This acting thing is going to his head
Posted November 5th, 2006 by Brian Windhorst
Charlotte, N.C. — Was it me or was the most aggressive thing LeBron James did last night was play dead? Did you see that flop in the fourth quarter? I mean European soccer players — aka Manu Ginobili — would’ve been proud. Except they would’ve waited for a stretcher to haul them off the court before popping back up to get maximum value.
So while chasing a loose ball, 6-foot-8 250 pound LeBron banged into the hip — the hip! — of 5-10, 170-pound Brevin Knight. He crumpled to the floor like he’d encountered a raging bull. He stayed there for awhile motionless. When he finally got up, he failed to fake a limp or obviously hold a body part.
I’m not calloused here, I’d never seen LeBron act that way and I figured he was indeed injured and was concerned on many different levels. Yet when I saw the replay I was convinced nothing really had happened. Then after the game when he was asked what he hurt and he said "I don’t know, my head hurts a little, so I must’ve hit that." Well, actually, no, you didn’t hit your head. In other words, he needed to come up with a better story.
OK, really I have no problem with LeBron using a little gamesmanship to try to get an edge. But on this night, when he played as if he’d rather been practicing dives in his pool, it really rubbed me the wrong way.
On Friday, LeBron was the consummate leader in the Cavs big win. He played at the top of his game while on the floor. When he was on the bench he was leading, encouraging his teammates and they were responding. As the fourth quarter started and the Cavs were up by six points and he was sitting down for a rest, LeBron emphatically told the players heading out to the floor to hold the Spurs down. They responded with a 7-0 run with him getting an important breather. In many respects, it was one of the most impressive nights I’ve ever seen out of LeBron. That play and attitude is the reason I feel he’ll be the league’s Most Valuable Player.
Then on Saturday he let himself be outplayed for the first 47 minutes by Adam Morrison. It’s one thing to have an off night or to be a little tired. He’s going to shoot 3-of-13 every now and then. That is understandable and acceptable, even for him. In fact, a bunch of Cavs acted played lazy and without any regard for the Bobcats, which is why they got beat even on a night when Charlotte was far from the top of its game.
But for LeBron stand around and play passively while his team languished around him, that doesn’t seem like the standard he has worked hard to build for himself.
Look, every team has bad losses, especially on the road. I was convinced the Bobcats were going to beat the Cavs at some point this year. In fact, moments after leaving the AT&T Center in San Antonio Friday night I was thinking Saturday was a prime letdown situation, especially considering the travel difficulties. Flying commercial, I wasn’t able to get to Charlotte until 2:30 p.m. Saturday, which disrupted my routine. The Cavs got in at 4 a.m., which surely messed up theirs.
But to see the way the Cavs and LeBron let it go down just showed they are not yet a true elite team and that even LeBron, for all his greatness, still has a long way to go.
I knew I’d be writing a blog this Sunday morning about how the Cavs fared in the season’s first weekend. I thought I’d be writing about a 1-1 road trip, which I am. But after watching that game Friday, I can’t believe I’d be wondering about the Cavs’ drive today.
November 5th, 2006 at 12:36 pm
bri,
again, i love ya but how is that writers and pundits, after a big win like agbainst SA, tell us “it’s early!” and “there are no statement games in nov.!” but when we lay an egg (and still woulda won if we hit 5 more FT’s!!) against a young team on a back-to-back, well, THEN the cavs aren’t an “elite team” and LBJ’s not a leader?
i’m pretty sure that the nba champ heat had more than few losses like this last year. and SA before them….
i’m just not gonna get worked up about this…
November 5th, 2006 at 3:04 pm
Kicked in the hip, eh?
Scottie on the broadcast was thinking LeBron might had gotten hit in the cajones. That would explain the lack of limp and the fact he wasn’t “clutching” anything, huh?
Brian, you’re usually not so knee jerk. If Scottie was right, you owe ‘Bron an appology.
As for his play, how can you question his leadership? He played his heart out less then 24 hours earlier. They didn’t arrive at their hotel until 4am. He was tired. His legs were tired. He couldn’t hit a jumper. He couldn’t land a layup. He was constantly getting trapped and doubled. And you want him to shoot more? Go over his line one more time. Like usual in most of his “poor” games he nearly put up a triple double.
I don’t know all what was going on with the team last night, but what I do know is we all owe LeBron a lot more then the benefit of the doubt. As a reporter, if you’re going to come out with stuff like this, you’d better back it up.
November 5th, 2006 at 3:04 pm
kj’s right and it’s early. One worry I do have is David Wesley. He seems to fit right in with the two slow, short and poor shooting guards the Cavs already had. Boy oh boy.
November 5th, 2006 at 7:21 pm
your one of the few writers who sees the game in an unbiased point of view… bad night for the cavs and there is no excuse for this loss especially bron..
November 5th, 2006 at 7:41 pm
jon, i agree with you for the most part. LBJ sometimes faces a dilemma with the media in the sense they “want” him to “take over” more ala jordan. in fact, the sort of myopic “everyone MUST do it like MJ and if you don’t you are not doing it right!” attitude by so many in the media bugs me. look at how the espn mag has the cover story that says “is lebron mean enough?” well, hell is wade mean enough? i don’t think he shows much “meaness” yet he did all right, didn’t he?
the fact is LBJ did “let the game come to him” and he had what, 3 layups roll around the rim and not go in? and his jumper was mostly off. so, i would think that when a guy has that kind of shooting night, rebounding and getting the ball to your teamamtes for wide-open shots, which he did, is what’s is called for.
and larry, i share your concerns about wesley. however, i am taking solace in the fact that mike brown seems to be warming up to shannon brown, if his statements in the paper the other day are anything to go by. it’s clear that whatever brown’s shortcomings might be it will not make him any worse than wesley has been up until this point.
November 5th, 2006 at 10:22 pm
What’s so great about living up to MJ, is that MJ didn’t live up to MJ.
Look across the league on any night, and you’ll find star players putting up clunkers.
We’re spoiled that LeBron is soooo consistent that we just take it for granted that at some point in a game he’ll turn it on and take over.
November 6th, 2006 at 4:46 am
I don’t know how anyone could have watched the game and not had serious questions about Lebron’s performance. He played as though he was on drugs or something. There was no effort or will to win at all. Either there was something wrong with him, or he just flat out doesn’t care that much about an early season game vs Charlotte, or there is something going on internal on the team ala Kobe and the Lakers. Maybe Lebron was determined to show his teammates how bad they would be without him, because they played without him Saturday. For 20 minutes to go by without a shot attempt is inexcuseable. The Cavs trailed the entire 4th Q and Lebron doesn’t even attempt a shot until the last minute? That is just bizzare. You all know MJ or Iverson or Barkley or countless other greats never would have watched their team struggle and lose like that without giving a ballz out effort to win. Jordan never would have let a 20 min stretch go by or the whole 4th quarter go by in a loss without taking a shot. Only that idiot Kobe would pull something like that…until now. Very bizarre actions by Lebron. Very dissapointing in the lack of will to win or go down with our best player firing.
November 6th, 2006 at 7:52 am
Yes, if you ignore the near triple double, LeBron had a poor game for him.
But it’s unfathomable after a game like Friday that ANYONE would question his heart.
Maybe there was something more to it then just early season exhaustion? Maybe he’s sick. Maybe LeBron got drunk the night before and was playing with a hangover. Gee. Maybe the whole team was … except Gooden? Perhaps he can hold his liquor better?
Or maybe it was just a bad game where LeBron didn’t want to make things worse by clanking a lot of shots.
But Brian is a reporter not a fan. If there’s something more to it he should find out what that is, and then write about it.
Not speculate.
It’s extremely embarassing to see Cleveland Cavs fans accuse LeBron of not having heart or not giving effort after everything he’s done for this franchise.
If LeBron hasn’t earned the benefit of the doubt in Cleveland, then apparently there’s no such thing and you don’t deserve him.
Go boo him at the next home game, I’m sure you’ll all feel better about the loss then.
November 6th, 2006 at 8:08 am
It’s really about giving LeBron the benefit of the doubt or anything like that. The game was ugly and the Cavs looked disinterested. If we’re going to praise the team (deservedly) for going into SA and showing some serious guts, then you should also point out that the team looked disinterested (for whatever reason) the following night.
No one questions how much LeBron has meant to this team or franchise. But when you’re commenting on a game and LeBron looked lackadaisical you should say it. That’s not putting down LeBron, it’s commenting on what you saw.
However, I agree, it’s early. If this game happened late in the season, I’d be a bit more concerned. The Cavs are going to have to learn that team’s are gunning for ‘em this season.
And as for Wesley… it still looks like he’s trying to find his spot on this team. I was hoping I’d see one of rookies in Charlotte, but the game was too close to throw ‘em in. (though if the PGs and Sasha keep playing like this, we might see the rooks sooner than we anticipated)
November 6th, 2006 at 9:16 am
*looked* disinterested being the key word.
For whatever reason, he and most of the rest of the team were out of it.
I don’t want to hear accusations or speculation, I want to hear reasons.
Brian should be asking the players and coaches to their face and getting a response.
November 6th, 2006 at 9:51 am
The game against Charlotte wasn’t just a bad game, it was a terrible game. It’s one thing to lose to a bad team when you’re down and their rolling, but Charlotte was awful Saturday night. With the exception of Brevin Knight, all of the Charlotte players underperformed, yet at the end of the night they came home with the W. Anyone who doesn’t think that the Cavs mailed in that game is lying to themselves.
Second, I don’t care how “early” it is, you have to win every game you can. And the Cavs would have won if they had played with half of the effort they put forth in the San Antonio win. It’s not the loss that’s upsetting, it’s how they lost.
I am a little worried that something was up with LeBron, either his health or his head. He looked like someone close to him had died; he wasn’t even in the building. On a normal night, when the opponent’s entire frontcourt was in foul trouble, he would have been going to the rim every play, trying to score 60. Saturday night he settled for jump shots and couldn’t drive past Adam Morrison. It was disappointing, and I don’t know how you could be a Cleveland sports fan and not fear that this could be a bad harbinger of things to come.
Still, Coach Brown could have lit a fire and put in some bench players who were hungry for minutes (y’know, if he would get his rookies off the inactive list), but instead went with a shorter rotation, leaving even Pollard and Sasha on the bench. If Brown would have gotten on the team and made them focus, he could have avoided this loss.
All in all, it was a sad effort, and while it won’t make me less of a Cavs fan, I certainly am not going to write it off as “one of those things” until they come out and string a bunch of good wins together.
That’s my haypenny, and as always, if you want to hear my thoughts on the Cavs, the Cavalier Girls (congratulations Bethany), or anything else, check out *my* blog at Blog.CavsHQ.com.
Go Cavs,
Mike
November 6th, 2006 at 12:57 pm
but, mike, it CLEARLY is just “one of those things.” i mean, this happens ALL the time! detroit last year, on route to 60-odd wins, loses at HOME to utah!
the fact is that good teams lose to bad teams all the time in the nba. in a 82 game schedule, these games are inevitable.
now, was i happy about how we played? no, who would be? but the level of indignation by brian and some of the posters on here is out-sized, IMHO…
November 6th, 2006 at 1:15 pm
Brian,
I was also disappointed by that loss, but I think you’re over-reacting a little bit. I think in the NBA, beating the good teams(especially on the road)is more important than losing a few you should win(especially on back-to-backs). Magic Johnson said all last year that he didn’t consider the Cavs contenders because they couldn’t beat a good team on the road. Don’t woryy, the cavs record this year will be just fine, but what will indicate to us if they are real contenders is if they can have more games like they did against San Antonio, Sure they should beat Charlotte, but beating those kinds of teams doesn’t prove a thing.
November 6th, 2006 at 3:10 pm
I was only able to watch the fourth quarter of that game but what I saw was this: The Bobcats were feeding off the energy of the crowd and the prospect of beating the Mighty Cavs. They made a lot of tough shots and the Cavs couldn’t buy a basket. Donyell Marshall missed at LEAST 3 open treys in the 4th alone that could have changed the entire outcome. If LeBron is going to play THAT poorly and the Cavs are still only going to lose by 4 on the road, I’m going to brush this one under the Rug. They seemed to play down to their competition last year, hopefully they’ll get those demons out of their system early. I’m glad Sean May stared down Bron after that block. Look forward to a Duncan-like Poster with Sean May on it the next time these teams meet. And Brian, you seem to be pretty upset at LeBron for faking the injury or whatever. I’m just glad he ISN’T injured. Who knows..maybe he just got the wind knocked out of him. Maybe he was just mentally in shock that he was playing so bad.
November 6th, 2006 at 4:58 pm
Maybe Brian was just tired from the first road trip,too. I’m sure his crankiness can’t be attributed to his new seat at the Q!
November 6th, 2006 at 6:54 pm
Loyal readers, many of you are missing the point. It isn’t that the Cavs lost or lost to a team like the Bobcats. Trust me, I know it is a marathon. It wasn’t that they shot poorly or played bad defense in the second half. In itself, the game was one out of 82, just like Friday in San Ant. There will be dozens of losses.
My point is that LeBron’s effort and intensity level during that game was completely out of character and well below his standard in any win, loss, bad shooting, tired night I’ve ever seen from him.
Watching him repeatedly do nothing while Adam Morrison was guarding him with freakin’ Othella Harrington standing back there was downright shocking to me. Especially considering he was sticking to Bruce Bowen and Tim Duncan the night before.
Then with two minutes left he starts attacking? No way. I’ve given him credit 1,000 times. On that night he gets blame and, to a man, he knows it.
That’s all. Talk to you later…
November 7th, 2006 at 1:16 am
Brian, if he knows it, how come you didn’t show it?
Here’s the only quote you provided in your article:
“This is something we have to grow from,” James said. “I felt like there were no cracks; at the end of the offense (plays) it sort of broke down.”
That’s all I’m saying. If you’re going to basically accuse LeBron of quitting on the team, blowing off the game, and faking an injury, then you should back it up - because nothing he’s done in the past indicates that’s in his nature.
I only bother to call you out on this because I respect your work and I have high hopes for you as a journalist, but don’t be lazy yourself. If you’re right you have a pretty important piece of news about LeBron, and if you’re wrong … well, you might as well be writing for a tabloid. The difference is nailing the quote or comment that demonstrates or at least lets the player defend himself from your claim.
November 7th, 2006 at 7:28 am
Very, very nice to see Mr. Windhorst heading back into the fray here in the blog. Brian, the more we hear from you, the better we get to understand this team. I’m sure you like to do things like sleep and eat, but if you could cut those out and get us more Cavaliers coverage, it would be appreciated.
That being said, I guess we are going to have to chalk this up to “one of those games,” because there still has been no explanation from LeBron for why he only gave half effort on Saturday night. The beauty is, if all goes well tonight, I’ll be able to forgive and forget.
To KJ, I appreciate your point, but Utah was a .500 team last year, and they beat Detroit *again* last night (in Utah), on their way to a 4-0 start. They’re not a powerhouse, but they’re a much better team than the Bobcats.
Go Cavs, and I look forward to picking up my LeBron Bobblehead tonight. And is there any way we can get ZaZa Pachulia on this team for when Z bows out? My Z-Fence! and Z-Bound! cheers should not die in vain.
Mike
November 7th, 2006 at 9:24 am
brian,
as always, i qualify my comments to you with this: i love ya. you’re a damn fine beat writer. honestly, one of the best. but with all due respect, dude, i don’t think we’re “missing your point” at all. that implies some sort of ignorance on our part and whatever shortcomings us regular commenters might have, and god knows we have many, i would not say ignorance of how the league and team works is one of them.
you agree with us that it’s one game of 82 and it’s not really a big deal but then you say this ” But to see the way the Cavs and LeBron let it go down just showed they are not yet a true elite team and that even LeBron, for all his greatness, still has a long way to go.”
dude, i am sorry but that sounds like an over-reaction. how can you agree that is was only one game and then say *that*?
and i’ll say this again, if people were going crazy over the SA win and saying the cavs proved their were an elite team, you, quite rightly, would’ve said “hold on, it’s early, let’s wait and see.” so, i’ll ask again, why is ok to say that about a big win but NOT ok to say that about a crappy loss? i understand you think LBJ has never acted that way before. but i think my point is still valid. i cannot get worked up over a loss on a back-to-back in game number 3.
November 8th, 2006 at 4:14 am
After another letdown loss I’ve got to resurrect last year’s dead old horse and wonder how the Cavs could come into this season without addressing the point guard position.
Three points on 1-for-10 shooting sounds almost as familiar as opposing backcourts torching the Cavs. And, despite all the good press, giving up fourth quarter leads to inferior teams doesn’t reflect a lot of floor leadership. What exactly are these guys good at again?