Riley Interview - LeBron Comments

[Nanogeek]

ESPN has posted a great wide ranging interview with Riley.

http://espn.go.com/nba/truehoop/miamihe ... ew-part-ii

What struck me more than anything was his comments about Lebron.

"His game sort of looked like it changed," Riley said of James' play over the course of Miami's playoff run. "His greatest skill is that he's a great, great, great passer and he's unselfish. We know he's a great scorer. Only when he needs to win -- only when he knows he needs to win -- does he tell people to get out of the way and he'll score. When the game is not in the balance, he's just sort of dishing and orchestrating. He has a wonderful clock in how to read that situation. I hope his best years are ahead of him. It'll be great for all of us."

I think we all saw what Riley is talking about this year in game 6 versus Boston. Facing elimination in Boston, LeBron told his teammates to get out of the way and he held court. The scariest thing for the rest of the league is LeBron is effectively playing a different role most of the time - the role of conductor - and the Heat are difficult to beat when he is playing that role. But if for some reason the Heat falter with LeBron playing that role - as we saw in the Celtics/Heat series [albeit without Bosh during those first games] - then LeBron shifts to MVP/GOAT/"Get out of the way" role... and when that happens the Heat are likely virtually unbeatable.

How unsettling must it be for the league (and I'm sure players won't openly admit it) that if they push the Heat towards elimination that they will face the ECF Game 6 LeBron again. Its like playing a paint pellet game knowing that if you get close to winning your opponent has a real machine gun waiting in the wings.

[HIF]

It's great how we canre-write history when we win.

I don't think anyone would have read that without a fit of laughing after last year's finals.

Lebron has a clock and can just turn on scoring at the end when he needs it. LOL

[Tim_Hardawayy]

It's great how we canre-write history when we win.

I don't think anyone would have read that without a fit of laughing after last year's finals.

Lebron has a clock and can just turn on scoring at the end when he needs it. LOL

+1

[WD]

It's great how we canre-write history when we win.

I don't think anyone would have read that without a fit of laughing after last year's finals.

Lebron has a clock and can just turn on scoring at the end when he needs it. LOL

this

[Woolyy]

Game 6 vs Boston was something I'll remember watching forever. LeBron got the monkey off his back, and I expect him to be a completely different player next season for some reason.

And he's only 27

[HeatFanSince87]

Game 6 vs Boston was something I'll remember watching forever. LeBron got the monkey off his back, and I expect him to be a completely different player next season for some reason.

And he's only 27

It was so surreal, and I hate to admit it but I was so nervous about the game and our season(basically every playoff game I'm like this) I tend to not enjoy the moment. I need to rewatch this game, just back and enjoy.

His performance, with what was at stake(his legacy, our session, the big 3?), in an elimination game on the road IN Boston... Un-F'n believable. I mean this is a game we will all look back in 30 years and just say "game 6, in Boston" and everyone will know what you are talking about.

27 years old.. And this guy is only getting better, physically and mentally. Look out NBA... Look out!

[GreenHat]

Its a ridiculous narrative that ANY player can just turn it on whenever but chooses not to.

[litex]

Lebron takes what the defense gives him. If he gets doubled and/or there's a defensive breakdown, he finds the open teammate. If he doesn't get doubled, he scores with high efficiency. He doesn't have some magic power to simply score at will "when he really needs to".

[Grumpy Heat Fan]

It's great how we canre-write history when we win.

I don't think anyone would have read that without a fit of laughing after last year's finals.

Lebron has a clock and can just turn on scoring at the end when he needs it. LOL

2012 LeBron is a completely different player than 2011 LeBron.

Look at the shot charts. In the Finals, he only made, I think EIGHT shots from the perimeter in the series. LeBron was posting Harden, Durant, and Ibaka up and using his new post game to score the ball. He was living in the paint.

2011 LeBron had no post game. It was, dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble, pull up jumper. That's not an effective way to win a basketball game. He had no "go to move" when he needed a bucket.

2012 LeBron doesn't care if his jumper isn't falling. He will post you up, and this means he will still be able to score the ball any time he wants. Pat Riley was huge in teaching LeBron how to become a champion, and telling him what to work on. Riley told him he needed a go to move. Kareem has his sky hook, Shaq had his spin move, MJ had his fadeaway (2nd 3peat), etc.... LBJ heard it, went out with Hakeem, worked very hard during the lockout, and developed his post game.

Secondly, his new post game opens up things for our shooters. When LBJ is at the elbow and he posts someone up, the Thunder had to send someone to double team him, which made an outlet pass very easy to a wide open 3pt shooter. Shaq used to do this all the time down here in Miami. It's called "BAIT MODE"..... either they let you score 1on1 in the post, or you bait a double team and then pass it out to a wide open shooter.

But whatever, why waste my time typing to a guy who defends Spoelstra but has no problem ripping on LeBron with uninformed hate.

[truthiness]

2012 LeBron is a completely different player than 2011 LeBron.

That's what Skip Bayless would like you to believe (and probably he thinks it's because he kept criticizing Lebron - Skip probably thinks the Heat should send him a ring, too), but Skip doesn't know **** about basketball.

As litex says above:

Lebron takes what the defense gives him.

Last season, the Mavs were very good at taking away from Lebron the post-up play and forcing him on the perimeter. Listen cu Cuban schooling Skip and notice 2 things:

- he says Lebron was making the right play most of the time, the rest of the team did not

- he keeps talking about "putting people in the position to succeed"

The 2nd point is VERY important, and the Spoelstra didn't put his players in the position to succeed last year. Luckily, this year he got Brooks, who's not nearly as good a coach as Carlisle is, so he got a break. Maybe he also learned a thing or 2 during the past 12 months, but during the season I still saw the Heat still had no idea how to attack a zone.


Lebron is still getting better, but it's not like he took a giant leap. At this stage in their careers, no player ever has taken a leap, it's just small steps, slight improvements, learning to play more wisely, more efficiently, to conserve more energy, what people call "veteran savvy".

The huge difference is just in the way people perceive him. Those that were unwilling to give him credit or acknowledge his merits before, are kind of forced to do so now that he won a title - which was the only thing they were hanging onto, the only last remaining excuse to keep hating on the guy.

[Tim_Hardawayy]

I think when it comes to LeBron, the truth is somewhere between what some of you have said.

Now, he didn't become Hakeem Olajuwon in the post, this is true. But he was failing, badly, in 1-on-1 post-up situations against Marion, Kidd, Stevenson, and J.J. Barea last season, all players smaller than him (and in Barea's case, much much smaller). When you can't exploit a mismatch like that, it puts you at a severe disadvantage, regardless of whatever else Spoelstra had prep'd to counter Dallas with.

This season, LeBron easily wins those mismatches. He torched Harden in the post consistently in the Finals this year. While his post game by itself didn't improve by leaps and bounds, his comfort level in the post did. Just being able to exploit those mismatches when they were presented, whether it be with a simple turn around hook, spin move, up fake, nothing flashy but just enough to get the job done, was a huge advantage for Miami this season, as opposed to last.

The biggest difference between LeBron posting up this season as opposed to any other time I've seen him do it in his career, he does it with the intention of creating the best possible shot for himself first, and his teammates second. The times I've seen him post any year prior, his goal was to hope to draw the double and kick out first, and create his shot second, often forcing passes and dragging possessions out to the end of the shot clock, meaning if a team played him anticipating the pass, he was rendered almost useless in the post.

The zone was an issue, but it was not the only issue, there were multiple things going on in last year's Finals, and one of them was a glaring inability of LeBron to win matchups that you expected him to win. This season, nearly every time he was given that opportunity he won those matchups, and that takes a ton of pressure off of the rest of the team.