Despite Lebron's play, his ball hogging cost them the game

[DrHouse]

Holding onto the ball for 20 seconds and stagnating the offense left his role players completely cold in the 4th.

The Cavs simply got exposed for the one man show they are tonight by a good defensive ball club.

They dominate crappy and mediocre teams but simply haven't been good against elite competition.

[Spursfan092120]

as much as I hate to say it, I agree 100%

[Allanon]

Lakers would know about this.

Bad Kobe and Good Kobe...Laker fans know all too well. We know when we see it :)

[Amaso]

You can't put this loss on Lebron, he played great for 3 quarters as usual.

[E20]

Lebron's teammates were sucking well before him dominating the ball in the 3rd. If his teammates weren't helping him then he should hold on to the ball and take all thie shot attempts he wants.

[DrHouse]

Of course we Laker fans know all about this. Kobe went through this shit in '04-07.

[peskypesky]

i actually feel for Lebron. i think he's in the same situation Kobe was in a couple of years ago. he's so much better than anyone else on his team that he's caught in a no-win situation. if he shares the ball with his mediocre team-mates, they don't produce enough, and they lose. if he keeps the ball and tries to do it alone, they lose anyway and he's called a ball-hog.

i'm not sure what i would do in that situation. it's almost impossible to win a championship when you're in a bind like that. jordan didn't win til he had Pippen. bird had mchale and parish and others. shaq had kobe and wade. garnett couldn't win a ring til he was on a team with pierce and ray allen.

so what's lebron to do?

[NewJerSpur]

I'll give LeBron his just due..................tonight (because he was travelling and "crab-dribbling" all over the place). He has no Scottie Pippen or Shaquille O'Neil....he has a bunch of role-playing jumpshooters. They can still win with this team when they hit their shots (just like Orlando), but when they're off it's going to be a long night. They rely on floor spacing which Orlando shut down by closing out the perimeter and were struggling so much when they got open shots they couldn't hit those....they also aren't used to playing from behind.

[DrHouse]

Lebron's role players >>> Kobe's role players from '04-07. Let's not distort the facts people.

If LBJ had to deal with Kwame, Smush, Chucky Atkins, etc. he wouldn't register a single assist :)

[Allanon]

so what's lebron to do?

q3-lpFToU9k

[NewJerSpur]

Lebron's role players >>> Kobe's role players from '04-07. Let's not distort the facts people.

If LBJ had to deal with Kwame, Smush, Chucky Atkins, etc. he wouldn't register a single assist :)

I'll give you that Dr. Frontrunner, er, House, but he still doesn't have a Scottie Pippen on his roster or a Shaq when things get really tough. It's no excuse because of what they were able to accomplish this last season, but their team compared to Orlando's is a bit weaker in that regard.

[j-money24]

I cant believe some of you are blaming LeBron, He played as good as anybody can tonight to help his team win.

[DrHouse]

He played great for 3 quarters, but in the 4th he should have involved his teammates more instead of holding the ball for 20 seconds and taking a 1 vs. 5 shot. That was simply bad basketball IMHO.

[NewJerSpur]

He played great for 3 quarters, but in the 4th he should have involved his teammates more instead of holding the ball for 20 seconds and taking a 1 vs. 5 shot. That was simply bad basketball IMHO.

If you want to criticize him for holding the ball so long on possessions I can understand, but that's generally his game. The Magic were just better at defending the rim without fouling than most of the opponents Cleveland has steamrolled.

[Indazone]

Bad Kobe and Good Kobe...Laker fans know all too well. We know when we see it :)

Ditto with T-Mac when he does it.

[baseline bum]

Lebron's role players >>> Kobe's role players from '04-07. Let's not distort the facts people.

If LBJ had to deal with Kwame, Smush, Chucky Atkins, etc. he wouldn't register a single assist :)

:td

LeBron hasn't had a teammate as good as Odom since Boozer left.

[Ghazi]

I can't in good conscious pin a loss on a man who goes for 49/8/6 on 20-30 shooting!

[JoeTait75]

Just stop, Gregory. LeBron did everything he possibly could to win this game. He got no help, and Orlando hit their shots, which they do every single time they play the Cavaliers.

Give credit to Orlando, and give credit to LeBron for being practically superhuman out there.

[iggypop123]

mo williams choked

[BandWagon Cavs Fan]

mo williams choked

big time

[DDS4]

He played great for 3 quarters, but in the 4th he should have involved his teammates more instead of holding the ball for 20 seconds and taking a 1 vs. 5 shot. That was simply bad basketball IMHO.

Oh the irony.

[YellowFever]

Lebron did his part.

I blame this loss on the head coach.

He should've gotten Lebron a couple of minutes rest earlier in the quarter.

Lebron got one of the best shooters a clean look and that's all he can do.

[JoeTait75]

mo williams choked

He didn't choke, he was just off. He hit that big three to get them within one in the final two minutes. Mo shot 38 percent against Orlando in the regular season, this isn't exactly a new development.

[DrHouse]

This is why Lebron should never play 48 minutes a game.

You need to develop a bench to go the distance.

Mike Brown has ZERO confidence in his bench, he inserted Lebron back in at the 10 minute mark. He still doesn't completely trust his team when Lebron isn't on the floor and that will be a major problem for them.

[robbie380]

when a guy has a 70% total shooting percentage on the equivalent of 35 FGAs (30 fgas + 10 free throws attempted) with 8 assists and only 2 turnovers then you can't blame shit on him. one of his bum teammates needs to step up and do something. this is the playoffs.


anyhow....the cavs lost because their "vaunted" defense didn't do crap tonight. giving up 107 on 55% from the field will get you swept. how the hell do you allow the visiting team to shoot 55% from the field if you are supposed to be a dominant defense? even houston kept the league's best offense to 41% shooting when they were playing in houston. they even held the lakers to 48% shooting when they were in la even though there were 2 complete routs without yao.

lol at this cavs team having the defense to stop the lakers. i was fooled by their first 8 playoffs games but no longer.

[DrHouse]

It doesn't matter how hot Lebron was for the entire game. When you freeze your teammates out the way he did you simply can't count on them to produce when you need them at the end of the game.

So many possessions where Lebron just stood there holding the ball for 15-20 seconds were bad plays. I don't care if he made the shots, those are bad 1 vs. 5 plays that I've seen Kobe Bryant do for a long time until recently. It's that kind of play that will not win games against good defensive teams.

Why do you think the Lakers are nearly undefeated when Kobe shoots less than 20 shots? There is a reason why you don't want one guy taking every single shot for you, regardless of how hot he is.

[robbie380]

It doesn't matter how hot Lebron was for the entire game. When you freeze your teammates out the way he did you simply can't count on them to produce when you need them at the end of the game.

So many possessions where Lebron just stood there holding the ball for 15-20 seconds were bad plays. I don't care if he made the shots, those are bad 1 vs. 5 plays that I've seen Kobe Bryant do for a long time until recently. It's that kind of play that will not win games against good defensive teams.

Why do you think the Lakers are nearly undefeated when Kobe shoots less than 20 shots? There is a reason why you don't want one guy taking every single shot for you, regardless of how hot he is.

so you don't think the cavs allowing 107 points on 55% shooting had anything to do with the loss? was it only lebron not running the offense?

[DrHouse]

Obviously the Cavs defense sucked, but their offense was totally stagnant in the 2nd half outside of Lebron.

[TheNextGen]

Lebron's teammates were sucking well before him dominating the ball in the 3rd. If his teammates weren't helping him then he should hold on to the ball and take all thie shot attempts he wants.

we're you the one coaching Kobe a few years back? lol

[mingus]

Of course we Laker fans know all about this. Kobe went through this shit in '04-07.

04-07 ... man where were all you Lakers "fans" at then huh ? :lmao

[DrHouse]

Where were we? Selling out Staples Center you ignorant fuck, whilst your pathetic fanbase can't even sell out a playoff game anymore.

Spurs fans = epitome of bandwagon fans

[KidCongo]

I'll watch the game tonight but usually they go to LeIso when the team is struggling and it is effective in getting scores.

[KidCongo]

Oh yeh and the Cavs are the worst 3rd Q team in history.

[NewJerSpur]

Where were we? Selling out Staples Center you ignorant fuck, whilst your pathetic fanbase can't even sell out a playoff game anymore.

Spurs fans = epitome of bandwagon fans

You wouldn't come anywhere near the board when your team was losing. Bandwagon huh.

[redzero]

LeBron's over-dribbling remind me of the Hornets' offense when Chris Paul isn't on the floor. Nobody knows what to do, so our point guard just dribbles half the clock out, to get a horrible shot over turnover. LeBron, however, knows how to get to the line.

[KSeal]

LeBron's over-dribbling remind me of the Hornets' offense when Chris Paul isn't on the floor. Nobody knows what to do, so our point guard just dribbles half the clock out, to get a horrible shot over turnover. LeBron, however, knows how to get to the line.

Apparently he also now knows how to put the ball in the heart of the basket from 19 feet out, that's just scary. When his mid range jumper is falling like it was tonight the man is simply unstoppable. I'm still not quite sure how he missed four FT's though, he was shooting light outs from all over the floor.

[LnGrrrR]

Holding onto the ball for 20 seconds and stagnating the offense left his role players completely cold in the 4th.

The Cavs simply got exposed for the one man show they are tonight by a good defensive ball club.

They dominate crappy and mediocre teams but simply haven't been good against elite competition.

Good defensive ball club? They gave up how many leads against the Celtics? The Celtics that were, keep in mind, giving SCALABRINE significant minutes?

[KidCongo]

Good defensive ball club? They gave up how many leads against the Celtics? The Celtics that were, keep in mind, giving SCALABRINE significant minutes?

We are talking regular season ok man:lol

House is dumb.

[florige]

mo williams choked



Oh no you didn't!! Mo Williams choked!? The same Mo Williams who just a few weeks ago had the nerve to put his name in the same category as Pippen. That Mo Williams? Wow I wonder what happened?:rolleyes

[Stump]

The Cavs scored 106 points in this game. That is more than enough offense to come out with a victory.

Defense is the culprit here.

[urunobili]

It was notorious the ball hogging issue but their D lost the game not LBJ...

[benefactor]

They were off for eight days and the Magic were hot off a game seven win. Some loss of defensive focus is not surprising. The Magic will probably be blown out in game two.

[bresilhac]

Where were we? Selling out Staples Center you ignorant fuck, whilst your pathetic fanbase can't even sell out a playoff game anymore.

Spurs fans = epitome of bandwagon fans

You think Laker fans aren't bandwagon jumpers? They're the worst for committing this offense. And another thing, why do you piece of shit Laker fans insist on coming on this Spurs board and knocking the fans? Are the Laker boards so pathetically boring and worthless that you all have to come on here spewing your vile shit? Get a fucking life loser and quit polluting a fine forum.

[lefty]

Holding onto the ball for 20 seconds and stagnating the offense left his role players completely cold in the 4th.

The Cavs simply got exposed for the one man show they are tonight by a good defensive ball club.

They dominate crappy and mediocre teams but simply haven't been good against elite competition.


Wow.


You are really retarded

Really.



Call me when Kobe has 49 pts and 8 assists in the same game.

Kobe has a better team around him; Cavs were awful yesterday when LBJ was on the bench; he had no choice but to try to take over the game himself.


And last year, with a crappier team around him, they almost eliminated the Celtics.
Kobe had a much better team around him and his Lakers got destroyed in 6 games
(including the 24 pt meltdown @ home, and the blowout in game 6)


You are not a relevant human being.

[mingus]

Where were we? Selling out Staples Center you ignorant fuck, whilst your pathetic fanbase can't even sell out a playoff game anymore.

Spurs fans = epitome of bandwagon fans


i think other than the Cavs the Spurs have the highest local ratings the in the NBA . someone posted the list not that long ago ... so you're an idiot .

and of course LA can sell out every game , the metropolitan area is 3rd biggest in the U.S. ... and plus i guess people in lala land are just as delusional about their team's potential as they are about their acting potential ... LA wasn't going anywhere those years :lol ...

:flag:

[DrHouse]

i think other than the Cavs the Spurs have the highest local ratings the in the NBA . someone posted the list not that long ago ... so you're an idiot .

and of course LA can sell out every game , the metropolitan area is 3rd biggest in the U.S. ... and plus i guess people in lala land are just as delusional about their team's potential as they are about their acting potential ... LA wasn't going anywhere those years :lol ...

:flag:

When the Hornets were in OKC they sold out every game. Don't give me that BS excuse about being in a small market.

The bottom line is San Antonio is full of fair weather fans who only support their team when they are championship contenders. After that they all jump off the bandwagon.

[mingus]

When the Hornets were in OKC they sold out every game. Don't give me that BS excuse about being in a small market.

The bottom line is San Antonio is full of fair weather fans who only support their team when they are championship contenders. After that they all jump off the bandwagon.

the comparison your using is retarded because OKC's teams have been there for such a short while and they're a novelty , but pretty much every city in the league that's a small market and has had a team for a while has trouble selling a lot of tickets if their team is bad or average ... you're cherry picking a team and situation to make you're retarded argument seem legit ...

LA has got like 10 mil people in its metro area or more compared to SA's probably 2 mil or less ... so of course they're going to sell out more games ... it's the local ratings that are more indicative of a fanbase's loyalty because it shows how many people are following the team on a reg. basis ... and LA isn't even close to SA in that area ...

[rayray2k8]

For a minute there I thought you were talking about kobe. :lol
Kobe be a ball hog? Nooo. :rolleyes

[Killakobe81]

A couple of points here:
Lebron HIMSELF said maybe he should of got more teammates involved because a.) he tired out and b.) no one else had it going.
Mo williams defended Lebron and said he had 19 shots himself, he needed to make more ...
Both are right ...
I dont think Kobe, Lebron Mj were ball-hogs when they are in attack mode and getting scores especially in the playoffs were every bucket can be huge ...

I think the one key point that I will make NOT to diminish Lebron because he was extremely impressive offensively ...if you copmpare that game to Kobe and Melo's Lebron despite scoring the most was the least impressive overall.
1. Because he lost ...
2. he missed key FT's down the stretch
3. He played the role many on here accuse Kobe of not gaurding the best player on the other team and playing a help defense role
4. He tired out when needed most

I know many will dismiss this as homer Laker talk but Kobe scored 40, hit the clutch Ft's made the key assists and guarded Billups in the 1st half ...did his best against Melo in the clutch and grabbed the final rebound.

Kobe is stil the best closer ...and all around player in the NBA.
Lebron is the best force of nature and is improving by leaps and bounds if he stays healthy in 2 more years he will be just entering his prime! Scary ...
Melo is the a feak combination of size, speed and skill if he were a better passer and ball handler i would vote him most complete offensive player in teh game even over Wade Kobe or Lebron ...

[redzero]

The Spurs have bandwagon fans from all over the world. They see those rings and come flocking to San Antonio.

[Allanon]

It took Kobe many years to figure out when to hog the ball and when to pass to his teammates. When to take the Final shot and when to let a teammate take it. When it's time to defend the other team's best player and when to just play help defense.

That's the next step in LeBron's development but I'm sure he'll figure it as he gets more experience.