I had to wait to lunch to write this because it was too late yesterday, but I definitely needed to do it. Last night I went to the Jays game with some guys from work, and it turned out to be a 1 hr, 50 min masterpiece by Doc, which put me at home by about 10:45pm. As I was packing to go to the cottage, I threw the Pistons – Cavs game on and there was about 5:00 minutes left in the 4th Quarter and the Cavs were down by about 5. Pretty standard, Pistons looked to be well on their way to winning game 5 and booking a spot in another boring Spurs – Pistons final. Little did I know that I was about to witness one of the greatest individual sports performances of my relatively short lifetime.
I’ve followed this series a bit by listening to the ESPN Radio Game Night commentary on my drive home from baseball the last couple weeks, as well as catching bits and pieces of games. LeBron James (a meager 22 years old) has heard a lot of criticism for his late game performances in games 1 & 2 of the series, two games that Cleveland could have easily won if they had executed in crunch time. In the final minutes of those games, LeBron has passed up shots, not got it to the line, not made his free throws when he’s been on the line, not been aggressive enough, dished to inferior teammates who’ve missed jumpers, driven to the hoop only to get denied, and has simply not got the job done. Down 2-0 and moving to Cleveland, the Cavs put in two solid home performances which set the stage for yesterday’s critical swing game.
So the Cavs start to close the 5 point deficit, no thanks to the horrible cast of misfits surrounding LeBron, and are down by one with just under a minute left. Crunch time in Detroit. Again. They
put the ball in LeBron’s hands, but this time, you could tell it was different. He blows by his guard and proceeds to throw a vicious one hander down the throat of the Pistons D. One of the sickest, most aggressive dunks you’ll see in a playoff game, let alone one as close as this and in the final minute no less. Billups comes right back and nails a stone cold 3 ball, putting Detroit back up by 2. Here we go again, the ball back in LeBron’s hands, and it’s déjà vu all over again as he cuts through the Pistons feeble attempt to stop him like a hot knife through warm butter and slams another one home! Time for OT, and the stuff legends are made of.
As the first OT period begins to develop, we begin to notice a trend. No one is touching the ball on Cleveland except the child prodigy himself. One group who are also noticing this are the Pistons who begin to do everything in their power to get the ball out of his hands, but their efforts are futile. LeBron fights through double teams, triple teams, heck, basically all 5 Pistons were coming after him, but they could do nothing. He was getting to the line, knocking down ridiculous shots, and putting his team on his shoulders.
The Pistons tie it up late on a couple of free throws and we move to a second OT where things really start to get out of hand. LeBron keeps scoring all of the Cavs points, and he is doing it with shots like an insane 20 ft fade away jumper from just inside the 3 point line with defenders draped all over him, and a behind the back dribble followed by a deadly pull-up jumper. Weak efforts from Pavolic and Varejo to give Cleveland some secondary scoring are easily denied by a professional defense like the Pistons. Ilgauskus fouls out with a couple minutes left after putting Webber on the line with chance for an old fashioned 3-point play, which he converts, putting the Pistons up by 3 and sending the Palace crowd into a frenzy. How does King James respond? He promptly comes off a screen and nails a three pointer in the Pistons grill while falling away.
Throughout both OT periods, I was beginning to get the feeling that Cleveland, a team who really doesn’t have any business hanging with a team like Detroit, was going to win this game. LeBron had a look in his eyes that we’d never seen before, and may have not seen since another 23 exhibited dazzling playoff performances like the one I was witnessing. After a James steal on the defensive end followed by another stop on the defensive end for Cleveland, the game was put in LeBron’s young, capable hands once again. He promptly dispels any potential criticism by aggressively driving left, through the heart of Detroit’s defense, and putting in an extremely tough lay-up with his wrong hand, putting Cleveland up for what turned out to be the last time. A huge stop by the Cavs D with a few seconds left seals the huge 109-107 road win and a 3-2 series lead. The stat line for LeBron? 48 Points, 18-33 from the field, 10-14 from the line (a place where he has struggled, especially late in games), 9 boards, 7 dimes, and 2 steals. He ends up scoring the last 25 points for Cleveland and 29 of their final 30.
I hate comparisons, especially when it comes to comparing guys who have nothing but a lot of a skill, a massive upside, and the potential for greatness, being compared to the best players to have ever played a full career (see Crosby/Greztky). That being said, there was no question that yesterday’s performance wreaked of MJ. The fire and competitiveness which separated Jordan from the rest of the greats seemed to be there with LeBron, and he put forth one of the single greatest playoff performances in NBA playoff history. He has a long way to go, but he is one step closer to bringing a rag tag bunch of borderline NBA players to the finals at 22 years of age. All the while he is establishing his legend, building his reputation, and making our collective jaws drop.
I must say, it is a pleasure watching LeBron James come of age before our eyes.
I’ve followed this series a bit by listening to the ESPN Radio Game Night commentary on my drive home from baseball the last couple weeks, as well as catching bits and pieces of games. LeBron James (a meager 22 years old) has heard a lot of criticism for his late game performances in games 1 & 2 of the series, two games that Cleveland could have easily won if they had executed in crunch time. In the final minutes of those games, LeBron has passed up shots, not got it to the line, not made his free throws when he’s been on the line, not been aggressive enough, dished to inferior teammates who’ve missed jumpers, driven to the hoop only to get denied, and has simply not got the job done. Down 2-0 and moving to Cleveland, the Cavs put in two solid home performances which set the stage for yesterday’s critical swing game.So the Cavs start to close the 5 point deficit, no thanks to the horrible cast of misfits surrounding LeBron, and are down by one with just under a minute left. Crunch time in Detroit. Again. They
put the ball in LeBron’s hands, but this time, you could tell it was different. He blows by his guard and proceeds to throw a vicious one hander down the throat of the Pistons D. One of the sickest, most aggressive dunks you’ll see in a playoff game, let alone one as close as this and in the final minute no less. Billups comes right back and nails a stone cold 3 ball, putting Detroit back up by 2. Here we go again, the ball back in LeBron’s hands, and it’s déjà vu all over again as he cuts through the Pistons feeble attempt to stop him like a hot knife through warm butter and slams another one home! Time for OT, and the stuff legends are made of.As the first OT period begins to develop, we begin to notice a trend. No one is touching the ball on Cleveland except the child prodigy himself. One group who are also noticing this are the Pistons who begin to do everything in their power to get the ball out of his hands, but their efforts are futile. LeBron fights through double teams, triple teams, heck, basically all 5 Pistons were coming after him, but they could do nothing. He was getting to the line, knocking down ridiculous shots, and putting his team on his shoulders.
The Pistons tie it up late on a couple of free throws and we move to a second OT where things really start to get out of hand. LeBron keeps scoring all of the Cavs points, and he is doing it with shots like an insane 20 ft fade away jumper from just inside the 3 point line with defenders draped all over him, and a behind the back dribble followed by a deadly pull-up jumper. Weak efforts from Pavolic and Varejo to give Cleveland some secondary scoring are easily denied by a professional defense like the Pistons. Ilgauskus fouls out with a couple minutes left after putting Webber on the line with chance for an old fashioned 3-point play, which he converts, putting the Pistons up by 3 and sending the Palace crowd into a frenzy. How does King James respond? He promptly comes off a screen and nails a three pointer in the Pistons grill while falling away.
Throughout both OT periods, I was beginning to get the feeling that Cleveland, a team who really doesn’t have any business hanging with a team like Detroit, was going to win this game. LeBron had a look in his eyes that we’d never seen before, and may have not seen since another 23 exhibited dazzling playoff performances like the one I was witnessing. After a James steal on the defensive end followed by another stop on the defensive end for Cleveland, the game was put in LeBron’s young, capable hands once again. He promptly dispels any potential criticism by aggressively driving left, through the heart of Detroit’s defense, and putting in an extremely tough lay-up with his wrong hand, putting Cleveland up for what turned out to be the last time. A huge stop by the Cavs D with a few seconds left seals the huge 109-107 road win and a 3-2 series lead. The stat line for LeBron? 48 Points, 18-33 from the field, 10-14 from the line (a place where he has struggled, especially late in games), 9 boards, 7 dimes, and 2 steals. He ends up scoring the last 25 points for Cleveland and 29 of their final 30.I hate comparisons, especially when it comes to comparing guys who have nothing but a lot of a skill, a massive upside, and the potential for greatness, being compared to the best players to have ever played a full career (see Crosby/Greztky). That being said, there was no question that yesterday’s performance wreaked of MJ. The fire and competitiveness which separated Jordan from the rest of the greats seemed to be there with LeBron, and he put forth one of the single greatest playoff performances in NBA playoff history. He has a long way to go, but he is one step closer to bringing a rag tag bunch of borderline NBA players to the finals at 22 years of age. All the while he is establishing his legend, building his reputation, and making our collective jaws drop.
I must say, it is a pleasure watching LeBron James come of age before our eyes.
- Dave Bone
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