LeBron James Just Doesn’t Get It

LeBron James; James just can’t put his finger on how to win the Big One

LeBron James is the most scrutinized player in the history of the NBA. There is no doubt about that. Making things worse, his accomplishments and failures are always exaggerated. For example, when the Heat lost Game 5 to Boston in the Eastern Conference Finals, it was declared that LeBron was on the verge of the worst collapse in sports history. When he went for 45 and 15 to win Game 6 in dominating fashion, he was Wilt Chamberlain.

Of course, neither were true. LeBron is like any other great player. There is no doubt about what he brings to a team throughout the season. He is going to post MVP numbers and help his team earn a good playoff seed. Not necessarily the #1 seed, but a good one. He can get you to the championship. But like any other star, he will always be a Tier 2 NBA superstar, in the historical sense, until he wins a championship.

I guess I am jumping on the over‐scrutiny bandwagon here, but I thought this quote from LeBron about the Game 1 loss was rather telling:

“Those two are All-Stars for a reason,” LeBron James said. “You can’t stop them. You just try to limit them. And Russ made some big plays late. But I think we can live with him shooting 10-of-24 from the field.”

Uhm, that would be a worrisome quote to me if I were a Heat fan. Westbrook went 7-of-14 and asserted his will on Miami in the second half of Game 1. Once OKC was in the bonus, he played it masterfully, manipulating veterans supposedly more seasoned than he is with ease. 10-of-24 also put Westbrook just under the 43% he has been shooting throughout the playoffs. So essentially, despite the clearly dominant performance Westbrook threw down in Game 1, LeBron seems to be satisfied that the Heat made him miss one more shot than usual.

It is just one quote. And LeBron James is obviously capable of doing big things. But it is the little things that seem to go over his head each and every time.