Category Archives: LeBron James

American culture, Derek Jeter, LeBron James, Uncategorized

A Life of Lazy Fastballs

For an examination of all that ails our decaying American culture and society, look no further than Derek Jeter’s first at-bat in the 2014 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.

Jeter got the unbelievably kind gesture of a couple fastballs, right down the middle. These courtesy pitches, from Adam Wainwright, were meant allow the great Jeter a chance to get a hit in his final All-Star game before retiring at season’s end.

jeterNever mind that this game is supposed to be important because it decides home-field advantage for the World Series.

“I was going to give him a couple pipe shots,” St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright said. “He deserved it.”

Frankly, aside from the free pass to be publicly idolized, Jeter didn’t deserve to be there based simply on merit. He ranks as one of the worst shortstops in the majors this season. But the fans determine who goes to the All-Star game, and they wanted their hero in the game.

But while America paid #re2pect to Derek Jeter, I #cringed.

The Nike ad that went viral this week on Jeter was touching, very cool and well done, but this embarrassing display of over-honoring our sports heroes serves as yet another reminder that we have got societal shortcomings that must be addressed.

For starters, there is the humility of Derek Jeter during the 2014 Fare Thee Well tour. For example, to put that ad together, Nike needed Jeter’s cooperation. They needed him to film it.

Can it be a touching, poignant tribute if you played a part in filming scenes for it? Can you be humble and do the “awe, shucks, you shouldn’t have” routine if you are participating in the shine? Following the All-Star game, after being named MVP, Jeter spoke at the press conference about how a night about him wasn’t a night about him.

The paradoxes are endless here. But this is not Derek Jeter’s fault.

No, his hubris aside, these grandiose gestures are bypassing the unspoken rules we have been ignoring for a long time, anyway. We decided to bid a long farewell before they actually are gone, all to appreciate what they have given us.

What they’ve given us is something to latch on to and distract ourselves from. That’s all sports are – entertainment. They can teach us about heart, effort, teamwork and dedication, but more often than not, they serve as a distraction from the day-to-day simplicity of life.

Jeter and the Yankees are the best representative of this. There was something about the mid-to-late 1990s. New York seemed to be on resurgence in cool. Part Seinfeld and Friends, part Yankees, part Rudy Guiliani. And we looked to the Yankees following 9/11, looked to follow their lead with American pride literally bursting with emotion.

Maybe that’s why we’re so wrapped up in honoring these guys, even though our gratitude has been paid (literally – and in millions) for years.

We are attached to our professional athletes, dangerously so. We ask far too much of them to support our emotional imbalance from our own lives feeling unfulfilled.

It can engulf us, our families, our friends, and in the case of Cleveland, an entire region.

We were so quick to jump on the fairy tale bandwagon of LeBron James return to Cleveland and the Cavs, that we overlooked everything prior to it. The unbiased media was biased in rooting for LeBron’s return home.

They ignored all the prior theories about why and how he left the Cavs in the first place to gush about a love story. It was and remains fun to pick on the Heat now, easy to forget that LeBron picked them and then did nearly exactly what he did to the Cavs four years ago. There may not be a “Welcome Party” or a televised special, but we’re still enthralled with it. His website crashed on Thursday due to constant refreshes.

Miami Heat Introduce LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane WadeJames misled Pat Riley and the Heat front office, as well as his supposed brothers Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, for a few weeks, trying to let his PR folks figure out how to handle it better this time around, knowing full well that most likely, the vast majority would be delighted he’d come to his senses and returned to Cleveland.

Should it – does it – matter that James did both the Cavs and Heat dirty, or can we even acknowledge this time around he did? See, we’re fine with certain things, a bending of the rules and the moral code, as long as we like the end result or the person.

We are fine with this decision because Cleveland needs him, he’s from there, Miami has more sunshine in a day that majority of us see in a week, Riley’s legendary status was not enough for once, the Heat had their success and you shouldn’t be able to win with your friends at a discount.

Above all, it’s just a heartwarming story. And man, are we a sucker for those.

You can be an egocentric individual and a great athlete – believe it or not, many before have. So LeBron James can be a great basketball player. He can want to be in Cleveland. He can be a good husband, a great role model and father, as well as tremendous at a number of other things. But can also be a disingenuous businessman.

It’s OK for us to admit these things, still want these athletes to succeed and win our favorite team’s championships. But we just can’t bring ourselves to admit anything like that.

We need them too badly.

We do the same thing with actors. We want to believe they are the characters we see in the movies. We’re stunned at the rumors and the arrests, disappointed they failed our expectations. And then we go right back to watching their films, because we need them way more than they need us.

We need heroes to distract us from our schedule-oriented, consumer-driven lives. We need them to wear the championship shirts, to have some seminal event to share half-drunk with friends, to bond with our children.

This is both understandable and remarkably sad at the same time.

We value the real heroes, the ones who died, sacrificed themselves for us and gave all to protect our freedoms. But we only do this on holidays where we are reminded of it. Our society, our culture, demands that our heroes forever be in our face, in our minds, lest we forget who we truly idolize.

We’ll always want and need Jeter, Jordan and James because they are someone to follow from a distance. And following at a distance allows us to not get hurt, to feign emotion and allows for easy backlash, if ever required. Our disappointment, while directed at them, is really with ourselves.

No wonder Twitter is such a big hit.

You may be asking yourself why this is a problem? Who cares and what does it matter?

Simple: our hero worship is so out of control that it is controlling us. We want our kids to be heroes, so we push them too hard, scream at their coaches and yell at their teachers. At the same time, ironically, we don’t want them embarrassed, so we shield them from possible pain and rejection. This is why everyone gets a trophy. This is why cuts are no longer publicly announced – even for a high school play.

In our own bitterness, resentment and disdain, we’re erasing the very things that balance us out and make us real for future generations: pain

Rejection and pain were meant to serve as a catalyst to something more. Once upon a time, they did. In fact, these very heroes we worship all have their stories of pushing beyond someone else’s no.

Now, we’re all too happy to use them as an excuse. This leads to a life of feeling sorry for ourselves, passing the days remaining in our lives by hoping for our hero’s successes or failures, all while buying their music, their movies, their jerseys.

Love or hate LeBron James or Derek Jeter over these past few weeks, we made them. We empowered them.

If we are even remotely interested in solving some of our bigger issues, it would serve us good to spend more time reflecting on what we can do to make ourselves less emotionally dependent on the success of others.

If we poured even 25-percent of what we give them into ourselves, I bet it would be amazing what could be accomplished, both as individuals and as a collective society.

The only problem is, those days seem long passed us now. We bypass challenges these days. We don’t pay even pay tribute in the right way.

We just throw lazy fastballs.

Right down the middle.

Standard
LeBron James, Media, NBA Free Agency, Society & Culture

Searching for Sources

Roughly four years ago, I wrote this piece about unconfirmed stories, rumors and the growing use of “sources” as a complete cop-out.

Oddly enough, four years ago we had the absolute circus known as “The Decision” when we all collectively freaked out because a young man we (fans and media) gave a ton of fame and attention to at a young age chose a new basketball team.

LeBron-James-DecisionFunny how much and how little changes over time.

We didn’t like the bombastic manner in which LeBron James joined Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade in Miami – though in hindsight, the televised event raised over $6 million for charity.

No, we had a problem with the “Welcome Party” the following day – you know, “Not one, not two…”

And who wouldn’t, really? The brash, bold, self-aggrandizing manner in which they presented their new union was more than a touch overboard.

Still, did we take the time, in the moment, to analyze what was happening? No, not really. And we rarely do, because we are human. We need and want instant reaction, gratification and resolve. We were all busy burning jerseys, bashing, mocking, and defending.

I was among the masses, proclaiming that the “King” was a bit out of his element, that he hadn’t won anything, that, at 25-years old, he had severely overplayed his hand.

But over time, I accepted this narrative: his handlers had blown the whole TV thing, Jim Gray made it all seem a bit cheesy and most importantly, I thought that James was still in many ways a child-like person, just trying to break out and do something bold.

He never went to college, therefore wasn’t recruited, so it seems logical that he liked the recruiting process of free agency in 2010 – something that after many years in Cleveland, he’d earned the right to do. The Cavs never got him the help he needed. Jordan would not have won titles with that scurvy crew of misfits.

Feeling under-appreciated, feeling boxed-in, James went to Florida, to beaches and Pat Riley’s legendary figure, to Mickey Arison, a hipster dude who owns cruise ships and a basketball team. He went with buddies he made on the Olympic team, guys he knew didn’t suck at the sport of basketball, as it seemed his fellow teammates on the Cavs kind of did.

What was the truth in 2010? Probably a little bit of both.

And now? Well, I’m not sure any of what’s going on with James reasoning matters as much as how much stock we’re putting into reading tea leaves.

We think way too much of our athletes and role models in the public sphere, and yet at the same time, we dehumanize them. They have emotions, they have biases. They have their reasons. We just don’t care about that.

All this is to say, I can see how and why James would want to return to Cleveland now, four years later. A bit more accomplished to say the least, a bit more mature, perhaps even better equipped to handle the ridiculous amount of pressure applied by the greater Cleveland fan base.

I can also see how and why James would stay in Miami, even if for only a year or two.

Does James play into the power trip? Of course. And if you’re waiting for him to not, you are simply in the wrong era of athlete.

What about all of us? What about the fans in Cleveland who burned his jersey, now pleading for his return? What of the owner who comically, sans-ily wrote the most vicious and disgraceful e-mail in the history of people who got picked last? What about the Heat fans who walked out and booed in the Finals? What about our collective reaction to the cramps?

For better or worse, this man cannot win. And we like it that way, for whatever reason. So no matter what this decision yields, we’re ready to lose our minds.

And that is the entire crux of the problem. It feels as though nothing has happened, yet everything is happening.

James himself has done and said little to perpetuate the absolute ridiculous and scary uproar through the media over a possible return to Cleveland.

LeBron James The decision 2014This brings us back to sources.

You’d think we’d have learned something from 2010, from attaching legitimacy to rumors, to giving full credence and exposure to “sources.”

But we haven’t learned a damn thing. If anything, we’re doing it all worse than before. From New York to Miami to Cleveland to Los Angeles, we’re all preparing for way too much joy and way too much anger.

Have you ever seen so many formerly reputable people get so much wrong? And someone reputable will be proven wrong, for sure. There are so many journalists and media types on both sides of the fence that there is no gray area. Reputations will be damaged.

And why? Because they are rushing to get anything out in an effort to provide the smallest morsel of information, to satisfy us. We crave it. We say we don’t, we act annoyed and we pretend like we don’t want it, but we do.

This is our drug. It’s speculation, gossip and the need to know what we don’t really need to. And the addicts need fed. Which is why we’re hearing anything and everything.

Cupcake shop owners claiming it’s a done deal. Moms who say LeBron’s wife’s pregnancy is enough to push him back to Cleveland. Someone who talked to someone in James’ group in Vegas who told a friend that Pat Riley exposed the pregnancy to the media before James had a chance to tell all his family and friends, so now they are mad and hurt.

Web programmers who have found hidden code on his website that shows the color scheme could change to Cavs base colors. People tracking Dan Gilbert’s plane, people watching and staking LeBron’s homes in Miami and Cleveland.

Look at us? Are we not entertained? We asked for it. And we can’t deny it any longer. SportsCenter, talk radio and Twitter are breaking records for viewers, listeners and refreshes per minute. James’ website crashed today. All because we’re seeking another hit, another piece of dubious intel.

And the media, addicted to our clicks because it brings pay raises and job promotions (see Broussard, Chris, 2010), are more than happy to find something, anything to be our dealer.

Is this a harsh or unfair analogy? Maybe, maybe not.

We want the media to check its sources? We should be checking ours.

Our sources, after all, are what permits this whole charade to begin with. A culture obsessed with the dirt and greed produces just that. We’re angry either way with James, then and now, because we’re jealous.

We’re outraged by his greed and the greed of athletes everywhere, but we’d do the same thing. We blast them for taking max deals and the money and playing for owners with less-than high morals, then blast them even more for collaborating with each other to take less and play with their friends and win championships.

We won’t be happy, no matter what. Social media is certainly intensifying the issue. It didn’t exist for Jordan’s playing days, or we would have destroyed him, too.

We’re easily bored, ready to tear down our idols just as fast as we build them up.

And why? Because it makes us feel better about us. Our lives are relatively empty, so it would seem by the way we follow celebrities and blow things completely out of proportion.

We have few true sources of joy and purpose as a society at large, so we do this. We ignore the news and stories that really matter, really make a difference, and throw all our emotions and interest to following adults who play kids games for large amounts of money switch companies to do the same job. We cut people down, and cut people off before we flip them off.

We jump jobs for money, then ask how they have the nerve. We cheat on our spouses, lie to our friends and cut corners, then put them on blast for doing the same. We scream at youth sporting events, officials and blame coaches, then call the pros cowards for doing the same in an interview where they’re goaded into the same. We’re hypocrites and we’ve created this.

‘Merica, right?

So here we are, four years later, having learned really nothing. We still wait with baited breath to find out where LeBron James will spend the next year, two or four, putting a basketball through a metal circle. Until we find what our collective culture is looking for, we’ll just keep on doing in this, in truly mind-numbing ways.

We’re in full-blown instant gratification mode now, seeking resolution merely for the sake of being able to move on with our judgments, our condemnation, our praise and dissection.

Feed the beast, LeBron. We’re hungry.

It’s just what we do now.

Before we blame anyone for this mess, perhaps we are the ones who should check our sources. Because I’m nearly 63.2 percent sure that according to reports, our intentions are dubious at best.

And we are all witnesses.

Standard
2013 NBA Finals, LeBron James, NBA, NBA playoffs, San Antonio Spurs, Tim Duncan

Duncan’s Cruel Summer


Maybe he’s fine.
After all, it has been a few days now.
I’d like to imagine Tim Duncan, dressed in his overly large, late 1990s style wardrobe, sauntering into an airport and heading for a beach. He deserves it.
However, somehow, I don’t think Tim Duncan is going to enjoy the next few months of the NBA offseason. He won’t really want to do a report on what he does this summer vacation.
And a worse thing couldn’t happen to a seemingly nicer guy.
For reasons I don’t even understand, I’ve never really been a big fan of the Big Fundamental. Didn’t dislike Duncan, but didn’t root for him either. I was one of the legions of people who believe the Spurs run from 2003-07, when they won three NBA titles in five years, was some of the weirdest and least entertaining in professional basketball.
Yet, in reality, that had little to do with the best team of that era, Duncan’s San Antonio Spurs.
It quite possibly had much more to do with the influx of under-developed high school players who needed to continue to learn and grow. It might have been due to that weird three-to-five year period AJR (after Jordan’s retirement – yes, the last one) where the NBA’s superstars of the 1990s were winding down their careers and being replaced with said 18-to-20 year olds.
Regardless, Duncan never instilled any sense of rooting interest or dislike in me. Either way, I still acknowledge him as the greatest power forward in NBA history.
While Duncan never comes across as the most emotional guy, or someone who’s terribly affected or effected by the world of professional basketball, he did seem to want this. Gave a throwback performance in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, knowing full well his team did not want it to go to a Game 7 on the road – against LeBron James at the peak of his powers.
So it says a lot that when Duncan missed that bunny in the middle of the lane – against Shane Battier, of all people – I felt for him. He looked crushed. And sad. We all kind of knew it, too: it was the beginning of the end of everything, and this time, officially.
It was the beginning of the end of the game and the Finals. Shortly after Duncan’s miss, James hit a jumper that put the Heat up four and it just somehow felt insurmountable.
It was the beginning of the end of the current make-up of the Spurs. With Kwahi Leonard coming on so strong and Mau Ginobili, well, um, not, with Parker gassed, with Duncan at 37, the Spurs might not be this close again. Or even have the same core of players.
If he hits that shot, maybe the Heat crack under the pressure of a tie game. Maybe the Spurs win their fifth title. Maybe Duncan smiles.
Instead, he walked off the court with someone else’s championship confetti stuck to his face, facing the uncertainty of life and of his future. He went to the press conference and talked about being haunted by Game 7 forever.
I’ve never felt worse for an all-time great who’s already won four titles. Maybe because he took it so hard. Maybe because, for Duncan, this week holds no championship parade, only further divorce proceedings. Meanwhile, his opponents are tweeting about parties at LIV and the scene on South Beach.
All I can see when I think of Duncan is Ferris Bueller’s best friend, Cameron, sitting by the pool and falling in, looking up to see if anyone cares to come after him. I see sad Tim sitting in the middle of his empty home, eating cereal and torturing himself by watching the Heat parade today after a less than restful night’s sleep. I see his shoulders drop and his face become even more pained as he hops in his car, turns it on and hears “Cruel Summer” playing on the radio.
And it makes me sad.
Strange that it took me this long to have an emotional reaction to anything Tim Duncan did on or off the basketball floor. It took him hitting a low-point during a turbulent period of his life near the end of his career.
Now that it has, and I’ve had a reaction to Duncan and formed an opinion, well…I kind of wish it had gone differently.
Standard
Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, NBA, Oklahoma City Thunder, Oklahoma tornado

Durant’s Different is Good


Sometimes, in the midst of hardship and tragedy, an simple act will occur that puts it into perspective. This can be a difficult proposition in the modern world.
After another deadly tornado ripped through Oklahoma on Monday, nearly everyone sent news crews and cameras down to capture the story. We need to see it, right? Have to make fun of the people wearing inappropriate t-shirts who didn’t know they’d end up on camera. We must move each other to tears with images and first-hand reports of the horrors.
We’ve got to have every pundit on TV turn this into either a commentary on global warming or sequestration funds or any other number of political issues, all in the name of ratings and driving up the mass consumerism of other people’s misfortune.
Even kindness must have its moment, put on some make-up for the cameras and give details about how it’s here. The whole spectacle is enough to make our stomachs turn. The news is enough – we don’t have to over-produce our coverage of it.
So in a world full of cynicism, full of foreboding entourages, fake glasses and fashion statements, leave it to a professional athlete, of all people, to momentarily restore my faith in humanity.
Kevin Durant of the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder donated $1 million in relief funds to victims on Tuesday.
It only got out because the Red Cross announced it. It would have anyway because it was such a large sum of money. But the point that anyone in professional sports can donate without making a scene about it is nearly as remarkable as the donation itself.
Then again, this is Kevin Durant. He’s different and always has been.
Durant doesn’t draw attention to himself. He doesn’t preen, boast or brag. He doesn’t whine about why the breaks don’t go his way.
Time and again, Durant tells you everything you need to know about him just in the way he carries himself. Often without saying a word. And the words he does say are measured, well-thought out and only convey what wants projected. He insists on being Kevin Durant, not a global icon or caricature.
It’s as simple as accepting blame and deflecting praise. Durant has always done both well, which is kind of opposite how the rest of the sports world works.
Last year, in a crucial Game 2 of the 2012 NBA Finals, Durant had a chance to put LeBron James and the Miami Heat in an 0-2 hole. He had a chance to put all the pressure on James and the Heat as he drove the baseline and pulled up for a jumper. Durant and James got tangled up a bit, Durant kept shooting form.
Durant missed.
It was clear Durant had been fouled, but he either had not sold it well enough or had not earned enough stature in the game to go toe-to-toe with the league MVP and get the fouled called. James and the Heat escaped, and went on to win the series.
But in the aftermath of Game 2, reporters crowded around Durant. Time for the barking. Time for the gamesmanship of gathering the league and referees attention to this most grievous act. Time to at least acknowledge he got fouled, deserved free throws and that the rest of the series needed to be officiated a little more toward the middle instead of serving the King’s court.
Nope.
“I missed the shot, man,” was all Durant would say at the time.
With microphones jammed in his face, Durant simply shrugged it off and blamed himself. Maybe he didn’t want it that way. Maybe Durant wanted the foul called on its merits, not based off who’s wearing the other jersey.
In many ways, it’s a stark contrast to many of Durant’s superstar contemporaries around the league like James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard and Chris Paul.
Howard’s got teams from coast-to-coast fawning for the services of a player who seems less mature today than he was in 2009. Chris Paul seems nice enough, until you remember he did push behind the scenes to leave New Orleans and he had that nasty incident in college for stomping on another player. Then there’s Anthony, who prima-donna’d his way out of Denver, only to shrug off his team’s lackluster playoff performance and deflect any sense that there’s pressure growing on him to live up to the hype he’s had since joining the Knicks.
Durant chose to re-up with the Thunder. He wants to stay in Oklahoma City. It’s about as middle as mid-market comes. Aside from lamenting briefly that he was tired of being No. 2, Durant’s bore the full burden of losing the playoffs without a sidekick and being questioned how good he really is on his own.
Just last week, the topic de jour was about how Durant maybe now understands why LeBron left Cleveland. Maybe he could, can and will learn what James learned during his time with the Cavaliers.
Speaking of James, he’s different, too. He also seems just a little less greedy than everyone else.
We’ve largely forgiven the traveshamockery that was “The Decision” – mainly due to the fact that James gave a large, multi-million dollar donation to the Boys and Girls Club.
But maybe this is where James could learn from Durant.
Kevin Durant didn’t need a national TV audience and primetime special to do something for the great good. Durant didn’t need to do some self-promotion to raise the money and donate a portion of the proceeds to charity.
Durant simply cut a check – and probably went back to the gym.
Durant gave $1 million dollars, of his own money, to people he’s never met, that probably have relatively few, if any, ties to the Thunder or sports in general. And he did it without announcing it on Twitter. Did it without going on television or having Jim Gray come to his house.
Much like in the day of an average American, we meet people and know little about them, the same is true for professional athletes. And we’re always wondering, whether it’s a co-worker or some HD face on TV, if they are who they purport themselves to be. Why? Because we still care about being genuine. We like people who have no agenda, no hidden motives or greater plan, but simply do because it’s right.
We could use a little less talking. We could do without the political agendas, sidebars and just the moments when people need a moment to catch their breath lay silent in humility and honor.
Thanks to Kevin Durant, there’s still hope for that.
This time, Durant wins Most Valuable Person. This time, Durant isn’t No. 2.
This time, Kevin Durant made the shot.  
Standard
Dwight Howard, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, Mike D'Antoni, NBA, Pau Gasol, Phil Jackson

Showcase Showdown?


Now that football has entered hibernation period, and just before baseball begins its long warm-up to a long season, there is basketball of the college and professional variety to help us pass our weekend time.
And while the amateur ranks of college have produced a wildly entertaining and wholly unpredictable state of affairs, with the nation’s No. 1 ranked team losing each of the past five weeks, the NBA hums along toward its mid-way point with little surprise in its pecking order. As usual, you will find the San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder, Miami Heat, and of course, traditional powers like the Los Angeles Clippers and Indiana Pacers.
Wait, what’s that you say? The Pacers and Clipper aren’t traditional powers? You wouldn’t know the Pacers had won 15 straight at home until Friday night’s loss to the plucky Toronto Raptors. Hell, you may not remember Canada still has a team. Or that the New York Knicks – yes, the Knicks – have the second best record in the Eastern Conference, or that the Chicago Bulls are hanging around and doing pretty good without former MVP Derrick Rose, still out because of his knee injury suffered last year.
You might not know the aging Spurs are 40-12, and have only lost two home games all year or that the Golden State Warriors are an emerging young team out West.
But as a casual fan coming out of a football coma wouldn’t know these things because no one is talking about them.
It’s all Los Angeles Lakers, all Dwight Howard, all Kobe Bryant and all the time.
The Lakers are a 24-28 team – good enough for 10th place in the Western Conference. They are old, injured and plagued by infighting. As I highlighted a few weeks ago, they aren’t really worth watching. Yet I couldn’t turn down the chance to watch at least a little of the ABC “Sunday Showcase” game featuring the Lakers at the Miami Heat.
For three-and-a-half quarters, the game was competitive and close. And then the Heat blew the Lakers doors off in the final six minutes before winning 107-97. Eric Spoelstra out-coached Mike D’Antoni, LeBron James continued to outplay everyone and Kobe Bryant tried to will his team back in the game, even as a five or six-point lead felt insurmountable.
You could glean several things by just watching the second half, where the Lakers couldn’t keep pace and allowed the Heat to score 29 in the final stanza. Even more telling – the Heat outscored L.A. 25-16 the final nine minutes.
First, LeBron James has no peers right now. It’s all come together and he’s at the peak of his prime. Google “LeBron James” and “shooting streak” and you’ll get a good idea of why. Efficient doesn’t even really begin to describe what James is doing, shooting 75 percent on his last 65 shots. He just broke the franchise record with five-straight 30-point games as well.
It’s a reminder of when Michael Jordan was in the midst of his reign of awesomeness: the only way James won’t win another MVP is if, much like Jordan, the voters get tired of it. No one else should win. He’s just that good.
The second thing you’d notice from yesterday’s game is just how dysfunctional the Lakers truly are. Steve Nash looks like a broken man who regrets agreeing to this trade. When they showed a close-up of his face, I pictured him with a thought bubble over his head: “I really think losing in Phoenix might be better than this.”
And for as great as Kobe is, as he himself has admitted recently, he is a difficult player to play with. He clogged up the offense good and gross down the stretch Sunday, using an array of back-to-the-basket moves, faders and leaners, appearing to me like a guy who’s legs were fading. This is understandable considering the Lakers were completing their long annual Grammy/Eastern road trip with the game in Miami.
Maybe Kobe was just tired. But he looked like a guy who was old, the one who’s shots at the end of the open gym are bouncing around the rim four or five times and falling out. And with each passing possession, his teammates are less and less interested in watching the same show. Keep in mind, Kobe’s heroics were half the reason the Lakers were even in the game midway through the fourth quarter, but the outcome was all too familiar: another loss.
We haven’t even touched on Dwight Howard (frankly because everyone else spends too much time on him). But Howard’s either not right physically, disengaged with all the drama mentally or most likely, a little bit of both. This week alone featured another round of media clips of Kobe calling out Dwight, Dwight responding and even Dwight’s dad getting involved to take a shot at Mike D’Antoni for not stopping it all.
But forgetting all that drama, the Lakers lack scorers, speed and aggression. They have no bench. There’s relatively little that’s likable about this team on our off the floor.
The Heat play, as do many of the aforementioned teams, with a sense of aggression and attitude. The Lakers have only Bryant with that mindset. Pau Gasol, currently out 6-8 weeks with a foot injury, attacks once every three weeks. Dwight Howard shows more aggression in trying to make his teammates laugh than he does on the court. Howard has one of the most forgettable 15-point, 9-rebound games I can remember. Howard ought to be getting 20 and 10, every night.
The Heat have let our out their inner beasts, the Lakers their inner child.
It’s clear the Lakers made a mistake in not bringing back Phil Jackson, who’s perhaps the best there ever was in the professional ranks at bringing massive egos like Howard and Bryant together under a common goal, while nurturing bruised ego’s like Pau Gasol’s and crazy-in-the-head egos like Metta World Peace/Ron Artest.
What does it say about Mike D’Antoni that the Knicks were a mess during his time in New York, yet a year later, they have the second best record in the Eastern Conference and seem to be playing quite well together? All you need to know about D’Antoni is what he said following the game yesterday: “We’re making strides. We can still do this. [Miami] set the bar and this is where we got to get to.”
I suppose I don’t know what I expect D’Antoni to say. I really don’t expect that truth, which would be: “We’re horrible and we really aren’t getting better. We should be left alone to become an afterthought on what has been a compelling and entertaining NBA season.”
He can’t and won’t say that, I know. But it’s outlandish to think the Lakers are making strides. Or that they are close. Not only can this team not win a championship, it shouldn’t out of sheer principle.
But sadly, this won’t go away. They are the Lakers. It’s 2013. The media cannot not hammer this story, this team, even though there is more going on in the NBA than this mess. So I beg of you, turn on NBA TV, check out some other games this week and then All-Star Weekend. You’ll find so much more going on in the NBA than what you might have seen Sunday from the team in purple and gold.
Otherwise, March Madness won’t just be reserved for the college ranks, as I’m not sure how much more of this ongoing soap opera in L.A. we can take.
It certainly was a Showcase Sunday for both James and the Heat and Kobe and the Lakers.
Yet only LeBron and Miami can feel good about what’s on display.
Standard