40/8/15 for LeBron on 14/23 shooting. Unbelievable.

[SideshowBob]

Finally came alive in the 2nd OT. Miami scored 17 points in the period, with Lebron creating every last one.

[datstockton]

"Human" game for LeBron... granted it was in 2OT, but he ended up with 40/7/16 on great %'s.

He's a freak.

[toodles23]

Very average game from Lebron before the 2nd OT, but I think some of it had to do with the Heat's strategy. It's not a coincidence that Lebron suddenly caught fire in the 2nd OT when they decided to give him the ball and let him go to work.

I'd guess that Bron will have at least tied his personal PER record after tonight, though the huge minutes won't increase it as much as the 40/8/16 line would suggest.

[SideshowBob]

PER should be at 31.9 after tonight by my calculation.

[ThatsWhatIShved]

To be fair, Lebron wouldn't have gotten a chance to pad his stats in double OT if he hadn't choked so bad in the first OT. That's what seperates him from the upper tier SFs of today like Deng. Luol would have led the Bulls to a blowout win with his defense and cuts.

[SideshowBob]

Since recovering from Ankle injury (21 G)

Code: Select all

MP    PTS    TRB    AST    STL    BLK    TOV   TS%    eFG%   GmSc   ORTG
38.3  29.3   7.7    7.8    2.0    0.7    2.9  .694   .655    27.2   136

Miami's offense in that stretch: +12.3 (117.8) ORtg

Last 12

Code: Select all

MP    PTS    TRB    AST    STL    BLK    TOV   TS%    eFG%   GmSc   ORTG
37.7  29.8   7.6    8.3    1.9    0.6    3.2  .736   .695    28.0   139

February

Code: Select all

MP    PTS    TRB    AST    STL    BLK    TOV   TS%    eFG%   GmSc   ORTG
38.0  29.7   7.5    7.8    1.8    0.6    3.2  .728   .684    27.4   138

[D.Brasco]

Looking back at the free throw conversation, I noticed in that hollidge jump shot article it shows lebron is actually shooting near 80% fts over the past 11 game win streak.

So maybe he has sort of figured something out after all?

[jjgp111292]

Looking back at free throw conversation, I noticed in that hollidge jump shot article it shows lebron is actually shooting near 80% fts over the past 11 game win streak.

So maybe he has sort of figured something out after all?

Nah, LeBron's always erratic from the stripe like this ever since the 08-09 season. He'll have stretches where he'll be shooting 80+% from the line, then he has one game where he shoots a Shaq-like percentage and it hurts his confidence for the next couple of games and he employs a bunch of different forms. I think confidence does have a greater effect on FT shooting - even MJ has bricked his fair share of crunch time FTs (see: '89 Cleveland series) and shot like 67% from the stripe in the 93 finals.

[toodles23]

Those recent numbers are truly jaw-dropping - February's got to be the best stretch of ball in his career, would you agree? And the craziest thing about it, is that he's clearly not even going at 100%. I'm getting more and more excited for the playoffs by the game. Finishing with 40/8/16 despite not having his jumper going, and being lackadaisical for the first 4 quarters/OT, is just completely mind blowing.

Lebron is literally looking like the GOAT right now. If he keeps this up, it's clearly the GOAT single-season peak to me.