Good shot, but seriously…

… How does Lebron only get 4 rebounds?  How does he get less than 8 rebounds ever?

It was an amazing and really cool shot, but he only had to make it because of his earlier mistakes (and a few teammates’ mistakes). Give Lebron credit for admitting he traveled with 30 seconds left– still about 2 steps less than this shot.  If he doesn’t turn the ball over 6 times, they probably cruise to a win.

Just wanted to put up a quick counterpoint to everyone who is gonna be lovin Lebron for the next 48 hours.  I mean, he ruined Hedo time!  That’s not allowed to happen.

And it’s still not the best playoff buzzerbeater hit in Cleveland…

Lebron, Irony. Irony, Lebron.

About 45 seconds in here Lebron says:

I’m so much of a team guy that it’s hard for me to look at the MVP trophy.

Is it just me, or is this the equivalent of saying, “I am the most humble person in the world!”  Team players don’t have to say they are team players, Bron-Bron.  They just are.  And when you are as good as you are, maybe you shouldn’t pass to Varejao that often. 

Gotta love Cleveland fans

The Cavs play the Knicks tonight in Madison Square Garden, so naturally it’s time to start talking about the Summer of 2010 (and if LeBron will break Kobe’s new MSG scoring record). But with fans like these in Cleveland, why bother jumping ship?

Would King James really leave behind his retinue and head to New York?

Is clutch real?

Normally I would never post on this topic because after about 6000 words of blabber I would reach the conclusion that I’ve already hounded too many people about: “clutch” doesn’t exist. But over the last few days I got to thinking. Seriously. I’m wondering if I’ve been looking at this all wrong for the last few years. I’ve got to get a few things off my chest.

I realize this is like the equivalent of Ghandi saying he believes in Allah (now that’s a sweet religion reference yeah? Also, I think I just offended 40% of our writing staff with that awful “joke”.  Anyways, back to the sentence we are currently in the middle of…), or maybe it isn’t, because nobody actually cares what I think about things. Whatever the case, there were two recent things that got me on the path toward thinking that clutch is real.

Firstly, I stumbled upon this interview given by the great Dak of firejoemorgan.com. In it he states what socalsports has been trying to tell me for seemingly twenty years (that number might be a bit off): Clutch may be stupid and make no sense, but it’s tough to argue with Josh Beckett. His performance in big games at least makes you think. If a writer from FIREJOEMORGAN.COM, the chief of all anti-clutch sites, can admit that there is a chance they are wrong, than I must do so as well. And if a person like socalsports, who at least pretends relatively convincingly that she knows a lot about sports, can agree for the most part with me, but not jump to the same conclusion, then I have to think about it, right?

I may have been wrong. Also, don’t try to find dak’s quote in the interview, I think it’s like halfway in, but that interview is really long and you may never find it. Just some advice.

Anyways… the second thing was today’s performance by Paul Pierce and Lebron James. They both stepped up huge in a game that mattered a whole hell of a lot. The thing on which I’ve been basing my whole “no such thing as clutch” argument was that in a professional league, with the athletes seemingly trying as hard as they can all the time, it would be impossible to like, “try harder” or “focus more” or “step up” in a way that would actually make your performance better than what it normally is. But what if athletes do not always try their best?

Is it possible that some athletes coast until they realize that it’s crunch time and then step up? I know that in random pickup games this happens all the time. I frequently do not play defense until it is game point (even then I sometimes still don’t). Could professionals actually be “pacing” themselves in order to play well in key games and key situations?

(record scratch sound effect)

Wait a second. Hell no. It’s not like Lebron purposely went 2-18, or Pierce purposely threw up multiple wild lay-ups in a few games in Cleveland. If they could have made these shots go in, they would have. Their shots were just falling today. Yup, clutch makes no sense. Forget I ever said anything.

NBA All-Defense

Coaches voted on the NBA All-Defense teams today, and you can see the complete list here. But, as usual, the coaches had some issues in figuring out who really belonged.

Let’s start with the big man. Ok, so Marcus Camby does get a lot of blocks, but one only needs to look at the Nuggets’ defensive numbers to know that he isn’t exactly “anchoring” the team defense. He constantly gambles to get blocks, leaving his help defender hopelessly inept to stop the easy bucket in the paint if Camby misses. Unfortunately, I can’t really think of a solid defender at the 5 – Stoudemire only cares about dunking, Pau Gasol is a little soft, Horford, Dalembert and Chandler are not focused enough, and you only have to ask Stan Van Gundy what he thinks of Superman’s D.

OUR PICK – put Duncan at the 5 and pick a new forward. or give me another suggestion in the comment section

Next to Kobe Bryant. Now you only have to check the name of this author to know that I’m kind of a big fan. But, Shane Battier really should have taken precedent, mainly because of the defense he plays on “the Black Mamba” himself. Some of Kobe’s worst games this season came against the Rockets, and you can credit the Duke defender for locking down on the MVP. Just look at Bryant’s 24 pt, 11-33 shooting, 2 assist output against Houston on March 16 and you can see why Battier should be a first teamer.

OUR PICK – Put Battier on the first team, and bump up Tayshaun Prince too instead of Camby. Prince’s long arms harass any scoring threat. Just ask LeBron, Kobe, and Reggie Miller, too. You can put Kobe on the second team, or even James, who beats Bryant in blocks and rebounds.

And finally, Chris Paul. Now, how is it that one of the most undersized guards in the league who gets burned by nearly every point guard not named Jason Kidd gets a nod for all-Defense? Paul was my pick for MVP, but just because he gets a lot of steals doesn’t mean he’s a solid defender. He hurts his team defensively when he’s on the floor, but the plus-minus won’t show it because he’s one of the most complete offensive threats in the game. Opposing coaches don’t worry about Paul taking out their best scorer – this was a lazy attempt to fill out ballots just by pulling up a list of league leaders in “defensive stats” on espn.com

If you disagree, tell us what you think. I’m more than used to criticism.

RED CARD, Lebron

Lebron James is good at basketball, but that doesn’t mean he is above being called bush (busch?) league. EVERYTIME he gets hit, he goes down and almost cries. STOP CRYING Lebron!! It makes you look like a baby! It used to be that players didn’t want to look weak. Now Lebron will look as feeble as possible if it gains him a freethrow. He should’ve been kicked out of the game today for how he acted after James Posey grazed his neck while also grazing the ball. I like what soccer does. Just kick them out. Lebron, you are a good player! Act like one!

End rant.

I just have this to say…

“You ain’t Lebron James! You just some wannabe that looks like him!” Seriously Lebron, hurry up and find Michael Jordan and tell him to enlist Bugs Bunny’s help and win a game against a group of aliens. Because right now, you couldn’t beat a random group of girls playing pickup in the street.