LeBron James' "Cavaliers" lost last night, that's three of their last four. Their record with just under 40% of games played is 11th best in the league. No prob, the "Heat" started slowly LeBron's first year too. No. Problem. The team's performance is alarming management.
LeBron James is the best basketball player in the world. He is the best human being in sports. If there was a God He would make any team James is on win the championship any year. Yet there is is some disconnect between James and the other players and between coach David Blatt and the players:
The head coach there is the one with his arms folded. It is the assistant coach who is talking to James, who James is listening to.
But there's something in James' body language, in his indifference in team huddles, in the things he says and doesn't say, that suggests he has not yet warmed to Blatt. And may not.
...
On one turnover, the ball bounced off James' leg, across midcourt, for what would be an over-and-back call against the Cavs. There was 8:40 left and Cleveland trailed by 26. James jogged after the ball for a bit, but with no Piston truly close enough to the ball, he watched it roll out of bounds.
It was going to be a turnover either way. And the game was over. James' body language screamed, "why bother?"-cleveland.com Dec. 29.
James is also the most intelligent player in the NBA. He sees things others don't, he sees things in advance of others seeing them. If he sees something as a lost cause, a play, a game, a series, a stay in a city, his body language gives him away. He was in a trance during a playoff game in his first tour of duty in Cleveland. He moved like he had lead in his shoes. He knew, he knew he would never be able to win a championship with that Cleveland team. He was correct and he bolted to Miami. In last year's NBA Finals in one game in particular he displayed similar body language. He could see that that "Heat" team was not going to win, was not going to win that game nor that Finals nor win future Finals unless there was upgrade "at every position." Pat Riley's "pissed" challenge to James to stay was made all the more embarrassing by the lame upgrades Riley made. James could see and he bolted again.
Cleveland's normally loquacious coach David Blatt, who takes minutes and minutes of questions after each game, even losses, came into his post-game presser with a statement.
"I don't want to get up and walk out of here, that's not fair to you people, but I don't have too, too much to say," Blatt said. "But I will say this. That was embarrassing how we played. I apologize to all the good fans who came out here, as they always do. Really just a poor, poor performance."
So perhaps that's why when James was asked if he was "embarrassed" by the 29-point shellacking he and his teammates had just endured, he shot back "nah, I'm embarrassed losing the Finals."
ditto 12-18.
I have only contempt for the city of Cleveland, the people of Cleveland, the management of the "Cavaliers," especially owner Dan Gilbert, but I want LeBron James to win wherever he is and for whomever he plays. James said and meant that it would take time to build a champion in Cleveland, that he would have to have "patience." He has led every way he can through 31 games but his eyes won't lie. He can bolt again after this year. And that makes me sad.
*UPDATED, Dec. 31, 9 pm UTC. Listen to what LeBron James says to Dwayne Wade after their Christmas Day game. Go to about 2:40 on the tape.LeBron-Wade conversation.
#UPDATED, Jan. 1, 2015, 5 am. Cleveland lost again at home Wednesday night, their third straight loss and now four losses in the last five games. LeBron James sat a second game in a row with a bruised knee. Cleveland's record is now 18-14.
LeBron James is the best basketball player in the world. He is the best human being in sports. If there was a God He would make any team James is on win the championship any year. Yet there is is some disconnect between James and the other players and between coach David Blatt and the players:
But there's something in James' body language, in his indifference in team huddles, in the things he says and doesn't say, that suggests he has not yet warmed to Blatt. And may not.
...
On one turnover, the ball bounced off James' leg, across midcourt, for what would be an over-and-back call against the Cavs. There was 8:40 left and Cleveland trailed by 26. James jogged after the ball for a bit, but with no Piston truly close enough to the ball, he watched it roll out of bounds.
It was going to be a turnover either way. And the game was over. James' body language screamed, "why bother?"-cleveland.com Dec. 29.
James is also the most intelligent player in the NBA. He sees things others don't, he sees things in advance of others seeing them. If he sees something as a lost cause, a play, a game, a series, a stay in a city, his body language gives him away. He was in a trance during a playoff game in his first tour of duty in Cleveland. He moved like he had lead in his shoes. He knew, he knew he would never be able to win a championship with that Cleveland team. He was correct and he bolted to Miami. In last year's NBA Finals in one game in particular he displayed similar body language. He could see that that "Heat" team was not going to win, was not going to win that game nor that Finals nor win future Finals unless there was upgrade "at every position." Pat Riley's "pissed" challenge to James to stay was made all the more embarrassing by the lame upgrades Riley made. James could see and he bolted again.
Cleveland's normally loquacious coach David Blatt, who takes minutes and minutes of questions after each game, even losses, came into his post-game presser with a statement.
"I don't want to get up and walk out of here, that's not fair to you people, but I don't have too, too much to say," Blatt said. "But I will say this. That was embarrassing how we played. I apologize to all the good fans who came out here, as they always do. Really just a poor, poor performance."
So perhaps that's why when James was asked if he was "embarrassed" by the 29-point shellacking he and his teammates had just endured, he shot back "nah, I'm embarrassed losing the Finals."
ditto 12-18.
I have only contempt for the city of Cleveland, the people of Cleveland, the management of the "Cavaliers," especially owner Dan Gilbert, but I want LeBron James to win wherever he is and for whomever he plays. James said and meant that it would take time to build a champion in Cleveland, that he would have to have "patience." He has led every way he can through 31 games but his eyes won't lie. He can bolt again after this year. And that makes me sad.
*UPDATED, Dec. 31, 9 pm UTC. Listen to what LeBron James says to Dwayne Wade after their Christmas Day game. Go to about 2:40 on the tape.LeBron-Wade conversation.
#UPDATED, Jan. 1, 2015, 5 am. Cleveland lost again at home Wednesday night, their third straight loss and now four losses in the last five games. LeBron James sat a second game in a row with a bruised knee. Cleveland's record is now 18-14.
