LeBro
Situational Stopper
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2014
- Messages
- 330
- Reaction score
- 332
- Points
- 63
LeBron's defensive effort in game 2 is one of the worst I have seen out of him in the playoffs. I can remember at least 4-5 occasions when he just lifelessly stood there doing literally nothing on defense. A few times he's not even in view of the play because, after a missed shot, he just stands at the other end of the court while the Celtics play 5-on-4.Why are you using an article from November 20th? Yeah, LeBron slacks during the regular season. Why wouldn't he? He knows that we'll need 40 point triple doubles from him come postseason to even have a chance of advancing.
He just doesn't have the stamina he used to. A lot of times defense boils down to basic hustling, and LeBron just doesn't have enough energy to do that anymore. The lack of defense isn't him mentally quitting, or not caring, it's just his body being pushed to its absolute limit.
He's still capable of playing good defense, and occasionally we're treated to a flashy burst of highlight-reel defense -- had another highlight chasedown block in game 2 -- but overall he's becoming less and less of a factor on defense.
Being able to play good defense is about skill/ability; doing it consistently is a matter of stamina. I don't doubt the former, but the latter is clearly becoming a factor.