Cleveland Cavaliers: LeBron and the Shot(s)
Posted May 22nd, 2007 by George Thomas
I just got home after driving in from Detroit after helping to cover last night's Cleveland Cavaliers-Detroit Pistons game - one that the Cavs should have won.
What what was interesting on the drive back was to hear all of the undeserved criticism that LeBron James has received in some quarters. I saw WKNR's Kenny Roda at the Palace of Auburn Hills and he told me that many fans were frothing at the mouth because LBJ didn't take the last shot, instead kicking it out to a wide-open Donyell Marshall for a game-winning three.
Some may disagree, but I have little problem with what James did. Everyone has been complaining that LeBron hasn't been attacking the basket enough all season and that may be true. But in setting up what everyone in Northeast Ohio hoped to be a game-winning shot, he drove to the hoop, felt the defense collapse around him and dished off - the smart play.
Some have argued that he should have tried to finish and take the foul, but the way that game was called last night, there's little guarantee that he would have gotten the call. The refs in the game let both teams play. It was physical, grind-it-out basketball.
May 22nd, 2007 at 6:24 pm
I agree completely, George. That kind of play is exactly what promises to make LeBron such a special player.
May 22nd, 2007 at 7:41 pm
Fans are idiots sometime. Your blog about not expecting too much from the Cavs fell on deaf ears.
LeBron can't win. Marshall was wide open. He has to make that shot.
May 22nd, 2007 at 11:00 pm
Cindy, even you would have made that shot, and you wouldn't have cost four years and gazillions of dollars against the salary cap to make it.
The only faint hope for any writer at the Beacon Journal to finally, at long last, lay that dolt Ferry on his rear end now lies with Mr. George Thomas. Is there now any semblance of a doubt the Cavs would be a champion, if not a Spurs-like "semi-dynasty," if Paxson's ton of cap room had been spent wisely? For God's sakes, they're now landlocked with nowhere to go until James is already (likely) gone!
Both the Akron Beacon Journal beat writer and the Akron Beacon Journal columnist have already come out and declared their irrevocable cosmic attraction to the man. I'm not sure if it's a hypnotic spell, or just plain sheer stupidity, but at this point, does it really matter?
Come on, George. Nobody will ever deny you access to any locker room, or to any player. I promise. Full access. That is my personal guarantee. Like Joel Hyatt used to say, you have my word on it.
Come on, George. You have this blog. Why do I have to read a California-based writer like Bill Simmons write that Danny Ferry is a complete and utter moron? I am so sick and tired of that guy's free pass from the local media. It is absolutely inexcusable.
Come on, George. Like those barracudas at Nike are fond of saying, JUST DO IT.
If you are not going to have the guts to finally destroy Ferry in print for everybody to read, then, at the very least, please explain to me what in the hell Donald Trump is doing selling meat in the Sharper Image catalog. Trump Steaks? Thomas English Muffins are O.K., I suppose, but TRUMP STEAKS? Meat? In the SHARPER IMAGE CATALOG? What a freakin' whore!
May 23rd, 2007 at 6:23 am
Alan, who invented liquid soap and why?
May 23rd, 2007 at 9:52 am
George, I still have faith in you yet.
With respect to your question regarding liquid soap, what's your problem with liquid soap? In fact, that's all I now use at home.
Who invented it? I honestly don't know the answer. Mr. Clean? Mickey "Irish" Spring?
As to why it was invented, first, do you truly like using a bar of soap that the last guy or gal had just, a few minutes ago, pressed up against their rancid hands and/or their own rancid "junk?" Stop and think about it, George. Major cooties. Plus, if it was pressed against the wrong person's hands and/or junk, diseases.
Second, those damn bars of soap are always falling off a sink or off a bathtub ledge and onto the floor. Who in their right mind needs that? Not only is it a major aggravation, but I'm closer to 50 than I am to 40. My back is killing me.
This is an intervention, George. Trust me, once you start using the liquid soap, you'll never go back to using the hard stuff again.