Should Lebron James have taken the Last Shot?
by Mnelik on Feb 27, 2012 6:11 PM EST
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Lebron James has found himself in the forefront of late game criticism yet again. The East All Stars displayed a dazzling comeback, led by Lebron who scored 23 of his 36 points in the 2nd half.
In the closing seconds of the 4th however, Lebron committed a costly turnover by attempting a cross court pass to Dwyane Wade instead of embracing Kobe Bryant's challenge and taking the final shot for myself. Is this fair or foul?
The media gets into a frenzy every time Lebron is in a position to demonstrate "clutch" capabilities. The bigger issue at hand is the actual definition of clutch or the profoundly overused and somewhat cliche term "Closer". In the final moments of the game, Lebron James had the ball in his hands, orchestrating the offense and enbabling his team to get the best possible shot. The media has unfortunately misconstrued the essence of late game execution, narrowly focusing on who physically puts the ball in the basket.
Kobe Bryant was seen yelling at Lebon in the final seconds, urging him to shoot the [Expletive] ball. Many believed this was an exemplification of Bryant's will to win and be the Alpha Male while Lebron demonstrated his lack of killer instinct. In reality, Lebron saw Dwyane Wade open, and was trying to make a play. Something he's been unselfishly doing his whole career.
"Kobe.. Yea he was telling me to shoot it. When I tried to throw it late, that's what usually happens and it results in a turnover. I wish I could have that one back" - James said
Let's say Lebron did get caught in the moment and deferred to his teammate Dwyane Wade in the closing seconds. Is that really a bad thing? Dwyane Wade is one of the most clutch players in the game today and put on arguably the most clutch finals performances in NBA history against the Mavericks in 2006. To default, by over-criticizing Lebron for attempting to pass in the final seconds, the media is undermining Wade's clutch abilities. Had the situation been reversed, and Dwyane Wade had the ball being guarded by Bryant with 6 seconds left, I'd bet the houses money he'd call for an iso-clearout and take the last shot.
The dichotomy will always exist when discussing Lebron's 4th quarter behavior. It just seems overbearingly trite and unfair at this point. If Lebron shoots and misses, he'll get blamed for not having the clutch gene and if he tries to pass to an open teammate, he'll be labeled as timid and scared of the moment . One wonders how and if the criticism will ever come to an end.
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It is sad that the media will use from this meaningless fluff game to criticize James.
"It seemed that Brandon's financial manager had speculated in some kind of futures and lost everything...Mary could not rid her mind of the word "speculate." It meant to guess, in terms of money to gamble. How could a man gamble a college?"
From the short story, In the Garden of North American Martyrs--Tobias Wolff
GET TO THE RIM HEAT (and SKY)! ATTACK THE PAINT!
by mjtig on Feb 27, 2012 8:17 PM EST via mobile reply actions
obviously im not a fan but....
if there was ever a time to take a shot AND NOT be ridiculed for it, it was then. If this was a regular season game, yes, passing to wade makes sense, because if this was a regular season game, wade would have already been ready for a shot, t here would have been a play there would have been a rhythem to wades game. However in this particular situation, the all-stars literally gave lebron the iso….dwill shot a 3, missed, got it back and deffered to lebron, not wade, not anyone else, hes an all-star pg so he could have done a bunch of things, made plays, made another shot for himself….he gave it to lebron with little time left on the clock. And lebron passed…..in an meaningless all-star game where missing hte shot wouldnt have mattered….in an all-star game where he spent the entire first half literally clowning around, in an all-star game where he decided in the second half that ‘hey maybe i do want to win’….
i mean dwight was still shooting 3s, wade wasnt really looking for his shots, melo couldnt even make a layup….no one cared about the game….Just take the shot cuz you are the only one who actually wants to win, if thats not enough motivation, kobe is talking sh!t to you because you keep deffering that final shot to anyone else….you went bonkers just 4 minutes earlier and now suddenly you are looking to pass?
You can blame the media for making this worse if you want, but you gotta leave it to lebron for finding that one wrong move (in the eyes of the media) and making it. If lebron had taken the shot, yes people would still exclaim ah theres lebron failing in the clutch, but smarter nba fans would be like “he deserved to, you see the last couple shots he hit, cant hit em all” or something….instead he gave everyone more reason to buy into the fact that perhaps lebron truly can no longer perform in the clutch…..and really no one brought it upon him but himself.
and be honest with yourselves, if lebron was on any other team but your own, you would chiming in with the criticism as wel
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Its a meaningless game...
it simply does not matter whatever he did. The only all star game that has a little meaning are the ones where it is the last guys like Dr J or when Magic came back after aids, but that goes well beyond the game especially for the latter.
Criticizing Bron for what he does in real games makes sense if you are going to criticize, but doing it for this is strictly for around the horn or something and
"It seemed that Brandon's financial manager had speculated in some kind of futures and lost everything...Mary could not rid her mind of the word "speculate." It meant to guess, in terms of money to gamble. How could a man gamble a college?"
From the short story, In the Garden of North American Martyrs--Tobias Wolff
GET TO THE RIM HEAT (and SKY)! ATTACK THE PAINT!
by mjtig on Feb 27, 2012 11:10 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Silly IMO
"It seemed that Brandon's financial manager had speculated in some kind of futures and lost everything...Mary could not rid her mind of the word "speculate." It meant to guess, in terms of money to gamble. How could a man gamble a college?"
From the short story, In the Garden of North American Martyrs--Tobias Wolff
GET TO THE RIM HEAT (and SKY)! ATTACK THE PAINT!
by mjtig on Feb 27, 2012 11:11 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
as seen on Blog a Bull
Its hard to figure out which one is the right play, you are looking for both and thus looking for neither…while lebron has scored in teh clutch before, ever since cleavland he has always had this problem (pistons game passing off to booby when he had the layup for the final posession) and that is lebron james biggest and maybe only flaw. You have to feast on that, you have to stay right there, you have to take wade out of the picture and make lebron have the ball as the final playmaker….and he will at least 4/7 times, make the wrong decision…and the bulls have rose and thibs, who will be prepared to make the right one…
by piccolomair on Feb 27, 2012 10:13 PM CST
I think lebrons biggest flaw, and the thing that irks me about him the most is that he has all these extraordinary skills, an extraordinary life, an extraordinary physique….and yet he tries to portray himself as someone ordinary. Because he tries to make himself seem NORMAL to the rest of the world, it always comes off as fake because there has never been anything normal about him or his life. Its like Mit Romney trying to relate to the city of detroit or the middle/poor class of america…you cant do it cuz you have no idea what that life is like.
Lebron is the mitt romney of basketball
by piccolomair on Feb 27, 2012 12:28 PM CST
LeBron, LeBron, LeBron, is that all they think about / hope against ?
Come on Bulls fans, Miami is still an incomplete team. There is at least one glaring systemic deficiency that is worth more attention from you than worrying if LeBron is gonna freeze or not.
….and as far as rose and thibs making the “right” decision in the clutch, oh we could debate that but we won’t =)
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are these points?
im not sure what reposting some of my bab comments does, are you disagreeing, are you agreeing…are you criticizing the fact that blogabull is talking about lebron? The heat are THE team to beat, are you telling me that as a bulls fan, the bulls being a contending team, i should not be discussing perhaps the only team that stands between the bulls and the finals?
Oh, you would rather i just sit on blogabull and say “hey isnt my team great…its so great….great is my team” blogabull bashes bulls players as well, you can post those snippets if you would like, theres plenty of comments criticizing boozer, noah, deng, and even the personality of rose…
what was your point in posting this ‘rebuttle’??
Waiting for the Prodigal Son to Return KH12 BITCHES!!!!
In the Chemi-meter we trust!
missed this earlier
you dont get it
we must continue to watch the heat, and dissect everything they do and not do so that they feel media pressure and lebron can go back to being a politician and bosh can get all flustered and wade trying to fix everything gets all injured…and when they lose to teams like milwaukee the entire nation laughs and the world becomes a better place….
by piccolomair on Feb 23, 2012 8:38 PM CST
The humoUr is strong in this one… =)
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you got that it was exactly that right
humor….
Waiting for the Prodigal Son to Return KH12 BITCHES!!!!
In the Chemi-meter we trust!
he is getting criticized for passing it up just as he would be had he missed it...
In Pat we Trust
"Sorry if everyone thought we were going to go 82-0" - Dwyane Wade
"A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore." - Yogi Berra
He will get criticized no matter what he does. Whether by the media or by all the keyboard commandos. He could take and make every single clutch shot that presents itself and they’d still be criticizing him about something. And the media is the one who created this nightmare. I never heard LeBron bring up the topic of comparing himself to Jordan. I didn’t hear LeBron saying that he is the most dominant player in the game today. That’s all ESPN. They hyped him and there’s a backlash, just like how they are hyping Lin and people are taking potshots at the guy. Building a guy up and hyping a guy up, just to tear him down later. Whatever it takes to make a buck. They could care less about LeBron or Lin. They’ll throw any and every player under the bus to make a buck. And nothing is off limits.
by Dunking on a 6 ft rim! on Feb 28, 2012 2:34 AM EST up reply actions
i certainly agree with your latter point
much like tebow mania, a lot of what people hate about tebow came because of fanatics like skip bayless……
linsanity is insane for different reasons, while it, like anything ever popular is susceptible to being thrown under the bus. Linsanity is more a story that appeals to a demographic of people that basketball had failed to completely sway.
Its not just espn, its disney, its television, its existed before television….things get popular and as they become popular a faction rises to either promote it to a degree undeserved, or destroy in a way undeserved….are these naratives annoying….yes…..but these narratives are also a part of sports. Its awesome when its your guy being hyped up, its terrible when its your guy being destroyed….its hilarious when it has nothing to do with your team…
and btw….lebron IS the best player in the world from an objective standpoint, not just the espn hype machine standpoint….he has the most amount of skill and an unheard of amount of physical gifts perhaps ever……
Waiting for the Prodigal Son to Return KH12 BITCHES!!!!
In the Chemi-meter we trust!
Personally, I would’ve wanted either ‘Bron or Melo to have taken the last shot. But yeah to reiterate what has already been said, he would’ve been criticized even if he and Wade switched places that play.
"A man who believes that he can do everything, let him dig a grave and bury himself."
by The One Who Wears The Crown on Feb 27, 2012 11:58 PM EST reply actions
i think he shoulda taken the last shot
any pass in that situation is risky, could get deflected, stolen, errant, what have you, Bron is a distributor and this was an all-star game, he wanted someone else to get the glory. In a regular season game, he absolutely shoulda taken the shot, but this was an all-star game, honestly, who gives a shit. it was entertaining and they were goofing most the game anyway
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by MiamihastheDolphins.... on Feb 28, 2012 12:35 AM EST reply actions
Criticizing LeBron James is the new thing. It gets bloggers and garbage sensationalist writers and ‘analysts’ their page views. The crazy thing is, he’s being measured by the Jordan standard. The idealized standard, at that. Jordan apparently took every single shot in the clutch. That’s not how I remember it, but this is the crap the media tries to sell. It is going to be a long time before we find a guy that measures up to the level of greatness that Jordan actually was at. But there will never be a guy who measures up to the idealized Jordan that is being sold.
I know from everything I’ve seen that LeBron is dedicated to making the best play for his team, not just for himself. He isn’t going to make the right decision 100% of the time, and that’s just how the game goes. Every player has his faults. The media just likes to pick and pick and pick at every mistake LeBron makes no matter whether in a meaningless game where guys were goofing off like with Dwight shooting 4 threes. The media takes this game so seriously when none of the players do. 88 points allowed in 24 minutes?? That would be shameful and embarassing in an actual game.
Anyways, I’ve seen LeBron take numerous shots in the clutch with the Heat and the Cavs. That’s the reality. The fiction comes in when the media starts writing their stories. with Skip and Woj leading the charge. They leave out all the good things LeBron has done in the clutch over his career. Leading an average Cavs team to the Finals. Never getting booted in the first round of the playoffs, no matter who was on the team. Kobe can’t say that.
by Dunking on a 6 ft rim! on Feb 28, 2012 2:23 AM EST reply actions 2 recs
This^^^^^Great post
Seriously!! LeBron has taken shots all his career, and to get dinged for the flippin All Star game? Besides, without Lebron’s game in the 2nd half the East would have lost by 20
"You're either carrying a spear, or running from it"
by BigSpearDiplomacy on Feb 28, 2012 6:25 AM EST up reply actions
Good post...
and I like your screen name; it may be the only way I can dunk these days, lol. Well, I can get eight foot goals, but no windmills, 360’s, jumping over a midget, ect. ;)
"It seemed that Brandon's financial manager had speculated in some kind of futures and lost everything...Mary could not rid her mind of the word "speculate." It meant to guess, in terms of money to gamble. How could a man gamble a college?"
From the short story, In the Garden of North American Martyrs--Tobias Wolff
GET TO THE RIM HEAT (and SKY)! ATTACK THE PAINT!
by mjtig on Feb 28, 2012 3:37 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Imagine what would of happened if he missed
Fans would go LOCO
2011 - Big 3
2012 - Big 5
2017 - 5 Big rings
#LeBron4MVP
by 1-THE H3ATLES-6 on Feb 28, 2012 10:18 AM EST via mobile reply actions
more the haters would
i think thats the thing…this decision to pass or shoot isnt so much how the fans would have reacted….hitting or not hitting the shot would not have made people who dont like lebron like lebron….its more about his own character. It honestly looked like he was trying to get rid of it for pretty much the last 3 possessoins, which is ironic since he was pretty much the only one on his team who had it going on offense, he was the one who kobe was jawing off to, it was his moment. i guess you can go through the steps logically…..fans are gonna pooh pooh lebron no matter what he does, more people in the league want him to be a villain than accept him at some hero (generally speaking) so lets look at it
- He makes a pass to wade/deron, who misses the shot- we have our reality, which is people claming lebron is afraid of that clutch situation and need to rely on batman because for all his skills hes still just a robin
- he takes the shot and misses- most people criticize lebron for not being clutch and ‘expectedly’ missing the final shot despite his good play, there would be a faction who would preach that he missed the last shot but he was the one who should have taken it because he had done some amazing things, and had the shot gone in he would be a hero
- he passes it to wade/derron who makes the shot- a faction of people who hate lebron hang onto the fact that he had to defer in the clutch because he is afraid, but a larger faction will admit that the game was won because of him and the game winning assist was the correct decision
- he shoots and hits the shot- haters will try to problaim it was just an all-star game, but will not be able to deny the incredible second half and this performance will be heralded as one of the best allstar game pefromances of ever
as you can see all options have a path for haters to hate, but….the best option was for lebron to shoot and complete what was otherwise his domination in the all-star game. Lebron ends up choosing the worst situation in terms of public perception, probably not on purpose, but he does choose the one that leads to the back lash.
In reality no one can really suggest what would happen if lebron hits the shot because the reality is that not just once, but 3x he delagated to pass the ball to someone else as opposed to finish what was going down as lebrons greatest all-star game..
Waiting for the Prodigal Son to Return KH12 BITCHES!!!!
In the Chemi-meter we trust!
by piccolomair on Feb 28, 2012 11:46 AM EST up reply actions
most condensed version of current anti-lebron angst, by rhetoric1
if lebron passes the ball, he’s passive, scared of the big moment.
if lebron takes the shot but misses, he’s not clutch.
if lebron takes the shot and makes it, the game is meaningless, do it in a real game.
if lebron takes and makes the shot in a real game, do it in the playoffs.
if lebron doesn’t win the championship, can’t get it done in the biggest stage.
if lebron wins the championship this year, he couldn’t do it without dwade.any way you cut it..
rhetoric1 – Feb 27, 2012 at 8:12 PM
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You can browse the blog, but you can't participate.
by XmikeX on Feb 28, 2012 1:23 PM EST reply actions 2 recs
+1
"It seemed that Brandon's financial manager had speculated in some kind of futures and lost everything...Mary could not rid her mind of the word "speculate." It meant to guess, in terms of money to gamble. How could a man gamble a college?"
From the short story, In the Garden of North American Martyrs--Tobias Wolff
GET TO THE RIM HEAT (and SKY)! ATTACK THE PAINT!
by mjtig on Feb 28, 2012 2:12 PM EST via mobile up reply actions 1 recs
+1
Reporter: "What have you done for T.O., besides getting him suspended?" Drew Rosenhaus: "Next question."
by BigDawk on Feb 28, 2012 3:17 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
The play should have been for LeBron
He was the one who had it going to even get them back in the game. I thought the initial play to tie—the one Deron Williams shot—should have been for LeBron. The pass he tried to throw Wade was just from too far away. I’d rather see him shoot that ball. That said, it is just a meaningless exhibition game.
Plus, Wade fumbled a ball out of bounds on a play that would have put the East up 1 with less than a minute left. LeBron gave him a perfect pass in transition and Wade just lost it.
Heat fandom est. 2004
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