In defense of... eww... Lebron James

When you win games they love you but when you lose games they loathe you.

Welcome to the world of professional sports.

In Game 4 of the 2011 NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and Dallas Mavericks, Lebron James was held down to eight points – his worst ever output in all of his playoff history.

So suddenly speculations arise – did someone bought Lebron to mess up his game?

First of all, I am not a Miami Heat fan and while I hate the #8 version of Kobe Bryant (I love the #24 version of Kobe except during tiffs against my Boston Celtics), I hate the #6 version of LBJ even more. This LBJ version didn’t want to play second fiddle for Shaquille O’Neal or this LBJ version didn’t have spats with Phil Jackson or this LBJ version didn’t go to Denver to put his junk on a hot cleaning lady.

This LBJ version left his hometown and those who love him to play for a contender.

He did the move by putting his face on nationwide TV for 15 or so minutes of arrogance dubbed as The Decision. Nevermind if LBJ’s intentions are pure – at least Kobe wanted to own Laker superstar status to help the Lakers win championships! Stating your intention to play for another team on a national special is simply uncalled for. This is why Cleveland Cavaliers owner Paul Gilbert tried to hex Lebron James saying that Cleveland will win a title first before Lebron. I don’t believe Gilbert has superpowers but if Miami loses – Gilbert will have a field day.

This is why Lebron James will try his best to NOT lose.

It will be fucking stupid for Lebron to even dare contemplating of burying his dream for a wad of dough. He has already a buttload of money. Even when he retires... he’ll still have more though.

Despite the insistence of many, I am still bent on saying that Lebron James is the main man of the Heat. Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh will continue to have superstar treatments but Miami is Lebron’s team.

Look at the Big Three’s stats if I’m not getting through your skulls.

GAME 1 – MIAMI WINS

GAME 2 – DALLAS WINS

GAME 3 – MIAMI WINS

GAME 4 – DALLAS WINS

With Lebron constantly double team and pressured, Wade and Bosh are given more opportunities to create. This is why when Lebron baits the double team, Wade and Bosh needs to score. Wait... they HAVE to score! They have three superstars for crying out loud. They started the whole “batch all the young stars in one team so the rest of the teams will go bankrupt”! When LBJ gets the flak, other people need to step up. This is a bitter pill for everyone to swallow but Wade and Bosh are Elgin Baylor and Jerry West compared to LBJ’s Wilt Chamberlain.

With the way the series is going, Dwyane Wade is the Heat's Finals MVP... but that's just because the defense collapses hard on LBJ.

By the way, Jerry West is the only NBA player to become the Finals’ MVP even if he was playing for the losing squad.

Just saying.

La... la... dee...

I am beginning to think that Dallas couldn’t care less if Wade and Bosh get those big numbers as long as Lebron is grounded.

Also, if you notice – with Lebron in this kind of shit – Wade and Bosh’s numbers wouldn’t matter as much as it was then. They will always have those numbers. With Lebron stuck in the 8 to 20 range, it makes difficult for Miami to justify the lack of scoring outside the Big Three. Unlike in 2006, the current team do not have Antoine Walker, James Posey, Gary Payton, Jason Williams, and Alonzo Mourning eager to grab one last crack of superstardom. In Games 1 and 3, the Heat saw the answer in Mario Chalmers. Because of the pressure, Chalmers was pushed to the spotlight but he is inconsistent at times (whenever Chalmers scores in double figures, Miami wins). Mike Bibby had his moment in Game 2 but with almost 75 percent of the shots coming from the Big Three, he is contended in playing chief relief to Chalmers. Chalmers and Bibby’s plays reminded me of when Chris Childs and Charlie Ward were still playing for the New York Knicks where one would explode while the other would struggle. Unlike the Knicks though, Miami has three star players so more often than not, they are contented in shooting the occasional rainmakers and orchestrating the ball... when Lebron doesn’t feel like acting as a point guard.

Lebron James is Miami’s game changer. This is the reason why DeShawn Stevenson is getting more minutes and Peja Stojakovic is rendered useless on the bench. At first I was wondering when the hell Rick Carlisle would use the Serb but now I got his point. Lebron James plays more than 40 minutes every night and with him around Peja lasted 14 minutes in their first Finals encounter to two seconds in Game 4. This is not good for me since I am a Peja mark. This reminds me on how Barangay Ginebra's Ronald Tubid averaged less than 10 minutes per game during the 2011 PBA Commissioner's Cup because Tubid can't match up with Talk N Text's import Paul Harris.

YES, I was able to insert a Philippine basketball reference!

Game fixing in professional sports is not new but it would be ridiculous to call a game such because your team lost and the star player struggled.

But if indeed Lebron James is the team’s star player – Dallas needs to get wary of him in the coming games. James is an egotistical performer who wants to say to everyone that he is the most watched player in all of professional sports! With the world watching, the last thing he’ll want is to be embarrassed for the second straight game in front of a global audience. He will devour the pressures and think deep in solving the Dallas defense so he wouldn’t return to Akron after the postseason humiliated.

My buddy Jorge Cosgayon said it right when he said:

“To everybody laughing at/hating on Lebron right now: Ease up.

It's not his fault he's not the best basketball player in the world.

Just because everybody overrated him doesn't mean he can live up to your expectations, so cut the guy some slack!

3/of 11 FGA, 2/4 FT, 9 rebs, 7 assists, 4 T/O, 4PF...

Brian Scalabrine would kill for those numbers!”

Well said, you Lebron hater you.

See, even if we hate Lebron James, we know that he is the biggest threat to Dallas championship hopes. I would rather have Dwyane Wade score a ton of shots and possibly get the game winner than having Lebron James score the living shit out of Dallas.

Besides, the only reason why Miami Haters aligned with the Dallas Mavericks is because of our disdain hate towards the league’s 2-time MVP.

Hell, because I somewhat like Wade, I wouldn’t say anything bad at him...

Chris Bosh? Well... the guy looks like an ostrich but he needs to raise his numbers to above 20 to cancel out Lebron’s miniscule scoring outputs.

This will be a hit or miss for Heat fans on Friday. With the way the blogosphere is ranting at James’ lackluster performance, the idea of him doing everything to possible quadruple his Game 4 production is at hand. Hopefully this move wouldn’t be disruptive of the team’s performance because that idea could launch the fact that Lebron would head hunt the rim and hog the ball instead of looking for better passing opportunities for his open teammates.

But here’s the thing – Dallas’ defense will still be Lebron-centered.

The more they frustrate LBJ, the bigger non-factor he becomes.