LeBron James

KI4MVP said:

That's not it at all. As the best player in the world for nearly a decade, he's set the bar so high people expect this kind of performance from LeBron. You can't come in here and say "can you believe that great game LeBron just had" because of course you can believe it, he does it all of the time.

But don't think for a second the fans haven't embraced him and don't jump out of their seat over plays like that block last night. The most expensive ticket this season hasn't been the playoffs, it was opening night to welcome LeBron back. Those tickets cost about the same as finals tickets in 2007, perhaps even more.

In pregame introductions at the Q, the loudest ovation is for LeBron (the ovation for kyrie is getting close), and it's every bit as loud as it was before he left. And he wouldn't have the #1 selling jersey in the league if Cleveland fans weren't buying them.

All that said, the LeBron we got back is more mature than the one who left. He doesn't put the focus on himself. He puts it on the team. The chalk toss is gone, the headband is gone, the pre game half court behind the back shots are gone. These were all things that put the focus on him instead of the team.

He now comes out on the court for the early workout like the other players do. He never did that before, I believe he used the private court. I went to fan appreciation night when he didn't play, he was out there for at least a half an hour putting in hard work and was all business. You never would have saw that from him before.

This year we aren't LeBron and his supporting cast. We are a team. LeBron is the reason for the difference. He's the primary reason Kyrie has taken the leap this year. He's the reason we are legitimate contenders.

At this point in the playoffs fans are rightly more concerned with how the other players are performing under pressure than they are with what LeBron is doing because so many of them are so untested under these high expectations and in the past we've seen players like Mo Williams fold under the pressure. So course that's where the initial post game interest will be.

Don't think for a second that is a sign of lack of appreciation/respect/love for what LeBron James does for this team.

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melecoaze said:

I think he just isn't as flashy as he used to be, then people think he is not as good or something. Maybe his ball handling has regressed a bit, but he still is pretty dominant (and the best player in the world) when he needs to be.

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crabbyshark said:

It would be dumb to buy anything this guy's selling until the Cavs get through the rest of this season and into next season drama-free. One large reason Love was criticized was because of the asinine tweet he denied/admitted/denied sending.

I went to Game 1. The Cavs were up 20 midway through the third quarter. LeBron then inexplicably started playing like hot garbage on both ends of the floor. The lead dwindled to 6, LeBron came out, and over the last 1:43 the lead ballooned back up to 15.

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crabbyshark said:

It would be dumb to buy anything this guy's selling until the Cavs get through the rest of this season and into next season drama-free. One large reason Love was criticized was because of the asinine tweet he denied/admitted/denied sending.

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The Charlize Theron in Seth MacFarlane’s Wild West Movie Award for Best Unexpected Reminder That Someone Is Still an All-Time Treasure2
I made a New York City work trip much harder by squeezing a 7 a.m. Thursday flight to Boston into the mix just to watch my underdog Celtics (hopefully) topple LeBron and the Cavs. Didn’t happen. Turns out that it’s a problem when the other team has the three best players in a playoff series, including one of the eight best players of all time.

But you know what? How many of these LeBronian playoff eviscerations are left? You know, the ones when he shows up in someone else’s house and breaks windows and plates and tables for two hours as 15,000 to 20,000 exuberant people slowly lose the will to live? Maybe … 15? Does he have 20? I mean, he’s closing in on 44,000 minutes by the end of this postseason. You never know. Getting to see him in Queen of the Chessboard mode — the ultimate power guard, the ultimate mismatch, the ultimate athlete, the ultimate thinker, and of course, the ultimate crybaby who somehow hasn’t committed a foul since he returned to the Cavs (sorry, I had to) — was worth the cross-country flight and the two early alarm blares. Now that they’ve figured out the right people to throw around him (as well as the right style), and now that he’s in the right shape, he’s still the most dangerous basketball player alive. LeBron was, I don’t know, maybe EIGHT PERCENT better two years ago during his Miami apex? Just an amazing experience to watch that dude do his thing as my Boston brethren booed him and yelled insults at him. I loved it. I’m glad I went back.

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secund2nun said:

Lebron is by far the best when he is in the post or slashing to the basket. I hope he moves to the post more as the playoffs goes on. Lebron actually should have been a power foward from the start of his career. He is a monster rebounder when he is in the paint as well. He can use his passing abilities in the paint on top of this.

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crabbyshark said:

It would be dumb to buy anything this guy's selling until the Cavs get through the rest of this season and into next season drama-free. One large reason Love was criticized was because of the asinine tweet he denied/admitted/denied sending.

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Bballguy4 said:

No...young lebron was too skinny to play PF.

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