LeBron James

[Caffegy]

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=trick-off

trick-off
Taking care of personal on the down low, when you should be doing other things.
Mike should have been at work, but he was tricking off at the mall.
by Jeff December 18, 2003


Maybe LeBron is acknowledging he was worrying too much about the MVP personal battle rather than team success? If so, I actually really appreciate the gesture from him. If even he knows he was doing it, you can bet he will make it a habit to avoid that in the future.

or he means Beverly? In miami they gated him

 

[Snarly]

His comment was he needs to hit free throws and stop jacking them. I think that is what he meant in the trick-off tweet. He always looks so lazy at the line and thinks his greatness should make him a good FT shooter. Whatever the case we will get a more real and intense LeBron now. NBA teams be scared. I like that comment a lot.

 

[Andrew]

That's the first time in a long time I saw LeBron think something other than team in a game, I think he wanted to prove something to Harden and just out duel him and it showed.

I mean I am not putting this loss solely on him, if your starting back court doesn't have 1 3 until like the 3rd quarter, you aren't winning most games.

 

[All4One1ForAll]

I love how in the post game interview he bluntly said, "It won't happen again" in regards to missing the free throws and "letting his teammates down." He had this look on his face that makes you immediately believe him when he says something like that.

 

[thunder_down_under]

I love how in the post game interview he bluntly said, "It won't happen again" in regards to missing the free throws and "letting his teammates down." He had this look on his face that makes you immediately believe him when he says something like that.

We want to believe him but we know that he WILL miss free throws again; and that there will be more times when he thinks he is the only one that can win the game for us and plays complete ISO. Really that 4th quarter was garbage by Bron...refused to give the ball up at all...the other 4 players were mere spectators to his "greatness"...MVP? Not this year...

 

[Andrew]

Would rather have the best player in the league than an MVP. But then again, that's just me.


Harden reminds me of Melo, he can score with the best of them but will never win in this league. Harden might eventually make the finals again and steal a game ala Iverson in 2001 but then that's it. Sorry to get off topic.

 

[aussiecavsfan]

Might be time for him to retire tbh, maybe even think about trading him in the summer

 

[Jscc]

Might be time for him to retire tbh, maybe even think about trading him in the summer

 

[cavsfever]

From Jason Lloyd's 'Final Thoughts' on the game, sums up what worries me about what we're seeing from Bron lately:

10. The offense is grinding down more and more into isolation basketball with James dribbling at the top of the key. His 35 shots tonight were one off his career high and his most since 2006. Part of it is understandable with Kyrie Irving out of the lineup, but James has scored 79 points on 60 shots in the Cavs’ last two games. There isn’t much efficient about that.

11. This could very well be what it’s like in the playoffs, too, considering how the game slows into half-court sets on most possessions. “The game got into the grind it out mode for both teams,” David Blatt said.

12. In fact, James played exactly how Rockets coach Kevin McHale wanted. McHale said before the game how dangerous James is and how he can impact the game in so many ways. “I think LeBron’s best games are his 22-point, 13-assist games where he does everything,” McHale said. “We’ve got to try to see if he can have a 30-point game with 25 shots and get the assists out of it.”

13. James took even more shots than McHale was hoping for and he had just four assists despite handling the ball most of his 42 minutes on the floor.
​

I don't think this is Bron being 'selfish' -- I don't call trying to put the team on your back and bust your ass to haul it to victory when you're exhausted and have a bad back being 'selfish' exactly -- but I do think it's a problem that the coaching staff and Bron have to address. Like McHale said, LBJ is at his best when he is empowering the rest of the offense. This is on Blatt and our other scorers as well I think; the truth is that we have not seen consistent production from our 'ball movement' offense all year and this is a big reason why we have a tendency to break down into Kyrie or Lebron isos.

 

[Jscc]

This is on Blatt and our other scorers as well I think; the truth is that we have not seen consistent production from our 'ball movement' offense all year and this is a big reason why we have a tendency to break down into Kyrie or Lebron isos.

If LeBron wants to preach unity and making his teammates better then he needs to trust them more. Doesn't matter if J.R. or Kevin missed their last five shots, that won't last. Keep feeding them and keep playing within the offense. If LeBron's shot is there or he's one-on-one, take it. If it's not, move the ball.

Admittedly, without Kyrie the ball movement isn't that great. Dellavedova can't beat his man off the dribble--the opposing player has no reason to respect him as the ball-handler, so he just gives it to LeBron.

 

[Green Lantern]

I've seen this type of game from Lebron way back..the missed FT's are part of the loss.
But in these type of games get the others involved ..Love was posting down low.
Use that to get some fouls.
J.R..get him going.
Lebron cannot do that ISO when teams want him to.

 

[Kouki]

I don't know how anyone watches a player score 33 points on 18 shots while holding his counterpart to 8 points in 51 minutes and comes away thinking he's not as good as advertised. Cheap shot aside, James Harden played a hell of a game tonight.

I just hate his brand of basketball - drive to the hoop and look for contact, not a bucket, to get some free throws. It's a disgrace to the game IMO. I mean, the exploit exists, and he exploits it, so all the power to him. Can't blame him too much for that. It's just not fun to watch and it isn't basketball. It's just as bad as flopping in soccer IMO, which everyone detests.

The whole "33 points on 18 shots" narrative is a lot less impressive when you consider half his points came from FT's, I mean it's not like he isn't using a possession when he draws a shooting foul, so I don't know why, in this case, a high points to shots ratio is celebrated. If you add in his FT attempts he used ~25 possessions to get his 33 points. Granted there is the benefit of causing fouls on the opposing team, which obviously has value, but eh.

 

[mAo_mAo]

When your best player is like Harden you would never advance very far in the playoffs. The calls he is having now will eventually be just part of a physical playoff game and when the bulk of your points is coming off that you are in trouble.

 

[Jscc]

Despite yesterday's hiccup, good news.

Cleveland is 10-2 vs. Western teams since LeBron came back on 1/13.

 

[Simon]

Oh.