You knew LeBron James would respond. The great ones tend to do that. All of the idiotic chatter about James falling short of being “that guy,” in Game 1 when he limped around the fourth quarter against the San Antonio Spurs turned out to be just that: a bunch of foolish talk.
With the haters looking for any which way to jump aboard the critique bandwagon, James operated in his typical dominant way and thrashed the Spurs with a “Cool” Hand Luke performance, dropping 35 points and snatching 10 rebounds to help the Miami Heat draw even at one game apiece in the 2014 NBA Finals.
You talk about disrespecting a guy…it seemed as if leading into Game 2, LeBron James had never won four league MVP awards, and was pulling off a no-show, cant-handle-the-pressure performance in Game 1. The best way to shut up critics or haters is to perform. James did it at peak proficiency against the Spurs in Game 2. The air conditioning worked in Game 2, and so did James.
There was a stretch in the third quarter where James basically took his team and placed them on his broad shoulders as he connected on one jumper after another to keep the Heat in the game.
“Just play the game, try to play the game the right way,” James said in a postgame conference that was recorded by ASAP Sport. ” However the flow of the game is going, I just try to impose my will in some kind of way, either scoring or rebounding or assisting or defending. Put myself and my teammates in a position to succeed, and I was happy in the fact that I was able to make some plays to help us get the victory tonight.”
If Spurs and their fans thought they were going to get a repeat of the Western Conference finals series against OKC, they had better go back and do their homework. First, Miami is the defending, two-time NBA champs. James and the Heat have a lot at stake. Should the the Heat win three straight titles they would be considered as one of the best teams in league history.
However, if the Spurs overtake the Heat-that distinction would be handed to San Antonio.
James, of course, is not having any of that. He showed that in Game 2, helping Miami to get back into the game after staring down a 11-point hole. There are two things that separate the Heat from other teams that have played the Spurs: they play stingy defense and they have the best player in the game in the mercurial James.
The Heat locked up Tony Parker and the Spurs, holding San Antonio to just 18 points in the fourth quarter. The OKC Thunder should take notes from the Heat on how to bottle up Parker, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili. The series just turned off of that statement performance by James. Now with the series shifting to Game 3 and Game 4 in Miami, it’s a good bet that San Antonio will come back home needing to win Game 5.
The first thing they have to do is to stop James. That’s a lot easier said than done, cramps and all.
Dennis has covered and written about politics, crime, race, sports, and entertainment. Dennis currently covers the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, and Olympic sports. Dennis is the editor of News4usonline.com and serves as the publisher of the Compton Bulletin newspaper. He earned a journalism degree from Howard University. Email Dennis at dfreeman@news4usonline.com
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