I think it is complete bullshit to rip on LeBron after this game. He scores 45 points and his team loses and you have the balls to call him out for missing an end of game shot? He has no help! Paul "The Complete and utter Lie" Pierce showed up when it mattered so I'll give him that. He also had KG and a host of other players that had the situations been reversed, LeBron and the cavaliers would have won comfortably. As for the complaints about the traveling, I will be the first to say that in the NBA stars get favorable treatment. However, LeBron has been hacked a lot in the playoffs. He has hurt his case because he overreacts to some small fouls, but he gets hit more than any NBA player I've seen.

As a Cavs fan I didn't go into the game expecting to win so I was taking the loss fine, until I saw this post. I love the blog but this was a severe misjudgment.

DID YOU EVEN WATCH THE FOURTH QUARTER?? HE HIT ONE BIG SHOT (THREES INCLUDED) AFTER ANOTHER TO GIVE THEM A CHANCE. You should have stopped with "he has no help."

I agree 110% with the guy above. AA, stick to the announcing commentary, leave the bad analysis to ESPN.

You are all crazy. He routinely chokes in big game situations. I would never give him the final shot if I was his coach.

you wouldn't be coaching in the NBA very long.

Look stars hit big shots and he doesn't. I'm not saying he's horrible but America's love affair with him is insane.

The guy is all ego and no substance.

isn't this the same guy who had multiple game winners vs the Wizards last year? Was I dreaming when I saw a man-child named Lebron score the last 25 points for his team to lead them to the NBA finals with players that would crack most teams starting 5.

And what happened in those Finals?

Woah, AA.

No substance? The guy did score 45points. Almost half of the team's points. I think you're overreacting. His jump shot isn't great, but it's definately improving. The Cavs had no business even being in this game but Lebron stepped up and it just didn't work out.

"And what happened in those Finals?"

You people are so dense.

LeBron has no help in Cleveland! One man can only do so much. Get LeBron some teammates that are worth a lick and watch the rings come.

Lebron gets away with more physical play than any other player in the NBA. From shoving Pierce out of bounds on his "steal", to fouling and pulling Pierce's jersey to force a "turnover", he makes every series he is in ugly. Then there was his reaction to getting a foul call after he smacked Pierce on the arm and raked his eyes... priceless. If the refs didn't coddle him, maybe he would actually develop a consistent jumper. As is, he's Andre Iguduala with amazing passing ability and historic hype.

He's one of three players to average 30 7 and 7 and none of those players is named Andre Iguodala.. kill urself

If an announcer said what AA wrote, AA would rip on the announcer. Crazy.

AA, you know better than to rile up fans of Ohio teams here. Having said that...

2008 LeBron = 2006 Dwyane Wade

At least D-Wade got a title out of all the calls he got.

AA, you are absolutely out of your mind. How the fuck can you criticize other people's commentary, then rip LeBron after that game? If he didn't hit a bunch of "big shots" earlier in the game, there wouldn't have even been the opportunity at the end. Replace LeBron with almost anyone else in the NBA and the Cavs would have lost that game by 15.

well in 06 most people would say he clearly traveled on the two (I believe) "game winners" he hit.

It is fairly obvious here that Lebron has zero help. This is true, make no mistake. However, there is this underlying ideology present, which states that Lebron is the best basketball player in the league, the next MJ, etc.

That kind of thinking is incorrect.

Lebron is good, in fact he is a great player. He is also a product of hype from ESPN as well. ESPN loves Lebron.

My question to you, is why? Yes he is tremendously gifted, but what has he ever won in the NBA? It is true that Michael Jordan did not win a championship until his seventh year, but Jordan was always making his teammates better. Always.

Lebron does not. Until that changes, he will be seperated from all of the winners.

Always? Really? Like when he scored 63 vs the Celtics and they lost. Or when the Bulls were referred to as the Jordanaires. Give me a break. Yes, Jordan was the best ever, but if you listened to what people said about him yould believe he never missed a game winning shot, never shot below 60%, never was a young selfish player, and never lost a playoff series. It was Jordan's will to win that made him stand out among the giants of the game. You can see Lebron has that same fire, 23 years old Game 7 and he has the best game of the series. You can tell that winning is what drives him. Wait until he matures and finds a BJ Armstrong, let along a Scottie Pippen and the rest of the league will crumble in his wake.

Dano, you are holding on to a dream that will never happen. Sorry.

"wait till he gets his Scottie Pippen."

It's almost laughable at this point.

He may be 23, but he's also a five-year vet.

Until your reincarnated Scottie Pippen comes along, go ahead and get the tissues ready for Bron Bron. He's fresh out.

I want to preface this by saying I generally love this site.

Now, having said that, LeBron James should not be taking any heat for this loss. The man is the only reason the Cavs were here in the first place, and basically single-handedly kept them in it against a team that was orders of magnitude better in terms of talent (seriously, after LeBron, the Celtics had probably the 6 next best players) and gave them a shot to win late. Yes, he missed some shots late. Jordan missed some shots in big playoff games, as well. LeBron, to his credit, has at least 3 late game-winning shots, an assist (and a psych-out) on another game winner, and is, at this young stage in his career, 5-3 in playoff series. If we're comparing him to MJ, it should be noted that at this point in his career, Jordan was 3-5 in playoff series.

AA, when you're the only guy who can take any shots on your team (much less the important ones), you're going to miss a few. Until he has some sort of supporting cast, I think it's too early to be saying he can't get it done. (Let's not forget the Jordan-era Bulls weren't exactly Jordan and 11 scrubs - they won 55 games the year after his first "retirement". That's at least 30 more than this year's Cavs would have won without LeBron.)

Dude, come on. He cannot control the ESPN hype machine. It took MJ seven years to win his first. Lebron's got two more years to get there, and with far inferior talent and a mismash of role players around him.

He took the best team in the league to the limit with 30 seconds left. I think that's pretty good. A great game, we should be praising the duel and not bashing anyone.

Detroit in 6

Ray Allen is an absolute joke, KG disappears down the stretch, and Thug Pierce will quit when the going gets tough against the Piston defense.

Outside of Isaih is there a worse coach in the league than Doc Rivers?

Lebron dives and fakes injuries worse than Sergei Federov, Ulf Samuelsson, and Emmitt Smith combined.

What a bitch.

"ooh, he didn't have any help, boo hoo."

AA, I agree with you most of the time, but this is mind boggling.

HE was the one that got them IN the game! It's the Cleveland defense that made PJ Brown look like a hall of famer.

James is what, 23 years old? Give him time dude..


Or are you just upset he's ripped the $&%^ out of the Wizards 3 years running?

"The guy is all ego and no substance."

AA, you're great man, but I simply cannot understand how someone who watches as much sports as you do can say something like that with a straight face.

Last year's OT nonsense in Detroit was one of the greatest playoff peroformances ever, and he scored 45 points yesterday!

And the ego shot doesn't really make sense to me either, it's not like the guy makes excuses after games, bitches about practice like AI, or demands to be traded like Kobe. I'd say, all things considered, he's about as good as you can expect from an NBA star as far as ego goes.

A lot of tough talk coming from a Wizards fan, the ultimate "all talk, no substance" team.

New rule: If Paul Pierce is on your team, you are NEVER allowed to complain about another player getting the benefit of calls or whining for calls.

End of story.