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The Power, and the Glory
James Is Most Explosive, but Most Valuable?
By Michael Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 10, 2008; E01
NEW YORK -- His feet planted in a bucket of ice, ice packs wrapped around his knees, LeBron James literally was chilling more than 30 minutes after he fulfilled a longtime dream of becoming a Madison Square Garden legend. The locker room had pretty much emptied, and most reporters were gathered in an interview room to ask James about his game against the New York Knicks, when he had 50 points, 10 assists, 8 rebounds and 1 handshake with a crazed fan.
It was getting late and James hadn't even showered. When a Cleveland Cavaliers media relations person attempted to get James moving, he shooed her away.
"Tell them my finger's broke," James said.
James had earned the right to sit back and bask on a glorious night in which he got to talk trash to Knicks fan Spike Lee like Reggie Miller, scored 50 points in "the mecca of basketball" like his idol Michael Jordan, and received a standing ovation and "MVP" chants when he exited the game with 23 seconds remaining. To top it off, a 17-year-old named Anthony Erskine, dressed in James's jersey, ran to the Cleveland bench to express his gratitude before he was escorted out of the arena and arrested.
"It's one of the greatest things that has happened to me," James said of the game, after finally meeting with a crowded room of reporters more than an hour after the game concluded.
The question remains how much longer those who cover the league will make James wait before the fifth-year swingman wins his first most valuable player award. The competition for the award this season is considered a two-man race between James and the Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant, although Boston's Kevin Garnett and New Orleans' Chris Paul have also been in the discussion.
No matter who wins the MVP, Detroit Pistons forward Tayshaun Prince said James has established himself as the league's most difficult player to guard.
"It's not even really close," said Prince, a three-time NBA all-defensive team member. "What he can do without the ball, what he can do with the ball, what he can do when he gets the rebound and take it up the court. He gets 16, 18 points a game that's pretty much baskets other people can't get -- and it comes easy to him."
James has spent this entire season answering the remaining criticisms of his game: that he couldn't consistently hit perimeter shots; that he lacked the ability to close out games; and that he couldn't keep the proper focus and effort for an entire season. He leads the league in scoring at 30.9 points per game, with career highs in rebounds (8.0), assists (7.4) and field goal percentage (48.7). He also leads the NBA in fourth-quarter scoring average and has directed the Cavaliers to a league-best 15 fourth-quarter comebacks.
"I don't think there is a weakness in his game," Cavaliers point guard Delonte West said. "Every time someone says there is a weakness, he clears it up for you and shows you he can do it."
After last week's game against the Knicks, the league might have to come up with some new rules to create challenges for James. If the rim was raised, James might not have been able to take off from just outside the painted area in the first half, appear to reach the apex of his jump, then rise higher after deciding to dunk the ball with both hands.
If the court were bigger, it might diminish the effect of his physics-defying drives. James drove hard to the basket in the third quarter, and Knicks forward David Lee shoved him. Lee stopped James's momentum but couldn't keep him from banking a shot off the glass before his feet touched the ground. And despite moving into James, Lee stumbled backward into the seats along the baseline.
Moving back the three-point line might not help. At the end of the first half, James took a right-to-left fadeaway shot from just behind half court, with defenders Lee and Wilson Chandler charging after him.
"You hate to be on the receiving end of something like that," Knicks Coach Isiah Thomas said.
Prince was assigned to guard James in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals last season, when James scored a playoff career-high 48 points. He said the MVP could go "either way," but James's size (6 feet 8, 260 pounds), speed, agility and playmaking ability make him a tougher cover than Bryant.
"I have a size advantage over Kobe," the long and lanky Prince said. "When you got 260 pounds coming at you that fast and he's your size and he's jumping over you and pretty much taking you to the basket, that's a different story. LeBron, when he comes at you that fast, there is no chance. And if the jumper is falling, you just got to find a way to double-team him when he comes across half court."
Despite averaging more points, assists and rebounds than Bryant, he could lose out with voters who believe that the 29-year-old Bryant is overdue for his first award, considering his 12-season body of work.
"No way you can get away from it. You hear it every day," James said of the MVP debate. "We'll see what happens. I go out here and play hard every night and try to be the MVP of my team. I think Kobe Bryant is the best player in our league. The way he plays the game of basketball every night is at an unbelievable height."
The Cavaliers (36-27) are also just fourth in the inferior Eastern Conference, while Bryant's Lakers sit atop the Western Conference. While Cavaliers Coach Mike Brown believes that James should be the MVP this season, the team's record could be a hindrance.
"You've got to have a record to attain that status, but we have time to work on that," Brown said.
James has been the lone constant for Brown through a season of constant transition for the Cavaliers. They started training camp with key rotation players Sasha Pavlovic and Anderson Varejao in contract holdouts. Both were signed by early December, but the Cavaliers have dealt with players going in and out of the lineup because of injuries.
Then, Cleveland was involved in an 11-player, three-team trade deadline deal with Seattle and Chicago that yielded West, Ben Wallace, Wally Szczerbiak and Joe Smith. All four players were unable to play against the Washington Wizards on Feb. 22, but James still led his team to victory with just eight players, including two that were signed that morning.
"I believe we can go out there and win any game we go out on the court -- especially when I'm on the court," James said. "I'm just that confident."
The Cavaliers have gone 6-3 since the trade, which several league observers believe General Manager Danny Ferry was pressured to make so that Cleveland doesn't regress after advancing to the NBA Finals last season -- and with James eligible to become a free agent in the summer of 2010. The speculation about James's future, which will surely run rampant over the next two years, picked up some steam last week, as James wore a pair of New York Yankee-themed signature shoes against the Knicks and spent a good portion of the second half chatting and joking with his close friend, rapper Jay-Z, who sat courtside. While calling the game "a dream come true," James quickly quashed talk that he would play for the Knicks.
But Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, is part owner of the New Jersey Nets and they are planning to move to Brooklyn in 2010. James said he understands why some believe he is bound to bolt for the Big Apple but has deflected the talk.
"You don't think about it," said James, who grew up just outside of Cleveland in Akron. "For me, I'm in a great situation. I'm home. My family gets and opportunity to see me every night, my friends. The organization has been nothing but great to me and my family. I have no reason to think about going anywhere else at this point. I just try to win ballgames and try to win a championship."
-- fromThe Washington Post
James Is Most Explosive, but Most Valuable?
By Michael Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 10, 2008; E01
NEW YORK -- His feet planted in a bucket of ice, ice packs wrapped around his knees, LeBron James literally was chilling more than 30 minutes after he fulfilled a longtime dream of becoming a Madison Square Garden legend. The locker room had pretty much emptied, and most reporters were gathered in an interview room to ask James about his game against the New York Knicks, when he had 50 points, 10 assists, 8 rebounds and 1 handshake with a crazed fan.
It was getting late and James hadn't even showered. When a Cleveland Cavaliers media relations person attempted to get James moving, he shooed her away.
"Tell them my finger's broke," James said.
James had earned the right to sit back and bask on a glorious night in which he got to talk trash to Knicks fan Spike Lee like Reggie Miller, scored 50 points in "the mecca of basketball" like his idol Michael Jordan, and received a standing ovation and "MVP" chants when he exited the game with 23 seconds remaining. To top it off, a 17-year-old named Anthony Erskine, dressed in James's jersey, ran to the Cleveland bench to express his gratitude before he was escorted out of the arena and arrested.
"It's one of the greatest things that has happened to me," James said of the game, after finally meeting with a crowded room of reporters more than an hour after the game concluded.
The question remains how much longer those who cover the league will make James wait before the fifth-year swingman wins his first most valuable player award. The competition for the award this season is considered a two-man race between James and the Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant, although Boston's Kevin Garnett and New Orleans' Chris Paul have also been in the discussion.
No matter who wins the MVP, Detroit Pistons forward Tayshaun Prince said James has established himself as the league's most difficult player to guard.
"It's not even really close," said Prince, a three-time NBA all-defensive team member. "What he can do without the ball, what he can do with the ball, what he can do when he gets the rebound and take it up the court. He gets 16, 18 points a game that's pretty much baskets other people can't get -- and it comes easy to him."
James has spent this entire season answering the remaining criticisms of his game: that he couldn't consistently hit perimeter shots; that he lacked the ability to close out games; and that he couldn't keep the proper focus and effort for an entire season. He leads the league in scoring at 30.9 points per game, with career highs in rebounds (8.0), assists (7.4) and field goal percentage (48.7). He also leads the NBA in fourth-quarter scoring average and has directed the Cavaliers to a league-best 15 fourth-quarter comebacks.
"I don't think there is a weakness in his game," Cavaliers point guard Delonte West said. "Every time someone says there is a weakness, he clears it up for you and shows you he can do it."
After last week's game against the Knicks, the league might have to come up with some new rules to create challenges for James. If the rim was raised, James might not have been able to take off from just outside the painted area in the first half, appear to reach the apex of his jump, then rise higher after deciding to dunk the ball with both hands.
If the court were bigger, it might diminish the effect of his physics-defying drives. James drove hard to the basket in the third quarter, and Knicks forward David Lee shoved him. Lee stopped James's momentum but couldn't keep him from banking a shot off the glass before his feet touched the ground. And despite moving into James, Lee stumbled backward into the seats along the baseline.
Moving back the three-point line might not help. At the end of the first half, James took a right-to-left fadeaway shot from just behind half court, with defenders Lee and Wilson Chandler charging after him.
"You hate to be on the receiving end of something like that," Knicks Coach Isiah Thomas said.
Prince was assigned to guard James in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals last season, when James scored a playoff career-high 48 points. He said the MVP could go "either way," but James's size (6 feet 8, 260 pounds), speed, agility and playmaking ability make him a tougher cover than Bryant.
"I have a size advantage over Kobe," the long and lanky Prince said. "When you got 260 pounds coming at you that fast and he's your size and he's jumping over you and pretty much taking you to the basket, that's a different story. LeBron, when he comes at you that fast, there is no chance. And if the jumper is falling, you just got to find a way to double-team him when he comes across half court."
Despite averaging more points, assists and rebounds than Bryant, he could lose out with voters who believe that the 29-year-old Bryant is overdue for his first award, considering his 12-season body of work.
"No way you can get away from it. You hear it every day," James said of the MVP debate. "We'll see what happens. I go out here and play hard every night and try to be the MVP of my team. I think Kobe Bryant is the best player in our league. The way he plays the game of basketball every night is at an unbelievable height."
The Cavaliers (36-27) are also just fourth in the inferior Eastern Conference, while Bryant's Lakers sit atop the Western Conference. While Cavaliers Coach Mike Brown believes that James should be the MVP this season, the team's record could be a hindrance.
"You've got to have a record to attain that status, but we have time to work on that," Brown said.
James has been the lone constant for Brown through a season of constant transition for the Cavaliers. They started training camp with key rotation players Sasha Pavlovic and Anderson Varejao in contract holdouts. Both were signed by early December, but the Cavaliers have dealt with players going in and out of the lineup because of injuries.
Then, Cleveland was involved in an 11-player, three-team trade deadline deal with Seattle and Chicago that yielded West, Ben Wallace, Wally Szczerbiak and Joe Smith. All four players were unable to play against the Washington Wizards on Feb. 22, but James still led his team to victory with just eight players, including two that were signed that morning.
"I believe we can go out there and win any game we go out on the court -- especially when I'm on the court," James said. "I'm just that confident."
The Cavaliers have gone 6-3 since the trade, which several league observers believe General Manager Danny Ferry was pressured to make so that Cleveland doesn't regress after advancing to the NBA Finals last season -- and with James eligible to become a free agent in the summer of 2010. The speculation about James's future, which will surely run rampant over the next two years, picked up some steam last week, as James wore a pair of New York Yankee-themed signature shoes against the Knicks and spent a good portion of the second half chatting and joking with his close friend, rapper Jay-Z, who sat courtside. While calling the game "a dream come true," James quickly quashed talk that he would play for the Knicks.
But Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, is part owner of the New Jersey Nets and they are planning to move to Brooklyn in 2010. James said he understands why some believe he is bound to bolt for the Big Apple but has deflected the talk.
"You don't think about it," said James, who grew up just outside of Cleveland in Akron. "For me, I'm in a great situation. I'm home. My family gets and opportunity to see me every night, my friends. The organization has been nothing but great to me and my family. I have no reason to think about going anywhere else at this point. I just try to win ballgames and try to win a championship."
-- fromThe Washington Post
