Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
That hollow, faraway look was back in LeBron James’ eyes.
It hadn’t been seen for a while. In fact it had nearly disappeared for good. James himself had tried to bury it, some said he’d even run from it. Now, though, it has attached itself like a stain to his permanent record. Again, like before, he’s probably going to have to live with it for some time. James has certainly played some bad games during his career, bad big games, too. But this was different. This was an evil outlier.
It wasn’t that James didn’t deliver in a clutch moment. That is excusable. It was that he looked like he didn’t even want to be in the moment. For a player of his stature without an injury, that is highly uncharacteristic.
James seemed to want to be away from the ball at times in the fourth quarter. He took one shot in those final 12 minutes. With the Heat desperately trying to hang on to a lead that was slipping away, James didn’t even touch the ball on almost half of the team’s possessions in the quarter.
ESPN – A new postseason low for LeBron
Unless something was seriously wrong, health-wise, LeBron owes Dwyane an apology. Simple as that.
Celtics fans know that look. We saw it last year in Game 5 vs Cleveland. The "LeBron quit" game.
Even LeBron's most ardent supporters (i.e. John) cannot defend last night's disappearance. And this had nothing to do with "letting the game come to him."
How a player of his caliber can just fade away in a crucial Finals game is mind-blowing. I don't recall it ever happening with Larry, Magic, Michael and Kobe.
It's a shame because the discussion should really be about how Dwyane Wade gagged in the clutch.
In all my years of watching basketball, I've never seen a team dominate and choke like Miami. The pendulum swings so violently for this team.
The rest of the links:
CSNNE – Allen exercises option | Herald – Ageless Ray Allen not done | CSNNE – Why the return of Ray is good for Boston | Globe – Allen opts to stay with Celtics | ESPN Boston – Cs work out Nogueira, Lauvergne | Yahoo! – James falls to new depths as Heat lose |
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