LeBron ran in to Tayshaun Price and the Pistons defense again today. Thats a tough match-up for him or any other scorer for that matter, and not surprisingly, he had a tough game scoring. He had just 10 points on 5/15 shooting though he had 10 boards and 9 dimes for a near triple double. But the story of this game was the final possession for the Cavs. They were trailing by 2 with 30+ seconds to go when the ball went to The King. He held it long enough and kicked it out to the Z-man who missed an open jumper. Luckily for the Cavs, they got the offensive board and they got one more possession with 12 seconds to go. Now the ball went to LeBron at the top of the key. He has been defended very aggressively and there was always a guy in the paint waiting for him all night. Typical Pistons D. But this last possessions, LeBron went away from the pick and drove hard to the left. He had kind of beaten Prince and surprisingly, the help was late to arrive. He had a fairly open lane to the basket and was just a step or two away. Inexplicably, LeBron kicked the ball out to an open 3 point shooter. Of course Donyell Marshall promptly missed the shot. Bad play by The King!
LeBron has been taking a lot of heat on the radio over that play. Talking heads are criticizing him for passing up the biggest shot of the game, may be his young career and how he seems to lack killer instincts etc. I hate these talking heads. They are the same ones who criticize NBA players for playing the wrong way and how they don't share the ball, how they have bad attitudes blah, blah, blah. And then when a star passes out of a double-team, they trash him for being a "choker", not having killer instincts etc. They are almost asking the stars to force a bad shot over double team and asking them not to trust their team-mates just during the last play of the game. This after killing somebody like Kobe for being selfish all season. I don't have a problem with the criticism of selfish players, but I don't agree with stars being asked to force shots. Basically, the media glorifies the star for "clutch play" or "trusting his teammates" if the team wins and they trash the same star for "selfishness" or "lacking killer instinct" if his team loses. Morons!
I look at it a different way. Always make good decisions and go with the right play. Don't force shots or passes in the first quarter of fourth. The game is as simple as that. LeBron said something very similar after the game. But here's why I criticize LeBron for this particular play. He made the wrong play. He drove to the hoop and almost had a layup. Just finish it. It looked like he just assumed there will be help in the paint and had already made up his mind to kick it out. Surprisingly, the Pistons D was not able to bring the help in time and the King had a great chance to finish and tie it up. To me this just showed that the King is still a young prince. Not a good read of the defense or the opportunity he had to score and he took the easy way out to find the open guy for a low percentage 3 point shot. May be the coach drew up a play for a 3 because you are supposed to go for the win on the road, but the coach would have never expected LeBron to get to the rim that easily either. Once that lane opened up, LeBron should have just attacked the rim regardless of what the coach drew up. He didn't and that was a sign of immaturity. Hopefully he learns something from this. And thats not that you have to jack up contested shots in the clutch.
Detroit did what they always do. They converted a 6 point half-time deficit to a 3 point win at the end. They defended LeBron hard and held the Cavs to 14 3-Rd quarter points. Doesn't seem like a big deal if you consider the Nets did that to the Cavs almost every game, but still thats how Detorit wins - with stifling defense. Sheed had 15-12 with 7 blocks. He was a monster today with those blocks. Tay shot just 1/11, but who cares if he can hold the King to 10 points. As always, Chauncey Billups hit big shots down the stretch to clinch the game. Rip scored 24. For the Cavs, Z had a great game with 22-13. They need better games from Sasha and Hughes if they want to win. Those 2 combined to go 8/27 today. The Cavs are a good rebounding team and I was surprised to see them do it today to the Pistons as they had 18 offensive boards and out-rebounded the Pistons 49-41.
Now it's re-group time for the Cavs and the King.
Cleveland @ Detroit - 76-79
Playoff schedule for 05/22/2007
Utah @ San Antonio - Utah has to step up and at least show the Spurs they belong. Otherwise, San Antonio will walk over them the rest of the series.
No comments:
Post a Comment