So much has been made of the trials and tribulations of LeBron James over the course of these NBA playoffs, which is to be expected. When you flame out the way James flamed out in the NBA Finals last June, you are going to be under a microscope — or a Hubble telescope as columnist Tom D’Angelo wrote in this Game 6 column. But how about we take a look at another of the stars in this series, and put him
BOSTON _ Heat forward Shane Battier marvels at the daily scrutiny his teammate LeBron James endures in his everyday life. James can’t make a move on or off the court that is not broken down, streamed and beamed all over the world. Battier often points out that James “is human,” and humans can only take so much. But Battier will have a hard convincing any members of the Boston Celtics that the three-time MVP is anything but superhuman after he scored 45
Tonight, the Boston Celtics will try to become the 16th team in NBA history to come back from an 0-2 deficit to win a playoff series. Yesterday, the Oklahoma City Thunder became the 15th. Here is the list of all the teams that have done it, and below are some interesting notes about the Celtics and Heat. Boston (vs. Los Angeles) 1969 Finals Los Angeles (vs. San Francisco) 1969 Western Division Semifinals Baltimore (vs. New York) 1971 Eastern Conference Finals Portland (vs. Philadelphia) 1977 Finals Chicago (vs. New York) 1993 Eastern Conference Finals Houston (vs. Phoenix) 1994 Western Conference
Break up the Big Three? Maybe down in Miami, where the trio of so-called superstars have the collective toughness of your average 9-year-old girl. But not in Boston, where the Celtics are on the verge of a huge postseason upset, and Kevin Garnett looks like he is about to hand previously undefeated Father Time his first career loss. You don’t have to like Garnett. You don’t have to like the stream of R-rated language that comes from his mouth after every good play.
// csprtContainer(); // ]]> If you missed the postgame interviews, Miami coach Erik Spoelstra was asked why he left Chris Bosh on the bench for the entire fourth quarter of the Heat’s Game 5 loss to the Boston Celtics. Spoelstra responded that it “wouldn’t have been fair” to Bosh to put him in for the final 3 minutes. Hello? Wouldn’t have been fair? On what grounds? This was Game 5 of an even series, a fourth quarter in which the Heat were getting destroyed over and
It appears Dwyane Wade's status as an elite NBA guard might be slipping a bit.
Rajon Rondo sure had some intriguing moments with Doris Burke of ESPN in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Sunday night. During the half-time interview, Rondo was asked, “what holes are you guys exploiting in this defense?” His answer was a surprising call out against the Heat, saying “them complaining and crying to referees in transition”, as you will see in the video below. (via youtube user nbaus3030) Indeed, shots were fired. The Heat players will surely hear of this gem
Fair or unfair, we judge LeBron James on what he does in the final seconds of fourth quarters. He passed the ball instead of shooting it at the end of the 2012 All-Star game, he failed on a spectacular scale against the Dallas Mavericks in the fourth quarters of the 2011 NBA Finals, and his three MVP awards sit on a shelf alongside zero championship rings. So when the end of the fourth quarter arrived Sunday night in Game 4 of