Image by Keith Allison via FlickrEverything promises to be sheer torture now, the worst basketball nightmare of LeBron James unfolding one mocking, ridiculing jeer stacked upon another until the world comes crashing down Sunday night. Biggest game of my life, James proclaimed, and the final minutes of Game 5, the final score, still belonged to someone else. Beyond failure, this felt so much like a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Biggest game of his life, James proclaimed, and his good was unacceptable again. Greatness is demanded for a global icon. Greatness is the burden. Back to the brink for LeBron James, back to the dizzying, dumbfounding edge of his chaotic, careening planet.
All hell crashed down upon James and the Miami Heat in a confounding 112-103 loss to the Dallas Mavericks, an avalanche of Mavericks 3-pointers conspiring with one more pedestrian performance from James in the fourth quarter. From Dirk Nowitzki to Jason Terry, the Mavericks humiliated him in the clutch and moved within a victory of an NBA championship. Nothing out of James in the fourth quarter, nothing to honor and validate a talent that ought to be controlling these Finals.
These Dallas Mavericks go to great lengths to mess with him, hurling insults and insinuations with regularity that they never would’ve dared with different superstars. Why? Because they believe it messes with his mind. They believe the words will fester within him, keep him thinking when he ought to be reacting. Terry says James can’t guard him, and so far he’s been right. DeShawn Stevenson essentially called him a quitter in Game 4. Shawn Marion appeared to call him much worse on the floor, too.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=Am7.8NmGcAOVwREs8J5GceW8vLYF?slug=aw-wojnarowski_lebron_james_nba_finals_game5_061011
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