LeBron Loses His NBA Crown

 

In just one game, LeBron James' legacy took a monstrous fall.

It may have only been one game, but it was the biggest game of the season for Cleveland, and maybe the biggest game of LeBron's career. However, LeBron was a total no show! I'm still convinced that was not LeBron James wearing number 23 for the Cleveland Cavaliers last night.

That guy wearing number 23 last night was not aggressive, showed no emotion, and no intensity. The guy looked lost, like he had never been on a basketball court before. The guy was dribbling the ball off his feet! We know the elbow is just fine; he proved that in Game Three.

So what was LeBron's problem?

Yes, we have to give the Celtics a lot of credit. They did a great job of defending James and closing the inside.

With that said, this is LeBron we are talking about.


His jump shot last night was just God awful. He had many great looks, but he wasn't even close on most of his shots. James didn't score his first field goal until halfway through the third quarter, and that was on a break away dunk. He finished just 3-14 for 15 points! LeBron shot the ball just 14 times in the biggest game of the series? Two of the three field goals were lay ins!

Cleveland started out strong. They led 23-20 at the end of one. They jumped up to a 29-21 lead early in the second quarter. The Cavs had Boston's back against the wall at home. Instead of maybe LeBron taking over, Boston went on a 16-0 run on the road at Quicken Loans Arena! That is just totally unacceptable!

LeBron looked to be just trying to get his teammates involved. That's great, but only to a certain point. There was a time when the two time MVP should have taken over, but it never happened.

Boston was only up by six points at half, even with James failing to hit from the floor. Cleveland was far from out of it.


Unfortunately, the second half was ugly. Boston outscored Cleveland 70-44 in the second half.


I think it's safe to say now: LeBron is not who we thought he was. He's no longer the "King". He's not the savior or the next Michael Jordan. After last night's performance, LeBron should be stripped of his MVP award.


Last night was just unacceptable for LeBron or any MVP. If the award can't be taken away, James should have just came out and gave it Rajon Rondo, Dwight Howard or Kobe Bryant.

It's ridiculous to think that LeBron could win a championship simply by himself, but he's come close. In 2007 he single handily took the Cavs to the NBA Finals, highlighted by his 25 consecutive points in Game 5 vs. Detroit. After that round, Cleveland then went on to get swept by San Antonio.


In 2008, LeBron was a couple of shots away from upsetting these same Boston Celtics in a Game 7 at Boston.


Of course last year, LeBron and the Cavs seemingly ran into a brick wall when they were ousted by the Orlando Magic.


But this season LeBron had the best supporting cast of his career. It's easy to say now that the Celtics are just a better team than Cleveland, but by a 32 point margin on Cleveland's home court? Boston just might be better now than in 2008. They're healthy and Rondo is far and away the most improved player in the game, probably even one of the top five best players in the NBA.


I've said it before, give Doc Rivers a lot of credit. His team faced many injuries and struggled throughout the season. He kept the team just above water, knowing all they had to do was play .500 basketball and they'd be in the playoffs. Now they're peaking at the perfect time.


We measure greatness by championships. Last night showed us that LeBron James does not have the determination, the willingness, or the killer instinct to be a champion. We saw Jordan, Olajuwon, Kobe, Shaq, Duncan, and Wade take their teams and the pressure on their backs and will them to victory.

After this season, James will still be ringless. A ring may seem farther away from LeBron now than ever.

As of now, LeBron fits in the same category as Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone, Reggie Miller, Charles Barkley, Chris Webber, Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash. All remarkable NBA players, but just not champions.


Dare I say it, but LeBron's not much different than what a healthy Tracy McGrady could have become.


Just how bad was LeBron's performance last night?


Nobody is giving Cleveland any kind of chance of winning Game Six on the road. LeBron has one final chance to win back respect, but nobody sees it happening. Where LeBron will play next year is already the most popular question today, not "Can Cleveland win Game Six?"


Now the misery continues for the city Cleveland. LeBron will most likely be out and Head Coach Mike Brown is done. The franchise is dead, and they still have a Game Six to play on Thursday. Even by some miracle (yes, it's come to that) the Cavs are able to come back and win this series, there's no way Cleveland is getting by Orlando.


Last night could have even cost LeBron a lot of money. Do you think the Knicks and Bulls might be a little skeptical of LeBron's capabilities? They might both be gunning for Dwayne Wade now.

Celtics Dominating Third Quarter The Key-Series Now Even 1-1

After last night's 104-86 beat-down victory by the Celtics, Boston and Cleveland are tied 1-1. As the series now heads to Beantown, the Cavaliers are lucky that they're not down 2-0.

With the first two games of the series in the books, the Celtics have outplayed the Cavs 6 of 8 quarters. In Game Two, Boston put up a near-perfect performance, with the exclamation point coming in the third quarter, as they outscored Cleveland 31-12.

Boston shot 51 percent from the field and was 9-19 from downtown! By shooting the ball that well, Cleveland was not able to get their transition game going to create easy shots.

And the best player on the court during these two games may not be MVP Lebron James, but Boston's Rajon Rondo. Yet again, Rondo had his way with Cleveland's defense— getting to the basket and creating easy shots for his teammates.

Last night, Rondo tied the franchise playoff assist record with 19. Through two games, he has 31 dimes.

Physically, Lebron seemed just fine, with no sign of his infamous elbow slowing him down. James had a somewhat typical night— 24 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists shooting just under 50 percent from the field.

At times, the newest two-time MVP tried to become a jump shooter and not attack the rim. He made a lot of careless passes and once again received little help from his teammates.

Cleveland's X-factor in Game One, Mo Williams, was just 1-9 from the field with only 4 points. Lebron's biggest help came from Antawn Jamison ( 1 6 points) and J.J. Hickson (13 points off the bench).

Zydrunas Ilgauskas has gone missing this series. He played about five minutes in Game One and did not play at all last night. He's only attempted one shot in the two games. Cleveland needs Ilgauskas's outside jump shot to bring defenders out, opening up the inside for Cleveland's smaller lineup.

If there was an X-factor this game, it was Boston's Rasheed Wallace. 'Sheed finally showed up for the playoffs, coming off the bench with 17 points, with 7-8 from the field including 3-4 from downtown.

That's the Rasheed Wallace we've seen many times in the playoffs before. He's just had a very quiet and forgettable season this year with the Celtics. If Boston can continue to get that kind of input from Wallace, then they could easily be champions yet again.

You really have to give Boston head coach Doc Rivers a lot of credit. We all knew the Celtics had a very talented, if not old and injury-prone, team. Throughout the season, Rivers rested his veterans as the team did not dominate the Eastern Conference and finished as a No. 4 seed.

During the season, all the Celtics had to do was stay above .500 and they'd make the playoffs. That strategy seems to have paid off.

As for Cleveland, it's Lebron versus everyone else. The team has once again failed to give the guy any real help. Their biggest acquisitions this year have been a washed up Shaquille O'Neal and a decent (at best) Antawn Jamison.

O'Neal looks out of shape and is a far cry from the dominating center he once was.

The first two games of this series have felt very similar to last year's Eastern Conference Finals, when Cleveland struggled against Orlando. Like Orlando last year, Boston just seems to be a lot better team than Cleveland. Both teams have exploited Lebron's sub-par supporting cast.

Now if Cleveland wants to get back in this series, that supporting cast needs to step it up consistently.

Doc Rivers, Coaching Genius?

As Boston was turning in an epic collapse, letting a 15 point fourth quarter lead dwindle to a single digit, I thought Doc Rivers was once again going to blow the game for the Celtics.

But then out of nowhere, much to my surprise, Rivers might have made his best coaching decision ever, and one that very few coaches ever make. Up by three with under 20 seconds left, foul the opposing team! Rivers pulled it off not only once, but twice!

Maybe Doc watched the Memphis/Kansas Championship game and the idea was still fresh in his head? What really made the play work was that the Pistons were out of time outs and rookie Rodney Stuckey had the ball on each foul. You knew the inexperienced Stuckey was bound to choke under this amount of pressure.

So why didn't Detroit put the ball in the hands of Chauncey Billups? I mean the guy shoots something like 90% from the line. Also, with no timeouts, the Pistons never had a chance to regroup, draw up a play and inbound the ball from half court.

Another question. Why doesn't Detroit run that suffocating half court press defense more often? Boston was up 17 in the third, 15 in the fourth and finally Detroit put the pressure on by doing what has brought them to the Conference Finals so many times: Defense!

But Wow! Kevin Garnett! We all knew he could play defense, but some of the shots he hit! There's no defending that. He finished with 33 points on 11-17 shooting.



What really impresses me about Boston's defense is the fact they rarely allow easy baskets or any "and ones." How often do you see teams score fast break points on the Celtics? Anytime the opposing team has a break away layup, the Celtics foul. And foul hard, I mean like jump on the guy and pull him down to the ground. I never realized this was legal, but Boston has done it all year and especially in the playoffs.

With that being said, no way Detroit wins this series for the sole fact that David Stern wants the Lakers/Celtics Finals more than any fan.

And no way does Doc Rivers out coach the Zen Master. No Way!

Lakers in 5.