Fresh off his disappointing Finals, LeBron James is ready to pursue Olympic gold. James announced Tuesday that he’ll play in the FIBA America’s Tournament in August when the United States tries to qualify for the ’08 Olympics.
“I’m going to play. I’ve had enough time off, and knowing my body more than anybody, I’m ready to play. I don’t know how much I’m going to play or how extensively, but I’ll be ready.”
That doesn’t sound like he’s excited to play but at least he’s going. LBJ will be joining Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd, Carlos Boozer, Chauncey Billups, Deron Williams, Mike Miller, Tayshaun Prince, Tyson Chandler, Amare Stoudemire, Michael Redd, Greg Oden and Kevin Durant at a 3 day minicamp, July 20-22, in Vegas. Although he won’t be able to play, D-Wade said he’ll attend the minicamp and the practices in August.
Remember when these “Trophy Love” commercials were all the rage? The thing that always bothered me is that the name of the NBA trophy is the “Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy”… It seemed weird to me that all of those cats were in love with someone named Larry. Anyways…
The San Antonio Spurs are on the verge of capturing their 4th LOCT, and LeBron James is about to have a long summer. In a game that was viewed by many as Cleveland’s best chance to take one from San Antonio, both teams put the scoring on hold and locked down on coughcough defense. Tim Duncan played only 33 minutes and Cleveland still couldn’t capitalize meaning my predicition of Spurs in 6 is gonna need a miracle in order to see the light of day.
Here’s a few other things I was wrong about:
“Tim Duncan is the Finals MVP”. I’m not completely wrong on this but Parker is probably the leader for the award right now. If the Spurs wrap up the series in game 4 and TD has a big game, Duncan could still be the MVP.
“Cleveland wins their first game at home”. It was all there for the Cavs to take but they couldn’t hit an open shot to save their lives… Or their series. Tim Duncan had the foul trouble that I thought he would, but Cleveland’s scoring trouble was the bigger factor.
“We are all entertained”. The ratings suggest that very few of us are entertained but let’s not rush to make this an NBA issue. People just aren’t watching sports the same anymore. You can look at the World Series declining ratings here or flashback to 2006 when game 1 of the World Series flopped. Everyday can’t be Superbowl Sunday.
As for LeBron handing off to Anderson down the stretch of game 3, I honestly believe he expected to get the ball back. Unfortunately for LBJ, Floppy Jao took matters in to his own hands and frankly, he’s gotta make that basket… And LeBron was fouled by Bruce Bowen at the end of the game. There’s no question about it. The continuation call could have gone either way but James should have gone to the line for at least two free throws.
The biggest thing I’m taking away from this series is that if Cleveland’s front office can get LeBron a Scottie Pippen, the Cavs will rule the East for years. All of the players on the Cavalier roster are role players. There’s no Scottie Pippen, there’s no Dennis Rodman. There’s nobody else on the roster that the other team has to truly worry about. Michael Jordan was surrounded by the right mix of players to highlight his talents. Danny Ferry and company need to do the same for LeBron.
Tonight’s the night that it goes down. Two legacies are in the making. LeBron will become the legitimate face of the league or the Spurs will reach official dynasty status. Gone are the Kobe Bryant trade demands (maybe), no more “the Suns got screwed” (hopefully), and hasta la vista to Flip Saunders (wishfully). It’s time for the NBA Finals.
The Cleveland Cavaliers: I didn’t give them a shot against the Pistons until about 12 points in to LBJ’s final 25 points of game 5. Even when I saw the Cavs outplaying the Pistons earlier in the series, something wouldn’t let me change my mind about Detroit advancing to the Finals. That something is stupidity. Sometimes you have to face the facts and in this case the fact was: Cleveland was the better team. I didn’t believe that going in to the series.. I mean, who couldn’t beat a wounded Wizards team and then Jason Kidd and the Heartless? It was hard for me to fathom that the Cavaliers poor shooting, insufficient role players, and questionable coaching would be able to take down the battle tested, finals focused Detroit Pistons. I was wrong.
The San Antonio Spurs: The Spurs were my true pick to make it to the NBA Finals, but I tried this little experiment at the beginning of the playoffs so I had to ride with the Rockets. You can take a look at my brackets over at BallHype (who has some nice t-shirts btw) and see that I had the Spurs over the Suns. The Spurs have been the best team in the league since the All-Star break, but everybody was caught up in Phoenix and Dallas. It didn’t matter to me that Amare and Diaw got suspended during the Spurs/Suns series.. What I mean by that is the Spurs were gonna beat Phoenix if it went 6 or 7. They were better. The San Antonio/Utah series was a sparring match. SA wanted to get some good work in and then take a rest before matching up with the Eastern Conference… Have you noticed that I made it this far without mentioning Tim Duncan? That’s how it is for the Spurs.. Not a lot of hype, but great execution and the ability to match styles with any team. Wanna slow it down and play half court ball? San Antonio will run everything through TD and slowly dissect you. Wanna speed up the tempo? Parker and Ginobili will run wild on you while the 3 point bombers camp behind the line for a kick out. Pick your poison.
HOW WILL IT END?
If you don’t want to know how the NBA Finals end then stop reading now. For those of you brave enough to stick with me, here it is. The San Antonio Spurs win the championship. It goes 6 games, with San Antonio winning games 1,2,4, and 6. Cleveland wins their first game at home and their last game at home. Tim Duncan is the Finals MVP, but Parker and Ginobili have their moments. Robert Horry hits a big shot down the stretch in one of the games, but I don’t want to give away which one. Cleveland wins game 3 because Tim Duncan is saddled with foul trouble, and they win game 5 because LeBron goes nuts. The Spurs celebrate and the Cavaliers learn a valuable lesson and we are all entertained.
LeBron James isn’t joining the long list of athletes that thought their ballin’ prowess meant they could rhyme… At least not yet.. And I hope never because 99% of the time the athlete sets Hip Hop back 3-5 years. It’s been covered before here at YBB (E-Dubbs, what up bruh?) when Desmond Mason did a decent job of spittin but it has to be said again.. Athletes, just play ball and rappers, just make music. Please.
Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way.. The folks over at Sprite had a contest to make a LeBron James theme song.. Like that cat needed anything else.. And they got Paul Wall and Al Fatz to drop a bar or two on it. You can listen to the track here. I believe that’s Al Fatz rapping in LeBron persona, not actually LeBron rapping. Thank you Jeeezus.
That song (^^) is 100% better than this song/video which was given to me by the fella Icon from around the way at NahRight.com.
Lebron James answered nearly 4 years worth of criticism in one legendary 16 minute span. What’s he ever done?, He can’t win big games, he misses free throws in the clutch, he doesn’t want the ball in crunch time, are just a few of the barbs thrown James’ way. While he did miss a pair of freebies down the stretch last night, the King scored Cleveland’s last 25 points, 29 of the final 30, and shot 18-33 from the field while his teammates shot 19-49. The King finished with 48pts, 9reb, and 7ast. He was walking Detroit defenders to the rim at will.. So much so that I would do the “no no no, holy shit good shot” thing everytime Lebron pulled up for a jumper.
Lebron’s outburst is what everybody has been waiting for. Now just Bron’s haters/fans, but basketball fans. In a playoffs that have featured Jason Kidd averaging a triple double, the Chicago Bulls growing up, the Heat growing old, Dallas choking, the Warriors exciting, Derek Fisher’s pain, the Suns whining, the Spurs getting dirty, and Kobe’s demanding, Lebron has taken center stage.
I’m still in a state of shock because A) I believe I’ve just witnessed one of the top ten all time playoff performances, and B) I didn’t dvr the game even as I knew what I was watching. I think all of the phone calls, IMs, text messages, and emails I was trading with various people about the events of 5-31-07-23 had me out of my right mind. It’s possible that I’ll have more to say about Lebron a little later, but for now I’m gonna watch the ‘nets go nuts with it and soak in the knowledge of Wise Lebron.
YOU BEEN BLINDED 