And I think most of the players in the league would have done worse. LeBron has been asked to do alot in this series, too much in this series. He has to be the one to either score the points or set someone up to score. No one else on a supposed championship contender has to do that. Kobe has to do that to some extent, but he has a couple of player on his team that can give them plenty of offense on any given night. Gasol can go for 30, Odom/Ariza can go for 20 or so, Fisher (I know he has been terrible lately) and Bynum are both more than capable of consistently getting double figures.

 

Run any of the players mentioned as ragged as Mike Brown has ran LeBron and see how they fair, it won't be any better. Or we can act like extreme fatigue has nothing to do with it. Not making an excuse because he still made mistakes that were huge, but I think that anyone can see he has been asked to do way too much.

 

Hard to argue with what...42, 7, 7 individually. Like someone said last night, if you took the best player off each of these four teams the Cavs are by far the worst. Some have said they would still be a playoff team I think without LeBron they would have been battling the Clippers, Grizz, Raptors etc. for ping pong balls in the lottery.

Can't say I blame him.

 

Give him someone w/ the talent of Pippen or Shaq and he wins the next 4-6 championships easy. The criticism he is getting now is beyond hilarious. His combined avg when you add up points, rebounds, and assists for the playoffs in this many games is over 50. The only other person to do that? Jordan, and he did it once.

 

As a LeBron fan I hope him and DWade end up together in 2010. That would be great. Get out of Cleveland LEBRON.

 

He did and that's the only thing he can be held responsible for. He took a tough open jumper w/ the lead late in regulation, but he got them in position to win and even had them in the lead late in regulation. He has proven to me even more now that he is by far the most complete player in the league.

 

True. People don't look at the whole picture though. They lost. Well, Jordan would have not won a title with this Cleveland team.

I know and understand that the Magic matchup really really well with the Cavs, but does exhaustion factor into LeBron making plays like trying to throw a pass between Dwight Howard's legs and getting the ball stolen? Or throwing a bounce pass to Delonte West on a break when Alston is in front of the pass?

 

I'm not saying he's the only great player in the league that would make mistakes like that after playing the entire second half; maybe a lot of it has to do with LBJ not having as much experience playing this late in the playoffs. He's been here twice now which is five less than Billups and 5 or 6 less than Kobe Bryant.

 

God I sound like a Kobe fan. :ohbrother:

I know and understand that the Magic matchup really really well with the Cavs, but does exhaustion factor into LeBron making plays like trying to throw a pass between Dwight Howard's legs and getting the ball stolen? Or throwing a bounce pass to Delonte West on a break when Alston is in front of the pass?

 

I'm not saying he's the only great player in the league that would make mistakes like that after playing the entire second half; maybe a lot of it has to do with LBJ not having as much experience playing this late in the playoffs. He's been here twice now which is five less than Billups and 5 or 6 less than Kobe Bryant.

 

God I sound like a Kobe fan. :ohbrother:

 

A fresh LeBron makes that pass to Delonte quicker leading to a score and probably goes up for two and gets a foul on Dwight Howard.

Experience has nothing to do with it IMO. LeBron has played in the Conference Finals and Finals and big time playoff series, but even then he didn't carry as much of the load as he is right now. How anyone could fault him, I have no idea. He is asked to do more for this team than any player that I have ever seen.

A fresh LeBron makes that pass to Delonte quicker leading to a score and probably goes up for two and gets a foul on Dwight Howard.

Experience has nothing to do with it IMO. LeBron has played in the Conference Finals and Finals and big time playoff series, but even then he didn't carry as much of the load as he is right now. How anyone could fault him, I have no idea. He is asked to do more for this team than any player that I have ever seen.

 

A fresh Lebron goes to the basket and dunks, is fouled, or both.

A fresh Lebron goes to the basket and dunks, is fouled, or both.

 

Then why wouldn't a "fresh" Lebron do that every possession?

Then why wouldn't a "fresh" Lebron do that every possession?

 

He's averaging what for the series? He's trying. It's hard to win the conference finals against a team that has the 2nd-4th best players in the series. It takes an all worldly effort from the number 1 player. He's almost there actually. It is really close to being 2-2. If it were they would win the seires. As it stands they will win game 5, partly b/c they will get the calls. Then it comes down to what he can do in game 6. It's just comical for people to pick apart a guy averaging over 50 in the big 3 categories.

Then why wouldn't a "fresh" Lebron do that every possession?

 

He just about does.

I couldn't believe Lebron hit the two FT's to send it to OT.

 

Rashard Lewis has been money in this series. Regardless of who deserves to be up and who has played the best, if Lewis misses two shots in this series, Cleveland is hosting a close-out game tonight rather than facing a must-win.

 

And, finally, everyone knows Orlando's front line is a bad matchup for Cleveland. I think both Orlando and Cleveland are playing that way...Orlando has a lot of confidence and Cleveland doesn't. When the 4th quarter rolls around, the Magic is the team that plays like they know they're going to make the plays and win, while Cleveland tightens up and goes back to the "give it to Lebron and watch" offense.

 

Considering how tight these games have been, I wouldn't count Cleveland completely out until it's over. It still boils down to them defending their home court and winning one road game. But, it's hard to imagine them beating a team that they're 4-11 against in the last two years three straight times.

I couldn't believe Lebron hit the two FT's to send it to OT.

 

Rashard Lewis has been money in this series. Regardless of who deserves to be up and who has played the best, if Lewis misses two shots in this series, Cleveland is hosting a close-out game tonight rather than facing a must-win.

 

And, finally, everyone knows Orlando's front line is a bad matchup for Cleveland. I think both Orlando and Cleveland are playing that way...Orlando has a lot of confidence and Cleveland doesn't. When the 4th quarter rolls around, the Magic is the team that plays like they know they're going to make the plays and win, while Cleveland tightens up and goes back to the "give it to Lebron and watch" offense.

 

Considering how tight these games have been, I wouldn't count Cleveland completely out until it's over. It still boils down to them defending their home court and winning one road game. But, it's hard to imagine them beating a team that they're 4-11 against in the last two years three straight times.

 

They need a good effort tonight. At home they will have alot of emotion, they need to get off to a good start and put the game out of reach. If they get down to game 6 they will need some luck. I don't know if it is possible. But, if they can make it to game 7 I like their chances.

They need a good effort tonight. At home they will have alot of emotion, they need to get off to a good start and put the game out of reach. If they get down to game 6 they will need some luck. I don't know if it is possible. But, if they can make it to game 7 I like their chances.

I guess I am still sticking with my Cleveland prediction of winning the series . If the Cavs win tonight (and I suspect they will), it puts the pressure back on Orlando. I still do not trust Orlando when it counts. They do best when they have the cards stacked against them, and the cards are not any longer. Most are expecting them to win. They are due one of those goofy Orlando performances.

They need a good effort tonight. At home they will have alot of emotion, they need to get off to a good start and put the game out of reach. If they get down to game 6 they will need some luck. I don't know if it is possible. But, if they can make it to game 7 I like their chances.

 

That's all I'm saying. These games have been close...so close in fact, that, as I said earlier, it's 3-1 Cleveland if Rashard Lewis misses a couple of big threes.

 

The point is, Cleveland is in the same boat as they were after Game one, IMO. They have to defend their home court and win a game in Orlando. Obviously, it's do-or-die now, but still the same task.

 

Considering that every game will likely be down to the wire and Orlando has been the team that plays better down the stretch, it's unlikely the Cavs can win three straight, but it's not unthinkable. They haven't been dominated this series...the biggest difference is how much better Orlando has played at crunch time. Both Lewis and Hedo have proven they can make big shots and Cleveland can't guard them both, while Cleveland only has Lebron. Nobody else is giving them much, and they're getting virtually nothing at crunch time.

I guess I am still sticking with my Cleveland prediction of winning the series . If the Cavs win tonight (and I suspect they will), it puts the pressure back on Orlando. I still do not trust Orlando when it counts. They do best when they have the cards stacked against them, and the cards are not any longer. Most are expecting them to win. They are due one of those goofy Orlando performances.

 

Cleveland would benefit more from a goofy performance in Orlando...that way they might steal the road game and ride the home court to a comeback.

 

I don't think either of these series are over.

 

Both of them have come down to which team can get it done in crunch time...LA has been better then Denver and Orlando has been better than Cleveland. Out of the 9 games thus far, I can only think of one that couldn't have gone either way (Game 4 in Denver).

 

What if Denver doesn't throw the ball away twice on inbounds plays? Or if they make just one play here or there? They could be up 3-2, or even awaiting the winner of Cleveland/Orlando.

 

Same in the other series...if not for Lebron's big three, the series is over. And, if not for Rashard Lewis, Cleveland might be up 3-1.

 

This has been two of the best conference finals I can remember as far as close games one after another.

 

I, for one, am not pencilling anybody into the finals at this point. I've been wrong enough this post-season...

Great read...

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2009/columns/story?columnist=broussard_chris&page=MJShadow-090528

The Magic didn't come to play tonight outside of Howard so far. Hopefully, they won't show up tonight.