Will the Heat just cakewalk all the way to the Finals?

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stevenlebron:

Deserve

Onto the second round we go in the Eastern Conference. Will things get better? With Miami, Philadelphia, Boston and Indiana left, this looks like a warm up lap for the Heat before they step into the glaring spotlight of the Finals once more.

The first round has been disappointing and felt even bleak at times — which might make sense given we started off the whole thing by losing the reigning MVP in the first game of the first weekend.

The volume and pace at which games were being played in the regular season may have hidden this very fact: that there is a clear separation between the top and bottom teir of teams in these playoffs. In other words: business as usual for the NBA, more top heavy than insert your favorite porn star.

The way the second round is set up in the East doesn’t promise much better, which made me consider an alternate view.

Imagine a world where Lebron, Wade and Bosh were still running their own team, and leading them respectively into the second round in a wide open East against the aging core in Boston. Does that not seem so much more interesting than what we have presently?

All the talk about inequality and the elimination of fair competition brought on by The Decision is completely reflected in the second round, as if whatever reasons we have for despising this group are totally warranted.

I think I’ve personally moved past the stage of despising LeBron at this point, more I’ve recalibrated those negative feelings into better context. It was never a personal matter, but more about how he collapsed a perfectly structured narrative with the Cavs: hometown hero rescues a franchise and city from years of failure.

He took his career in a direction that wasn’t befitting of what his talent was suppose to conquer. To get back the respect and adulation he once garnered, he needs to find that storyline in Miami somehow.

And that’s what makes this current set-up frustrating — there doesn’t seem like a particular team in the Conference that can make the Heat earn their stripes and prove their worth.

It’s not enough to make the Finals again for the Heat, it has to happen a particular way. It’s not about getting there, but getting there the right way.

Most of the time, deserve’s got nothing to do with it.

But in the case of Lebron: that’s the only thing that matters to us.

It didn’t take long for LeBron, D-Wade and Company to give their thoughts on why Peyton Manning should bring his talents to Miami.

From SunSentinel.com: “I’m just sayin’, Dolphins need a quarterback, and Peyton’s available.” — LeBron James

From D-Wade’s twitter account: “I’m just gonna put it out thr..peyton that number 18 wld look gr8 in a dolphins uniform..steve ross let’s go.. marlins & heat style..All in”

Even Udonis Haslem weighed in.

From the Palm Beach Post: “I’m already working on that, I’m thinking Peyton Manning and Reggie Wayne. If we can work that out, we’ve got big Brandon Marshall, then we’re on our way. We got a solid defense. So, if you all hear me, Peyton and Reggie, you know what I mean, wink, wink, make it happen.”

(photo via)

As we head towards the final stretch of the regular season, one storyline has come to the forefront and will stay here whether the Miami Heat win a championship or not: the continued judgment of Lebron James and his shortcomings with the game on the line.

Last week, after he passed up a game winning shot in the All-Star game, I defended him:

This is Lebron’s championship to lose. Even as we’ve waited year after year for him to come through, it seems the pieces are finally in place. But we’ve been down this road before. If anything, we are moving closer towards embracing Lebron again. I can’t be the only one. But if he falls short again, we will re-start this conversation with another year’s worth of evidence to support all that we hate about him. 

Of course, another referendum came down on James this past Friday when he passed up a game winning shot and made the right basketball decision in passing to an open Udonis Haslem. The shot didn’t fall threw. The flood gates of criticism opened yet again.

Somehow, making the right plays don’t matter anymore.

If Lebron isn’t attempting a shot, no matter how difficult or low percentage it is, there’s an element missing to James’ game.

I wholeheartedly disagree.

There was a statistic going around this weekend that James has hit just one of nine shots in crunchtime situations since arriving in Miami. The problem is that we’re focusing on the attempts and not the makes.

The nine attempts matters more than the one make.

If Lebron was one for ninety, he’d actually be lauded for having the intestinal fortitude to take the shot.

Of course, the discussion would naturally move to why he wasn’t making such shots. Then we would eventually circle back to why he isn’t taking more advantage of his teammates, some of which are stars like Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

He really can’t win.

But not long ago, this type of team basketball and trust in teammates earned James a reputation for being the best all around player we had seen. Lebron was the selfless superstar, with the ability of carrying his lesser teammates in Cleveland to the top of the standings.

He made everyone better, dominated the game when he needed to, deferring when it was the right decision.

Has any of this changed? Is the pass to Haslem this past week not just a continuation of what he’s cultivated as a player throughout his career?

All the criticism this week reminded me of Lebron’s performance in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Pistons in 2007. With the series tied 2-2, Lebron single-handed won Game 5 in Detroit with what is now known as “The 48 Special”.

Flip Saunders, then coach of the Pistons, was widely criticized for not double-teaming Lebron in that game. He responded in Game 6 by crowding Lebron, daring any of his Cavalier teammates to beat them.

Lebron didn’t force the issue, and he repeatedly found Daniel Gibson for open threes. Gibson scored 31 points, 19 in the fourth quarter and clinched the Eastern Conference championship for the Cavaliers.

But more eye-opening is an exerpt from this interview with Lebron after that game, when he was asked to speak about his trust in Gibson:

This game reminds me of my freshman year in high school in the state championship, and what Boobie did tonight reminded me of our point guard, Drew Joyce hitting six consecutives threes, he hit seven threes in a row, and we won the state championship. They doubled me, we kicked it to Drew and he hit back to back to back to back threes in a row. And Boobie is unbelievable, what he’s done, how he’s grown, and I’m lost for words right now.

It’s the same trust that Lebron has in his teammates going back to high school. And it’s the same trust that leads him to pass to the open teammate.

Somehow, his decision to move to Miami and everything he’s done since to upset the public has skewed his career narrative.

I was one of these culprits, finding all the reasons last year to root against the Heat. It’s natural to feel that some come uppance was deserved after their pre-season championship celebration.

But take a step back, set aside the theatrics and remind yourself that the experience of watching Lebron is probably a once in a generation thing, perhaps a lifetime.

This is not a defense of his performance in the NBA Finals last year, or his disappearance in Game 5 against the Celtics in his last series as a Cavalier. Those still remain unexplainable.

Lebron will not force himself into a situation where he’s taking the shot for the sake of settling an argument, for changing the conversation.

On one side, some would argue that he is carrying all the criticism and pressure on his shoulders, and it’s affecting how he reacts in crunchtime. These passes are an indication of passiveness, and the refusal to accept his responsbility of a superstar.

On the other, it’s possible that Lebron is still just playing his game, in a different city, with better teammates, and will always choose to make the decision that he believes will lead to the best result, whether that means taking the ball out of his own hands.

You can believe in the former and continue to let this weigh on the best player in the game, or consider the latter, sit back, and enjoy another post-season of scrutiny and high drama as the best player of our generation chases that elusive championship.

But to say that Lebron has changed as a player or has become overwhelmed by the biggest moments of the game seems incorrect to me. There’s a consistency here. From Akron, to Cleveland to right now in Miami: Lebron is the ultimate team player blessed with the talent of someone who should dominate the game all by himself.

One thing is clear: getting that championship will make sense of a lot of his shortcomings.

To be continued.

After missing the last three games due to his grandmother’s death Chris Bosh returned to the team on Tuesday. Funny thing, after the Heat’s game day shoot-around practice D-Wade revealed that he has a little thing for Chris Bosh. No biggie.

“Very good to see him. You realize how much you missed the guy. Had a little bromance moment for a minute. Wanted to hug him. But I didn’t. I kept it cool.”

(photo via TBJ)

Here are some thoughts from All-Star weekend:

• The dunk contest represents everything the NBA is not: The dunk contest officially hit rock bottom this year, with four relatively anonymous names (to the general viewing audience) and tired gimmicks that overshadowed some impressive dunks. When Kevin Durant tweeted after the game that Lebron, Wade, Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook should enter the contest next year, he echoed the thoughts of many: it’s time to make the dunk contest relevant again. But I don’t think we necessarily need to bring the biggest names out to rejuvenate the event. We just need better personalities. While it’s easy to merge these two thoughts of best players and best personalities as one, remember that some of your favorite interviews and best follows on Twitter are not necessarily from the top guys. Though he tried his best to entertained, Chase Budinger is still, well, Chase Budinger. We still don’t know who Jeremy Evans is, and despite being rising stars in a league of many, Paul George and Derrick Williams don’t have that connection and reach to an outer audience. For a professional sports league brimming with individuality, it’s tragic that the one event that takes center stage on All-Star Weekend highlights everything that the NBA is not: boring, stagnant and deprived of any fun.

• My favorite photo from this past weekend: Chris Bosh being Chris Bosh.

• The All-Star game, surprisingly entertaining: The first five minutes of the game salvaged the entire weekend. The real stars came out and put on a show for the fans. Continuing with the theme of individuality, every superstar’s personality came through in the game. From Derrick Rose’s surly response to his teammate’s dancing during the introductions, to Kobe mouthing off to anyone within his line of vision, to Dwight Howard generally not taking much of anything too seriously, it was a reminder of why even though the quality of basketball has suffered, it’s nice to have these players around instead of hibernating through a nuclear winter of lockout talk. Even watching Russell Westbrook’s athleticism on display without the shadow of whether he’s taking too many possessions away from Durant, and Deron Williams exiled from New Jersey for one night and back on the big stage, there were so many interesting subplots to follow that made what is often called a farce, surprisingly entertaining.

• My favorite tweet from this weekend: Ozzie Guillen on Nicki Minaj.

• What’s our opinion on Dwyane Wade? For the past two years now, Wade has gotten away with almost everything. When in doubt, blame Lebron. From The Decision, to their mocking of Dirk’s sickness during the Finals, it seems Wade is protected as all the criticism is directed towards Lebron. On Sunday, Wade broke the unspoken rules of the all-star game and took a swipe at Bryant that resulted in a broken nose and a mild concussion. Competitive? Or out of line? I’m surprised more hasn’t been made about this. In the same breath, it was Wade who bobbled a breakaway pass from Lebron with over a minute left that would’ve put the East in the lead. Of course, it’s easier to lament Lebron’s deference on the final possessions. Slowly but surely, I’m starting to view Wade as a bigger villain than Lebron. To be continued.

• The tipping point for our hatred of Lebron James might’ve been this weekend: You know it’s crazy that we’re all sitting here criticizing Lebron’s passiveness in the final seconds of an all-star game. Key word: all-star game. Somewhere in Lebron’s head, he genuinely believes that when he’s making these passes and not taking the final shots, he’s making the best basketball decision on the court that’ll lead to victory. And who are we to question the best basketball player in the world right now? The criticisms for Lebron since the Decision have gone from reasonable with a touch of bitterness to irrational with complete bias and jealousy. I think this Sunday will be the tipping point where we will all start moving towards rooting for Lebron again. When he’s in that position again in the playoffs, with much more on the line, we will find ourselves rooting for Lebron to take that shot, and root for that shot to go in. If only to satisfy our desire to move onto to the next conversation. And that’s the best storyline as we head into the second half. This is Lebron’s championship to lose. Even as we’ve waited year after year for him to come through, it seems the pieces are finally in place. But we’ve been down this road before. If anything, we are moving closer towards embracing Lebron again. I can’t be the only one. But if he falls short again, we will re-start this conversation with another year’s worth of evidence to support all that we hate about him.

LeBron Problems

In April, I’ll be travelling to New York for a weekend. I checked the schedule the other day, the Heat will be visitng the Knicks on the Sunday I’m in town. I was so excited that I almost bought a pair of overpriced tickets on StubHub.

Then I remembered that I still needed to get my vacation approved at work. And after that, book my flight and find a hotel by Madison Square Garden.

For a second there, I almost lost track of prioritizing my list of to dos.

It’s kind of like the best player in the world, declaring his desire to return to his former team, two years into his tenure with his current team with none of the eight championships that he promised.

You can’t stop LeBron James. You can only hope to contain him.

This might be something that opponents are saying to themselves this year, as he’s put up numbers for the Miami Heat worthy of MVP discussion.

But it’s something that his teammates, coach, general manager and the entire Miami organization must be saying to themselves about Lebron off the court, especially after he suggested a return to Cleveland last week.

What seems like a harmless attempt at reconciliation with his former team may actually be the machinations of LeBron’s long-term plan of returning to Cleveland via free agency, depending on who you believe.

And so the seeds for The Decision II have been planted, years in advance of LeBron’s next flirtation with free agency, and not even two full years into LeBron’s tenure in Miami, who have been all promise and no results.

Timing, as always, is not LeBron’s strong suit.

What makes this even more disappointing is that Miami has actually flown under the radar this year, quietly establishing themselves as front runners for the championship without the scrutiny of last season.

Their opening day destruction of the Mavericks helped reset expectations for the team. Back to a team with no limits, just as it seemed we may have to put a ceiling on them after their playoff collapse.

The “not one, not two, not three” statement continues to teeter between a running joke and a goal that seems attainable with each convincing win.

The LeBron from Cleveland that was appointment viewing every night he stepped onto the court had returned.

And then, another poor judgment from the best player in the league took away all of those positives.

The whole episode makes me question how we should categorize LeBron, the entire package, with the all-time greats. So ego-driven and aloof off the court, yet so selfless on the court that it actually becomes a flaw because of how talented he is.

These two diverging paths make him a pitiful villain, and clouds everything that’s so great about him as a basketball player. As a fan, it’s disappointing. We only get to experience a few generation of players in our lifetime. I am part of the LeBron era, I just wish the best player in my favorite sport would hold himself to a higher standard.

Of course, this is the same man who said after losing to the Mavericks in the Finals: “All the people that were rooting on me to fail, at the end of the day they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life that they had before they woke up today. They have the same personal problems they had today. I’m going to continue to live the way I want to live and continue to do the things that I want to do with me and my family and be happy with that. So they can get a few days or a few months or whatever the case may be on being happy about not only myself, but the Miami Heat not accomplishing their goal. But they got to get back to the real world at some point.”

Will LeBron deliver on what he’s promised and get to the root of his true priorities as a basketball player? And even then, will he ever find the love and public embrace that seems to mean as much to him as his on court accomplishments?

I think I’ll keep my problems instead.

It looks as though LeBron James’ influence is finally starting to rub off on Chris Bosh.

“People say don’t fall in love with (the jump shot) but it loves me and I love it back.” — Chris Bosh

Must Be The Unis

The Heat wearing their all black everything alternate uniforms Thursday night versus the Lakers brought back memories of my high school basketball coach and his theory on wearing black.

“Wearing all black uniforms gives you a ten point advantage before the ball is even tipped.”

It’s an interesting theory and I’m not about to go all debate club but the 98-87 win by the Heat makes me think that my high school basketball coach was on to something. Must be the unis.

photo: AP

If “The Big 3” were a boy band this would have to be the album cover. Well played, Miami Heat marketing department.

Learning To Accept Lebron

Technically, there’s still a sequence of events that need to happen before the lockout is officially over, but don’t let that stop you from immersing yourself in the latest Chris Paul or Dwight Howard rumor, it’s been too long since we talked actual hoops.

Practice facilities will open later this week, free agency expected to start on December 9^th and the season will open on Christmas; which means I have little less than a month to gather my thoughts on the Miami Heat and decide whether I want them to succeed this year.

The first season of Lebron and Wade – I have too much respect for the knowledge of people reading this to include Bosh with these two – exceeded all expectations. We’ve all long forgotten about their slow start to the regular season,  how they came together in the playoffs against Boston and Chicago and all the game to game drama in between that.

In fact, after reading and watching so much of this team of villains last season, there is only one takeaway: they collapsed in the Finals.

I took satisfaction in seeing Miami fall apart and come up short, as I’m sure many did. I don’t think there’s a sense of personal hatred when it comes to Bron, Wade and Bosh. It just wouldn’t have felt right for their season to be so preordained. To have a victory parade before and after the season seemed a bit too much. It would have validated everything that they did.

Given this thought process, you couldn’t have scripted a better ending for the Heat.

But is there any value to root against them over and over again, season after season, in the hopes that it never works out for them? It inevitably becomes a question about how you feel about Lebron James.

It seems difficult to pinpoint what exactly we want from him, or why exactly we want to see his demise. He will be the defining player of this generation, like Kobe before him, Jordan before that.

On the court, he is as unselfish a superstar we’ve seen – almost to a fault, especially since he’s had consecutive years of coming up short in the biggest moments. Off the court, he is the exact opposite. He is only about himself and is either unaware of this perception or aware but unable to do anything about his because he’s spent his whole life being told he’s the greatest.

This is how I see Lebron, but even with all that, I can’t think of a reason why I wouldn’t want to see him win a championship. If a lesson needed to be learned, if egos needed to be humbled, than their loss to the Mavericks in the Finals served those purposes. But why would I want to see him fail anymore?

Like it or not, we are basketball fans in the Lebron James era. With all great players, there comes a point when no matter how much you despise them for your own reasons, you can’t help but respect what they’re doing on the court, even appreciate and root for them after a period of time.

That time will come for Lebron James. It always does. I just have to figure out whether I want to see him fail just a little bit longer.

- steven lebron

Follow @steven_lebron on twitter.