If he can get Dirk's rest in the playoffs he'll be fine next season.

I think he's struggling with what to do without the ball and I think that the Mavs are in his head little. Think about the way that Deshawn called him out, he didn't really 'talk trash', he said Lebron was a better player than he showed, and that sometimes it's easy to check out when you are watching someone else play the game at the level Wade was playing. If you are already doubting yourself those type of honest observations can play more with your head than trash talk.

Yeah, and LeBron is is a VERY interesting bind. The RIGHT thing to do for him is to maybe continue with his protocol (though I have to admit that adding the wrinkle of posting up more---possibly in the 4th Quarter or when his jumper has abandoned him might be PART OF 'the right thing to do' going forward)-------but the hordes are clamoring for a 40 point explosion. What if he goes OFF and they lose?

Like everyone else, you have to shut out the critics and just do/ make the right things/ decisions and perform. If it's not enough to win, you have to suffer the naysayers (even when they're wrong). Popular opinion will NEVER be a substitute for the truth. LeBron just has to do the right thing(s) and let the chips fall where they may. (I do think the right thing MUST incorporate more post-ups if the jumper isn't falling----hell, even if it IS falling, though).

LBJ puts up a legendary performance, people aren't satisfied with it if his team doesn't win. LBJ puts up a subpar performance with his team in the Finals lead (and a Wade ft miss away from tying the score in game 4 with an opportunity to go up 3-1), people are also not satisfied. The agenda here is clear as day...

I'm NOT judging the whole future and past of LBJ's career based on these last 5 games, so please, nobody accuse me of that...
I THINK James is better than what he's been in these last 5 games...
I don't think James has been BAD so much as he hasn't been THAT good/ great...
I THINK James has underperformed in the Finals...
I THINK James' performance in the Finals thus far is ripe for criticism, as he is underperforming and I believe he is better than this...
It seems that some folks aren't allowing any criticism of his performance to get by without some kind of apology for him----HEY, JUST FACE IT.... he hasn't been that good/ great in these Finals. Period.
The more people apologize for his performance thus far in the Finals, the more they lower the bar for him regarding what is good/ great.
YES, there are morons overblowing it-------on 'The Herd' on ESPN this morning, I think someone gave James a 'D+' for Game #5... He had a trip/ doub----and this clown gives him a D+... Don't allow a clown like that to make you OVER apologize for LBJ's Finals thus far. Just call his performance what it is. We should all be doing that.

This is my impression: suppose someone showed us a picture of a girl. And the girl in the pic did NOT look that attractive... we can assume 1 of 2 things-----> either this girl REALLY is not pretty...OR.... she is pretty, but this is a bad snapshot of her.

We CANNOT say, however, that she is actually REALLY pretty AND this is an accurate snapshot of her.

It seems like some folks are trying to make LBJ's Finals thus far a better performance than it's been.

I think he hasn't been that good-------but I also think he's better than this. I think it's a bad snapshot of him.

Anon Says:
June 10th, 2011 at 10:35 am
"If this is his top gear, he's just not that GREAT. If this isn't his top gear-------then it's justified to ask critically: WHERE IS IT?"

Were you watching the playoffs prior to the Finals?

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I'm talking about these Finals, specifically. I thought that was clear.

I think that because he has already been fitted with the choker hat, we look for evidence that confirms the label, and ignore evidence that disconfirms it. As UsuallyLurkin says: we tend to over-interpret patterns.

So, for example, we think of Hakeem as this awesome playoff god, because of a few memorable playoff series (when he was, in fact, an awesome playoff god). Some people believe he's the best center of the last 25 years largely because he played so well in the playoffs. And we forget/ignore that his team was eliminated in the first round 8 of 15 times he went to the playoffs. But we decide he wears the champion hat and ignore the rest.

I don't want to give James a pass on his performance in this finals, in the finals in 2007 and in game 6 (I think) last year against Boston. I think he deservedly should be downgraded for not playing up to his standards in the most important games. But, because he's got that choker hat on already, people forget about (for example) his stellar performance against the Magic in 2009. They don't notice that he's 8 for 8 in advancing out of the first round or that only once did he lose to a team that didn't play in the finals.

Because Hakeem wears the champ hat and James wears the choker hat, Hakeem gets the benefit of "oh his teammates weren't good enough" and James doesn't. But look at Hakeem's '87-'89 squads and the teams that took them out (The Dale Ellis-led Sonics and the Aguirre-Harper Mavs) and then look at the teams that eliminated Bron's Cavs (the Billups-Hamilton-Prince-Wallace Pistons, the Duncan-Parker-Ginobili Spurs, the Garnett-Pierce-Allen Celtics and Howard's Magic) in comparison with the Cavs.

But Hakeem had those couple of huge series against Robinson, against Ewing, and against O'Neal. So no one faults him for not carrying a mediocre squad to victory over some not-too-impressive opponents.

Meanwhile, LeBron has left us with the image (for better or worse) of passing to players who missed shots and of not seeming to care at the end of that game against Boston. And so he takes all the blame for losing to very good teams, even though his teammates were little better than Hakeem's.

It's cognitive inertia of sorts. Once Bronnie wins a championship or two, people will focus on that and forget his bad games.

My amateur eye told me that Miami, in general, and LeBron, specifically, played much better with Wade out.

I definitely agree that LBJ didn't play well down the stretch of games recently. But did you watch the end of Game 4? Wade missed the game-tying free-throw with a chance to help his team go up 3-1. Last night? Wade tov and missed shot with over a minute left and the team down 5. My point was simply that to those who construct the LBJ narrative, Wade is "The TRUE Man" down the stretch who hits the shots, brings his team back in crunchtime, and "makes up for LBJ's blunders"...except he's been exactly the opposite when the team has him take the ball over LBJ. Since these same people place this value on clutch production, doesn't this get factored in? Or are we just fascinated with size-fitting the "choker hat" on LBJ?

By the way, I don't adopt these viewpoints. Just pointing out incongruities in the logic here.

It was not the best basketball play however. It also seemed to drain him when it didn't work.

@49
Yes, we are not logical in our valuations. The intriguing aspect of this to me is how do we apply that to LeBron himself. He isn't an airplane, he is all to human and I think he is much more susceptible to all the criticism he has received than he is letting on. He will be the first to tell you that he does not view these games as his career norms, but rather as something much more important to him.

That doesn't throw out the concept that he can (and probably will) trend upwards towards his norms. It does raise some questions as to whether he is letting the moment get the best of him mentally. Watching LeBron, he is at his best when he seems not to have a care in the world, or looks like he has the game by the throat. At the end of games in the finals, he has not looked like that.