If Jeffrey Loria (owner of the Miami Marlins baseball team) comes down with a nasty cough and cold, we’ll know who to blame.
None other than LeBron James, who took a sick day in the morning but was well enough in the evening to break the 30-point barrier for the eighth time this season, dropping 31 along with eight rebounds and eight assists in the Miami Heat’s 98-87 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Heat were the aggressors throughout the first three quarters, a dynamic that revealed itself when James, while trying to save a ball from going out of bounds, spilled into the lap of the portly baseball owner as Loria sat in his courtside seat. (Loria teetered but did not tip over, and spent the next several minutes laughing at his brush with greatness.)
Greatness was a word associated with James during his first few years in the NBA, but not so much so in the past couple of years. His infamous “decision” on ESPN turned people off, and his fourth quarter disappearing acts in last year’s NBA Finals turned believers into doubters.
Now, with Dwyane Wade missing yet another game to rest a variety of ailments (Chris Perkins was right), James is becoming more of a featured player on offense and is responding with aplomb. Miami improved to 5-0 without Wade, and James (29.9) has moved within a half-point of Kobe Bryant (30.4) for the league lead in scoring.
More impressively, James is shooting .563 from the field, a percentage topped only by centers Marcin Gortat, Samuel Dalembert, Spencer Hawes and Dwight Howard.
From Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com: “Let’s get this out of the way right at the start: Kobe Bryant has five championship rings and LeBron James has none. Bryant’s been a more clutch and effective player in his seven Finals than James has been in his two. For some, that is the end of the conversation. There seems to be general agreement among NBA fans that these two are to be judged by that standard. And by that standard, there is no comparison at this point in time. But if anyone wants to take a look at what’s happened when Bryant and James have actually played against each other, there’s another truth that has emerged. James has outplayed Bryant for years now in their head-to-head matchups. … With the Cleveland Cavs and now the Heat, James has beaten Bryant head-to-head five consecutive times. Over the past five years, it has been seven wins in nine games. Beyond the victories, James has generally dominated the matchups, as he’s averaged more points, rebounds, and assists and shot a significantly better percentage. This is where the yelling usually begins with the words “regular season,” “meaningless” and “rings” wrapped around various expletives and admonishments. Bryant has countless fans who seem to be defensive about anyone applying a scratch to his legacy, while James has developed into a popular postseason scapegoat. It makes this topic quite dicey to have a rational discussion about, and perhaps this will not turn out any differently.”
The victory was Miami’s second in a row after an 0-3 trip out West. Bryant scored 14 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter when the Lakers could get no closer than 10.
Los Angeles now has only the sixth-best winning percentage in the West, trailing (among others) their hallway rivals from the Staples Center and a Utah Jazz team that despite losing at home for only the second time all season, 94-91 to the Dallas Mavericks last night, is one of the young season’s early and most unlikely success stories.
There is a school of thought that teams with young, fresh legs are going to be best able to adapt to the breakneck pace of this 66-game lockout-shortened schedule, and the Jazz are one such team as they transition from the era of Jerry Sloan, Andrei Kirilenko and Mehmet Okur into the age of Tyrone Corbin, Derrick Favors and Gordon Hayward.
In a game featuring four technical fouls, Favors was ejected late in the third quarter after throwing the ball into the stands to protest a call.
“It’s for sure we got fight,” said Al Jefferson, who led Utah with 22 points. “We got to get that reputation around the league that we’re not going to be pushed around. We’re going to fight to the end. Dallas may have won the game, but they know they were in a fight.”
Shawn Marion whose future (specifically whether the Mavs will trade him) is intrinsically tied to that of Dwight Howard and Deron Williams, led the defending champs with 22 points. Al Jefferson scored 22 for the Jazz but missed 10 of his 18 shots.
From Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News: “The Mavericks are on the verge of establishing a franchise record that a few years ago seemed unthinkable. Against New Orleans on Saturday, they will be trying to hold their 14th consecutive opponent under 100 points. They tied the record on Thursday by holding the Utah Jazz to 91 points. Not since the third game of the season have they allowed over 100 points. They also kept 13 teams in a row under 100 in 2006. And to think, just a few years ago, defense was little more than a hobby for the Mavericks. Now, it’s Job One. A big reason for their defensive success has been Brendan Haywood, who has done a commendable job against Blake Griffin of the Clippers on Wednesday and Al Jefferson of the Jazz on Thursday. “Haywood’s been great the last few games,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “(Utah) was probably his best game of the year because he did everything well. He defended well. He was a presence on offense and around the glass. He made his free throws. He does a very solid job on Jefferson and there aren’t many guys who have a feel for playing him because he’s such a unique low post scorer.”
There was only one other game on a light NBA schedule, the Houston Rockets defeating the New Orleans Hornets 90-88 in overtime in a meeting of two of the teams involved in the vetoed Chris-Paul-to-the-Lakers trade.
Kevin Martin, who would have been dealt to the Hornets in the vetoed deal, scored 27 of his 32 points in the first half to help the Rockets survive an abysmal fourth quarter in which they shot 3-for-21 from the field in the fourth quarter and scored only 7 points. Jarrett Jack of the Hornets had a chance to put his team ahead by one point from the foul line with 18 seconds left, but the 90 percent free-throw shooter missed the second of two to leave the score tied at 82.
The Hornets have lost 12 of their last 13.
““I think the next time we’re in this situation, we can draw on this experience,” Hornets coach Monty Williams said. “Not only draw on it, but believe that we can pull it out. I think we found out that Jason (Smith) is comfortable down the stretch. Trevor (Ariza) is always able to make plays. We just need to make better decisions. …
And make that critical free throw at the critical moment. Right Jarrett?