The Lebron Thread (Pt. 3)

JNelson43 · Post #521 » by **JNelson43** » Wed Jun 19, 2013 4:43 am

I'll need to think on it more, but this sort of felt like a (the) definitive Lebron James game for me. It wasn't his best game ever, not by a long stretch. But we saw so many sides of his game that have come into play over the years. Aggression in the fourth, hesitation before that, getting his jumper going a little bit, finishing at the rim, crazy defensive plays... missing a three and then making one on the same possession.

Lots of good stuff, exciting. Lebron has put himself so far above the rest of his team as far as who the MVP is, he could not play at all in game 7 and still win Finals MVP (if the Heat win of course).

GSP · Post #522 » by **GSP** » Wed Jun 19, 2013 4:48 am

Lebrooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CJ_18 · Post #523 » by **CJ_18** » Wed Jun 19, 2013 5:07 am

Wow... what a game.

LeBron came up bigtime in the 4th to bring them back when they were on their last breaths... would've liked to see him make better plays late in the 4th than losing the ball twice.. but 32/10/11... he got it done.

E-Balla · Post #524 » by **E-Balla** » Wed Jun 19, 2013 5:25 am

The Headband Game was spectacular and after 3 bad quarters Lebron turned it on with some help from Spo (benching Wade) and of course Pop. I really just can't think of this game as anything but Pop making the 5-6 dumbest moves of his career in 17 minutes. Great game by Lebron but I'm going to need to give it some time before I can just say this was a great game without ignoring Pop's stupidity.

DMVleGeND · Post #525 » by **DMVleGeND** » Wed Jun 19, 2013 5:28 am

Great 4th quarter for the most part by LeBron, but he was bad late. If not for that 3 by Ray Allen, people would be saying LeBron had an epic choke job. As already said though, his defense was great.

I agree with IG2 though. In order to have a consistent game, LeBron has to start hitting that jumper. He can't keep on making layups driving into a packed paint. Frankly though, I don't see him gaining that confidence in his jumper in game 7. Same with Wade.

nikomCH · Post #526 » by **nikomCH** » Wed Jun 19, 2013 5:34 am

After LeBron missed that last 3 (before Allen's) I could already taste all the backlash he was going to get after nearly choking it away in the final minutes. It's unreal that he's probably going to win a ring now when the story could be painted so differently if just one play didn't go the Heat's way

GetItDone · Post #527 » by **GetItDone** » Wed Jun 19, 2013 5:34 am

I was ready to give up on him after he was at 3-12 with his awful play, but he finally woke up in 4th/OT.

Rasho_libre · Post #528 » by **Rasho_libre** » Wed Jun 19, 2013 5:44 am

I think Lebron is getting just gassed out ATM. Thing he normally finishes he isn't. Also he was asked to guard tp all night and did a hell of a job on him

TheChosen618 · Post #529 » by **TheChosen618** » Wed Jun 19, 2013 5:51 am

nikomCH wrote:After LeBron missed that last 3 (before Allen's) I could already taste all the backlash he was going to get after nearly choking it away in the final minutes. It's unreal that he's probably going to win a ring now when the story could be painted so differently if just one play didn't go the Heat's way

It's pretty similar to Kobe's fate in Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals. He could have easily gotten a **** ton of criticism had they lost that game for shooting them out, but since they won he ended up getting praise for rebounding the ball instead.

nikomCH · Post #530 » by **nikomCH** » Wed Jun 19, 2013 6:02 am

TheChosen618 wrote:
nikomCH wrote:After LeBron missed that last 3 (before Allen's) I could already taste all the backlash he was going to get after nearly choking it away in the final minutes. It's unreal that he's probably going to win a ring now when the story could be painted so differently if just one play didn't go the Heat's way

It's pretty similar to Kobe's fate in Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals. He could have easily gotten a **** ton of criticism had they lost that game for shooting them out, but since they won he ended up getting praise for rebounding the ball instead.

Eh he still gets killed pretty badly for that game. People just accept he's not good enough to be compared to Jordan anymore so it's not that big of a deal

But with LeBron those were just some ugly final possessions. It was like the pressure was actually getting to him and he was choking, it was crazy.

LikeABosh · Post #531 » by **LikeABosh** » Wed Jun 19, 2013 6:03 am

Even if Miami loses this series, Lebron has earned some respect. He didn't go down without a fight. Game 6 of 2011 he was pretty invisible. He's obviously struggling but he had such a great 4th quarter (besides the turnovers) and he finally did what we were all screaming for him to do.

Rasho_libre · Post #532 » by **Rasho_libre** » Wed Jun 19, 2013 6:23 am

nikomCH wrote:
TheChosen618 wrote:
nikomCH wrote:After LeBron missed that last 3 (before Allen's) I could already taste all the backlash he was going to get after nearly choking it away in the final minutes. It's unreal that he's probably going to win a ring now when the story could be painted so differently if just one play didn't go the Heat's way

It's pretty similar to Kobe's fate in Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals. He could have easily gotten a **** ton of criticism had they lost that game for shooting them out, but since they won he ended up getting praise for rebounding the ball instead.

Eh he still gets killed pretty badly for that game. People just accept he's not good enough to be compared to Jordan anymore so it's not that big of a deal

But with LeBron those were just some ugly final possessions. It was like the pressure was actually getting to him and he was choking, it was crazy.

Problem seems to be anytime wade is on the floor. There offence just seems so out of whack. Spurs are forcing the pass to go to wade but he literally does nothing with it. All of Miami big runs in the wins and losses have come with the unit with shooters in.

PCProductions · Post #533 » by **PCProductions** » Wed Jun 19, 2013 6:24 am

Man what a stressful game as a Lebron fan! For a good chunk of the end of that game I could already read the headlines and hear Skip and Steven A. Smith mouthing off about it and his legacy. Ray Allen earned his entire contract in that one game.

As for Lebron's game, I'm torn. He had a rough first three quarters, a brilliant fourth quarter ending with a catastrophic pair of bonehead plays and finally just what he needed in OT. I think he shined mostly on defense as he didn't allow Parker anything easy and had some great steals to go along with it. The second three point attempt following the first that went iron was just marvelous.

I'm still curious about his fatigue. It's clearly showing, but he demonstrated an ability to overcome it in stretches during the 4th, so I'm wondering if it's either his reserve tank that went into those or proof that maybe his fatigue is simply in his own head. And I'm not talking like those armchair psychologists that criticize his "weakness", but more like that maybe he finds reasons not exert himself at all times in fear of completely exhausting himself.

Either way, I'm REALLY looking forward to Game 7.

thebottomline · Post #534 » by **thebottomline** » Wed Jun 19, 2013 6:58 am

The 3 late turnovers were bad, but LeBron did manage to knock down that second chance 3 pointer with 20 seconds left in regulation prior to Ray's 3.

He also hit the final go-ahead bucket to put them up 101-100, and then it was like 2 minutes of bad play after empty possession from both teams before Ray's FTs put them up 3. LeBron assisted on Miami's other 2 FGs in OT including that risky one to Bosh.

His defense on Parker down the stretch was excellent. All in all a gutsy effort in the 4th + OT.

toodles23 · Post #535 » by **toodles23** » Wed Jun 19, 2013 6:59 am

PCProductions wrote:
Either way, I'm REALLY looking forward to Game 7.

Same. I'm wondering if his 4th quarter will serve as kind of a breakthrough moment for him in this series, though I won't keep my hopes up.

This was the best Finals game in a loooong time. Can't believe there are people saying 2010 game 7 was better; that was an ugly slugfest of a game with awful offense from both teams, and it didn't have nearly the same clutch moments that this one did.

Also, why does Miami never get credit for being incredible with their backs against the wall? They have a reputation of being choking front runners, which is a joke - If they win this series, they'll have won 5 of the 6 series they've faced deficits in. Down 0-1 against the '11 Bulls, down 2-1 against the '12 Pacers, down 3-2 against the '12 Celtics, down 0-1 against the '12 Thunder, down 0-1 against the '13 Bulls, down 0-1, 2-1, and 3-2 against the '13 Spurs, and they've won them all.

sp6r=underrated · Post #536 » by **sp6r=underrated** » Wed Jun 19, 2013 7:10 am

toodles23 wrote:
Also, why does Miami never get credit for being incredible with their backs against the wall? They have a reputation of being choking front runners, which is a joke - If they win this series, they'll have won 5 of the 6 series they've faced deficits in. Down 0-1 against the '11 Bulls, down 2-1 against the '12 Pacers, down 3-2 against the '12 Celtics, down 0-1 against the '12 Thunder, down 0-1 against the '13 Bulls, down 0-1, 2-1, and 3-2 against the '13 Spurs, and they've won them all.

totally agree. Regardless of whether Miami wins they have consistently shown real guts. Pulling out this game is legendary already.

MaliBrah · Post #537 » by **MaliBrah** » Wed Jun 19, 2013 7:10 am

man I was so emotional after those two turnovers , I thought it was over , there was no turning back for lebron , then boom he hits a 3 , and then ray hits a 3 and bosh with some big rebounds and blocks. damn

Rasho_libre · Post #538 » by **Rasho_libre** » Wed Jun 19, 2013 7:10 am

His defense on Parker was better than his defense against rose. Parker literally looked shook to take him to the rack.

TheChosen618 · Post #539 » by **TheChosen618** » Wed Jun 19, 2013 7:19 am

toodles23 wrote: I also totally disagree that it was "easily" his best defensive season.

I'm guessing you think he was better defensively this season? I would still go with 2012. His effort and energy level was more consistent on the defensive side. He was still great defensively this season too, but he wrecked more havoc and made more of an effort in doing so in 2012 than in 2013.

Rasho_libre · Post #540 » by **Rasho_libre** » Wed Jun 19, 2013 7:30 am

I disagree, I think this is his best season defensively. In 2012 the team defense was alot better. Wade is almost a liability right now and bosh has been getting absurd by every big man in the nba in the playoffs. Battier roles reduced unlike last year and they rely on lebron alot more especially against Parker. His help defense especially on those insane block have improved big time. His scoring role was definitely alot bigger in 2012, especially in the playoffs and at least you could predict 18 point from wade night in night out. Right now wade you never know what you're going to get outta him.