LeBron James

[Kevin Ollie]

Just doing some quick searches, but it looks like that was, by far, LeBron's worst performance at the foul line of his career. Go figure it comes in this game where it mattered hugely.
I hope this is the end of the MVP tour and we get back to playing good basketball.

 

[godfather]

Then perhaps he should trust his talented teammates to help him out a bit more. I don't think he choked.. I think he was selfish. In fact I don't think that's really debatable. So, he had options available to him if he's hurt or just had an off night shooting and instead decided to make this about him vs Harden (IMO).

No debate, he played bad. Not going to pile on him though.

I like that he was aggressive though, but I agree, he needed to get more involved.

 

[The Red Viper]

LeBron:- "The guys put us in position to win, and I didn't come through for them."

As disappointing as the loss was, this might not be such a bad thing. The current roster has hardly had any exprience of playing away from home in a very important game. The extra-time with refs favouring the home side is just a sneak-peek for the play-offs for most of the guys who haven't been there. And second being, the fact that LeBron has taken the blame on himself means, he realized the stupid things he did. In the last one month, the team and LeBron must have become a bit overconfident. This will pull them down back to square one and make them realize, there's still a lot to improve.

 

[6kiss]

That was a choke, dont defend it. He still tried to will that team to victory with how bad the guards play but that was a choke. Idc if you go 0-30 the whole game. At least make one of those FTs at the end of that game.

 

[Ohio]

At least he owned up to it in the postgame.

 

[Gus Zing]

The silver lining.

I loved his defense on Harden in the 4th/OT.

Showed that he can still turn it up when he wants too. Was worried he lost that ability for a while.

However, I hope some good comes out of this game for LeBron. When LeBron is exerting energy like that guarding Harden that is when you trust your teammates. I'd take an aggressive LeBron loss over a passive LeBron loss anyday. But he needs to realize that some of these Blatt plays actually work.

Stop letting guys like Harden bait you into thinking you have to pull an MJ. Just make the right plays and we can win.

 

[LeShaq]

He messed up, he owned it, we move on.

The only thing that really annoys me about this loss is all of the preening Houston did. It just shows that they're not ready to be a serious contender, in my mind. They don't seem mentally on that level yet.

 

[kookoo]

Other than the missed freethrows and some bad last second fadeaway shots, I think he played well today. His LeISO drives were amazing. He missed a bunch of bunnies and also got hit a ton (I think he just kept expecting the fouls and missed some easy shots). I hope he doesn't go away from the driving game. I wish he had made one of those bunnies at the rim though. Kind of scary to see him miss so many easy shots.

 

[tn819]

The bad of this game will be rehashed endlessly (the love thread might get a little less traffic... For a couple days), but I want to say that one thing which did stick out for me was the lockdown job on harden. Lebron brought it defensively in a way we have rarely seen from him the last two years. He obviously took it personally and it got to the point where harden had to pass away, and his teammates did have to deliver.

However, bottom line, you can't shoot twice as many times as James Harden in a game and really think you are going to keep your teammates involved and the defense on its toes.

And yet... For all the woe... Houston is incredibly lucky to emerge with a victory

We are pretty good and I hope that they study the tape and avoid a repeat of the stretch run on offense

 

[davoor]

I am positive it was intentional. How did the refs not see this... well at least this, never mind the other blown calls

 

[Moppet]

Good leadership by him to owning up his mistakes.

Houston, looks like 1st round exit team again. What is Harden going to do if his step back three is not falling and refs are not calling touch fouls for him during the playoffs? Dwight is probably just a defensive anchor right now, a sub-average man's of D-Jordan after all these injuries.

 

[SVC]

Disappointing he didnt trust his teammates, but not going to bitch about the most unselfish superstar I've ever seen have an uncharacteristic game.

The bar for him is so much higher. The NBA universe sucks Westbrook's dick for having a game like that and praises his grittiness.

 

[brownsbuck6]

I am positive it was intentional. How did the refs not see this... well at least this, never mind the other blown calls

This was asked right in the game thread by myself and others right when it happened. That dude should have been tossed. The refs were embarrassing today.

 

[davoor]

This was asked right in the game thread by myself and others right when it happened. That dude should have been tossed. The refs were embarrassing today.

LOL. So true.

 

[mhi]

FTs are a bummer. I have a huge problem with some of his possessions in this game. Pounding the ball for 20 seconds and jacking up a fadeaway jumper is just bad basketball. That won't get this team anywhere in the postseason. Run the plays and trust your teammates

Nailed it. This season he has been settling for jumpers at an alarming rate. Part of the reason is because he's the defacto PG so he's no longer just getting the ball in the post and working from there (suffice to say that LJ in the post was a huge reason for MIA's two championships) It's not a considence that his turnovers are high and his FG% has plummeted. It's either because he is trying to conserve himself.

Lebron launching jumpers at the top of the key and 1-5 pick and rolls for lobs ARE NOT a recipe for post season success. There needs to be more dribble penetration like we were seeing during the winning streak

Other than him being out of position, it could also be some other things.
- Lack of spacing with some of the lineups
- No trust in teammates ? (Doubtful, since it's LJ we're talkin about here)
- Lack of trust in Blatt's plays ?
- Using this year to practice his 3pt shot ?