NBA Conference Finals 2007

[Bloodline666]

I had recorded the game last night while I was there for my family to watch (since I only had enough $$ for one ticket, and it was nosebleed seats), and had the recording started 30 minutes early for the draft lottery, and an hour late for SportsCenter. I just finished watching the recording today, and here's a little something from last night's SportsCenter that caught my attention.

Apparently, LeBron James is being criticized for "making the wrong decision at crunch time", and apparently, I'm sitting here debunking the criticism as criticizing him for "being too unselfish at crunch time". And apparently, I'm not alone in defending LeBron in this bout of criticism; even the Detroit Pistons, themselves, are defending LeBron's decision to pass up on a game-tying shot in favor of passing the ball to a wide-open Donyell Marshall for a game-winning three. Why else do you think he would have passed up a contested game-tying dunk in favor of a wide-open game-winning 3 from Donyell Marshall? Simple: because of that quote right there. A wide-open 3 would've given the Cavs a better chance to win than a contested dunk.

Two things stand out here. First of all, I am reminded of a quote from former Philadelphia Eagles cornerback, former New York Jets head coach, and current Kansas City Chiefs head coach Herm Edwards which blatantly explained why athletes play not just football, but sports in general: "You play to win the game!" Apply that very quote to LeBron James passing up the point-blank shot in favor of a game-winning 3-ball from Donyell Marshall.

Second, LeBron was triple-teamed on that play. He wasn't guarded by your Joe-average defender; he was initially guarded by Tayshaun Prince, a defender who once chased Reggie Miller down the lenght of the floor and rejected his would-be uncontested layup (affectionately known as "The Block"). Rasheed Wallace went over to help guard James. Common sense dictates that when you have the ball in your hands and you are double-teamed, let alone triple-teamed, one of your teammates is wide open, and it is your responsibility to find him and pitch the ball out to him. Not only was Donyell Marshall WIDE, WIDE OPEN on that play, but he was also behind the 3-point line in the corner. LeBron made the right decision. Donyell Marshall had the right shot, from the right spot. The bottom line is, the ball did not go in, and Detroit dodged a bullet on that play; even Rip Hamilton admitted as such.

Frankly, I don't think the criticism LeBron received for passing up that shot was warranted. In fact, had that three-pointer by Donyell Marshall gone in, the sports experts would be comparing LeBron's pass to Marshall to a Montana-to-Rice touchdown pass. But since the shot didn't fall, the media's now comparing LeBron's decision to pass up on that shot to Charles Barkley's golf swing. But you know how the media is about sports stars; they want to project the image that all your big-name superstar players like LeBron are literal deities, especially with the game on the line, and decide to crucify them when they don't make a decision that makes them look like basketball Gods. And as far as I'm concerned, that is complete and utter bull.