LeBron James

[K1rieIrving>AllOtherPG's]

Look I'll stand by what I've said about LeBron since '16; thank you for the title, and you're free to go where you want at this point; you won't be resented nearly as much.

That said, you don't get a statue outside the Q after quitting on the team in two separate playoffs. Jersey retired in the rafters, cool. But no fuckin' statue.

I think he definitely deserves a statue for being the greatest CAV ever, also bringing the teams first and only championship, is it really quitting or is it just common sense?

 

[wremy]

Just going to be real for a moment... If you're the best player in the world, you do not blow a 17 point lead to the freaking Pacers while being guarded by Bogan Bogdanovic. I can guarantee LeBron knows this, otherwise he might as well be having Kyrie nightmares tonight.

With that being said, the rest of the roster is bad. But that same roster is also who built the 17 point lead for the most part.

No excuses.

Exactly his second half was pitiful... You should have went to the basket the first five possessions of the third quarter and uterus quarter got filed to set the tone that this game's over instead he sat there ran the clock down to 2 seconds and shot pathetic fadeaways and let Indy set the tone for the third quarter what a f****** pathetic response out of the halftime break... Granny Korver missing open shots he should have made over and no f****** plays at all for Love... And for some reason Lue thought it was a good idea not to play Hill much in the second half

 

[wremy]

Naa, they missed shots.

There were shit load of lameass turn-overs which made it worse.

And a third quarter quarter missing shots but it was basically Bron missing shots and turning the ball over... And throwing two guys standing at the three-point line with two seconds left I don't blame that on them I blame that on him... It It wasn't like he was driving and dishing he was literally throwing the ball to guys at the three-point line that were being guarded with only two seconds left on the shot clock

 

[JMoneyYourHoney]

I think he definitely deserves a statue for being the greatest CAV ever, also bringing the teams first and only championship, is it really quitting or is it just common sense?

How many 1-win teams have statues outside their arenas for their best player?

If LeBron stayed here the rest of his career, then okay. But leaving twice in FA after quitting on the team (and common sense/quitting may not be mutually exclusive here) is where I draw the line.

 

[The Red Viper]

Fucking Hell. People have lost their goddamn minds.

LeBron doesn't deserve a statue for what he has done for Cleveland? GTFO.

 

[Jscc]

We were shooting lights out he had plenty of room to drive the entire third quarter go back and watch the game if you want he chose not to... They didn't start to the lane until sometime in the fourth quarter

I plan to. These are the numbers though.

In the first half, the team was 5/10 from three. LeBron was 4/6 in the paint/block.

The second half, the team was a putrid 2/19 from three. LeBron was 2/3 in the paint/block.

The team as a whole in the first half, 8/13 in the paint/block. 5/8 in the second half.

 

[The Red Viper]

And a third quarter quarter missing shots but it was basically Bron missing shots and turning the ball over... And throwing two guys standing at the three-point line with two seconds left I don't blame that on them I blame that on him... It It wasn't like he was driving and dishing he was literally throwing the ball to guys at the three-point line that were being guarded with only two seconds left on the shot clock

And there were also a lot of instances where LeBron was posting up and he got the ball with 7-8 seconds left on the clock. We played poorly. The ball movement stopped. We needed someone who could collapse the defense or run some plays.

With LeBron playing poorly, we needed some instant offense and energy which we never got. We should have brought in Calderon, who is our best playmaker after LeBron and Cedi for energy. Instead we continued with that same lameass line-up.

Look, LeBron didn't play well. I am not trying to and won't argue against that! But you are crazy to put the entire blame on him when he is the only player in that line-up who can actually create off the dribble.

 

[LeBro]

During the regular season, when some people think he is throwing games, I think he is resting.

...

He just lacks the drive to constantly put the necessary effort to carry this team like he did so many times. Probably sick and tired of it.

I think it's physical fatigue. Being aggressive and driving hard to the basket takes a lot of physical exertion, especially with how much contact he absorbs. Explosiveness requires high-burst movements, which is extremely expensive energy-wise.

I saw this a lot in the Golden State rematch last year. He'd come out to torrid, tone-setting starts, but then the aggressiveness would disappear. He's an old man by NBA standards.

Midrange and beyond the arc shots are more volatile, and reliant on rhythym and being "in a groove". While that also applies to aggressive drives to the net, I believe fatigue is much more detrimental to them.

I think sometimes his passive stretches are more about recharging and conserving energy. It's not mentally checking out, he just hits a limit physically.

When he gets in these "recharge modes", he starts taking more jump shots (inherently volatile), so he at times can look ineffective or passive.

 

[MarkPriceFan]

How many 1-win teams have statues outside their arenas for their best player?

If LeBron stayed here the rest of his career, then okay. But leaving twice in FA after quitting on the team (and common sense/quitting may not be mutually exclusive here) is where I draw the line.

Its probably the only one we are ever getting in the NBA. Does anyone really believe that the Cavs are going to draft their way into future championships? Because that's what it will take. No superstar is ever coming here unless we draft him, and in most cases even if we do, he is going to just bide his time to get away.

When Lebron left the first time we got lucky as hell to get all those #1 picks (plus several other very high picks) and we hit on 1 guy.

We would need an all world GM and coach to get this team to back to championship level and its highly unlikely to happen with Gilbert's style of ownership.

 

[GreatGoo]

When Lebron leaves this team I will still follow him as a fan and root for whatever team he plays for. I'll still obviously be a Cavs fan, but I respect Lebron's game and the championship he brought Cleveland too much to suddenly stop watching his greatness.

 

[bee-eazy13]

I think it's physical fatigue. Being aggressive and driving hard to the basket takes a lot of physical exertion, especially with how much contact he absorbs. Explosiveness requires high-burst movements, which is extremely expensive energy-wise.

I saw this a lot in the Golden State rematch last year. He'd come out to torrid, tone-setting starts, but then the aggressiveness would disappear. He's an old man by NBA standards.

Midrange and beyond the arc shots are more volatile, and reliant on rhythym and being "in a groove". While that also applies to aggressive drives to the net, I believe fatigue is much more detrimental to them.

I think sometimes his passive stretches are more about recharging and conserving energy. It's not mentally checking out, he just hits a limit physically.

Amen. People forget how many miles he has on him, his age, and that he lead the league in total minutes played this year.

He can’t afford to sit for long...so he tries to find ways on the court to catch his wind.

He has periods of being passive, playing poorly etc....because he’s fucking gassed!!!! Physically AND mentally from having the responsibility of doing EVERYTHING When he’s on the court.

 

[PedroFlu]

I think it's physical fatigue. Being aggressive and driving hard to the basket takes a lot of physical exertion, especially with how much contact he absorbs. Explosiveness requires high-burst movements, which is extremely expensive energy-wise.

I saw this a lot in the Golden State rematch last year. He'd come out to torrid, tone-setting starts, but then the aggressiveness would disappear. He's an old man by NBA standards.

Midrange and beyond the arc shots are more volatile, and reliant on rhythym and being "in a groove". While that also applies to aggressive drives to the net, I believe fatigue is much more detrimental to them.

I think sometimes his passive stretches are more about recharging and conserving energy. It's not mentally checking out, he just hits a limit physically.

When he gets in these "recharge modes", he starts taking more jump shots (inherently volatile), so he at times can look ineffective or passive.

I fully agree this is normally the case. And today fatigue absolutely played a part.

But what lead me to this conclusion was his lack of aggressiveness in the beginning/midstage of the 3rd. He couldn't be tired then. He looked in absolute cruise control during the 1st half. He even played only 18 mins during the 1st, much lower than playoffs average.

It's his attitude during the first 6/8 mins of the 3rd that bugs me, and that set the tone for the rest.

 

[MarkPriceFan]

Amen. People forget how many miles he has on him, his age, and that he lead the league in total minutes played this year.

He can’t afford to sit for long...so he tries to find ways on the court to catch his wind.

He has periods of being passive, playing poorly etc....because he’s fucking gassed!!!! Physically AND mentally from having the responsibility of doing EVERYTHING When he’s on the court.

I agree with this. But then its mostly his fault that it has to be this way. He will not go along with a true system offense being installed. Everything revolves around him on this team. I certainly blame Lue to a degree, because you would think you could at least figure out a backup rotation and run an offense with them, especially with several veteran PGs, but make no mistake, this team has centered its entire offense around Lebron's greatness and it cannot beat good teams in the playoffs without him providing dominant performances. Its a catch 22. Kyrie used to bail us out when Lebron was tired or off.

 

[MarkPriceFan]

I fully agree this is normally the case. And today fatigue absolutely played a part.

But what lead me to this conclusion was his lack of aggressiveness in the beginning/midstage of the 3rd. He couldn't be tired then. He looked in absolute cruise control during the 1st half. He even played only 18 mins during the 1st, much lower than playoffs average.

It's his attitude during the first 6/8 mins of the 3rd that bugs me, and that set the tone for the rest.

Also true. My impression is that Lebron is playing back, trying to let the team gain some chemistry doing things without him. We are literally trying to work out the kinks in our offensive chemistry in the 1st round of the playoffs. But then Lebron doesn't seem to quite hit his stride and doesn't get a full rhythm going.

Yes there is some amount of Lebron recognizing that he needs to save up, but I also see him being analytical about his and trying to figure out what his new team is capable of. I certainly think that was the case in game 1, and looked very similar here. In the 1st half it looked like the team was figuring it out, but then everything went cold, and Lebron never quite got fully hot either.

 

[Gus Zing]

Amen. People forget how many miles he has on him, his age, and that he lead the league in total minutes played this year.

He can’t afford to sit for long...so he tries to find ways on the court to catch his wind.

He has periods of being passive, playing poorly etc....because he’s fucking gassed!!!! Physically AND mentally from having the responsibility of doing EVERYTHING When he’s on the court.

I've said this before, but people judge LeBron like those 4 years in Miami don't exist. In their heads they can't figure out why 29 year old LeBron isn't playing with fury from beginning to end.

Not saying they do it intentionally its just they sometimes don't realize just how old (in basketball years) he really is.

I still think LeBron let the team down. However after the 46 point game on Tuesday you'd think someone else would step up.

However, I think Lue killed the 4th Qrt the moment he didn't rest LeBron the first couple mins of the 4th. He didn't need to play the entire 2nd half.