Who's got LeBron?
By Jeff McDonald
There was a moment during the Spurs' preseason victory over Cleveland on Friday when LeBron James truly looked like LeBron James.
He started on a fast break, then gathered steam as if running downhill. Closer to the Spurs' basket, James bulldozed through the unfortunate soul charged with stepping in front of him -- in this case Malik Hairston -- drew a foul and then finished the niftiest layup you ever saw.
It was vintage LeBron, Michael Jordan meets charging rhino.
"That guy in transition is unstoppable," Spurs assistant Mike Budenholzer said. "Once he gets a head of steam, it's really hard to guard him. We talked about needing five guys back, basically, to put up a wall."
There wasn't a single Spur on the floor who could guard this LeBron on Friday, which is no shame. There probably isn't anyone in the world who could do it.
But in this Bruce Bowen-less era of Spurs basketball, the question begs asking: When the games start to count, when push comes to shove and perhaps and NBA le in on the line, who guards LeBron?
The answer won't matter until March 8. That's when the Spurs and Cavs meet for the first time in the regular season. But the answer is instructive nonetheless. If any player could even get in James' way, it would bode well for when the Spurs face teams without a once-in-a-lifetime superstar on the wing.
Michael Finley, Keith Bogans and Hairston all took a crack at the King. Finley was game, and benefitted from having the good fortune to guard James while he was still in "get-everybody-else-involved" mode. Hairston, too, gave it his best shot, but at times looked like the near-rookie he is. Bogans, dubbed Bowen's sort-of heir apparent, fared the best, but still found it to be rough sledding.
In truth, the player who will likely spend the most time on James the next time these teams meet wasn't even in uniform Friday. Richard Jefferson sat this one out. Odds are good, however, he'll draw the black bean on March 8.
With that in mind, maybe it was good for Jefferson to catch a breather Friday. He'll get to practice on every other team's best perimeter player for the next five months.
An interesting question to ponder in the post-Bowen era. Obviously, no one person can check James. It takes an entire defense. , Bowen was often overmatched trying to defend this guy.
I have this vision of James powering himself to the hoop and guys looking around at one another and wondering "why didn't you get him?" I applaud Hairston for "manning up" and taking a charge from that runaway freight train.
Last edited by SenorSpur; 10-17-2009 at 12:40 PM.
"Bogans, dubbed Bowen's sort-of heir apparent, fared the best, but still found it to be rough sledding"
That gave me a chuckle.
It has to be Jefferson. He's the only one with the quickness and size (sort of) to stay in front of Lebron, and even at that, it probably won't be enough. Lebron is as quick and as fast as some of the small point guards, and as big as some of the power forwards and centers in this league.
Lebron will never be able to be contained by 1 man..
Even when Bruce did a great job on him, Duncan had a huge part in that too, and so did the entire team..
It'll always take a team effort to stop the best player in the NBA..especially now, since Lebron is a little better than he was in 2007, and his teammates are better as well..
Because Jefferson has more size than Bowen, he should be able to body up on James a bit better. However, he doesn't have the quick hands and feet that Bruce had. Therefore, RJ WILL have trouble staying in front of him. LeBron is just too damn quick.
Who ever is on him, it's gotta be in concert with letting Blair or our other bigs get a few hard fouls on him. Break him off some. You've gotta at least make him think twice.....
Jefferson btw is the guy James scored those 19 points on within a 2-3minute period. Don't expect miracles from his direction. He was in good position every time, and James just got hot, so I don't think that means he is a bad defender, just that he isn't going to be stopping James anytime soon.
To be fair, like you said, he was in a good position..there's nobody in the NBA that could have stopped Lebron in that stretch..he was launching 35-footers like it was nothing..simply amazing..
Hairston picked up 3 quick fouls last night when he checked in during the third to guard LBJ. I think RJ will be the guy, but I won't be shocked if they try Hailslip on him too. Slip may be quick and long enough...
who can stop tp on the cavs?
unbelievable even with the replacements james gets away with junk and noone can be 10 feet near him
Overall he did well on James though. And some of his fouls no one could have avoided. Lebron got to sprint down the court way too many times for my liking, and there was never a big in his way. Unless you count Bonner, of course.
I say put Jefferson on him, and let Jefferson sag a bit. Turn Lebron into a jumpshooter. I know, wishful thinking. Or just do the typical Spurs defense where you take away the middle, and funnel him to the sides so the post defender can help out.
nobody. that's why he had just as many points as Lebron.
i can live with Lebron taking 3's. he'll never win a championship doing that. he ain't ray allen.
when I saw the thread le I thought it's because nobody wanted to guard him because of the flu
Am I the only one that noticed McD calling LeBron a "black bean"?
Lol, it's "drew the black bean", as in Jefferson is the one that has the unfortunate assignment of guarding Lebron. Just a phrase.
You didn't know that that was LeBron's nickname? Have you been living under a rock? Next you're going to tell me that you haven't heard Shaq's new nickname, The Clevland Steamer.
I don't think we need to worry about that.
Lakers>>>Cavs
If we lose to the Lakers, we will not match up with the Cavs.
If we can beat the Lakers, there's no way we could lose to the Cavs.
I agree. Boston and Orlando are both better than the Cavs as well, imo.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
