why on earth can the Cavs not sustain this for a whole game....

just gonna blame it on mike brown, in fact i will start blaming everything on mike brown

i don't understand it so i'm gonna blame the coach

Danny Ferry too because he cost us 2 rings by being traded for a pre blown knee Ron Harper

47 secs left - lebron has scored or assisted on the last 32 cavs points -

i think maybe they rely too much on him

and Jadaki wants to know why he's tired

ave vs orlando in playoffs 42 7 7

I wonder if Lebron still loves his teammates

Kenny Smith on Cavs 4th qtr offense - they gave him the ball and stood around i've never seen that work before

Smith: What did they do different that worked tonight
Barkley: Nothing
Smith: Nothing

Mike Brown is a genius - sigh

OMG that Nirvana album cover with charles as the baby chasing a Donut - I have to have that!

lakers +5.5 tonight, hopefully they just win the game outright and make me doubly happy

I'm just making fun of the greatest athlete to ever play the game getting tired. At least last night wasn't officiated horribly like most the other games. The only horrendously stupid call was when Alston fouled Lebron after he stole the ball and they called clear path when Alston was in front of him. But the Cavs were down at that point so it's not surprising.

Also I don't care what he is averaging, he is a miracle 3 on a poorly defended inbound from already being golfing for the summer.

He is also a Rashard Lewis fall-away three (which came off a poorly defended inbounds play ironically) from being up 3-2. The fact that you dont care what he is averaging shows that you are hopelessly biased on this debate and it is beyond pointless to argue with you. The officiating has been great the last two games dont jinx it. The clear path call was bad....but the home team is going to get one. If a triple-double with almost 40 points doesnt do anything for you, then nothing is.

If his supporting cast does not have another good game in Game 6, they will go home and people will blame Lebron (just like they always blamed Marino) and that'll be a shame but it comes with the territory.

Where did I rip on his triple double? I haven't said anything at all about his performance in game 5.

I was talking about my comments from game 4 which Keith was referring too.

You act like he is the only player in history to average those numbers which is far from the case? Not to mention those numbers mean jack shit when you are losing the series. And if he wants to be the best ever, he is always going to get blame for his team losing, pardon me if I don't shed a tear for the guy who I keep being told is the greatest to ever lace'em up.

That clear path foul was the only time all year I've seen anyone get that call when the defender was clearly in front of them. I've seen guys get mugged from behind this year and clear path not get called. I guarantee you Orlando won't get that same call if a similar scenario pops up in game 6.

find me someone who averaged 42,7,7 in a conference finals (win or lose). find me that guy. I think that list will be pretty amazing.

I have never bought into the idea that numbers mean nothing if you lose the series. That is not an accurate way to rate someone. You get marked down for losing but they certainly mean more than jack shit. It's not like he had a bad Game 4 either. I am not asking you to shed a tear....I am asking you to be even remotely objective and realize that while he will get most of the blame....he shouldn't. Not averaging 42,7,7. What more do you want him to do? He could cut down on his turnovers. That would be my critique of Lebron. And they should have him guarding Lewis or Turk at all times, not just sometimes. He should demand it from Mike Brown. Thats about it though. Maybe slightly improved FT shooting.

Did you miss the graphic last night comparing him to West, where West was ahead of him? I'm not saying it's a long list, but he isn't breaking new ground.

So far all his 40 point games have done is lose them games. He needs to learn that if his teammates don't get in rhythm early in the game that they sure won't have it when he feels like passing to them for their first shot of the 4th quarter. He got plenty of help last night from Mo Williams. They also made all the big hustle plays in the 4th that got them extra possessions.

I have never seen a Cavs game where Lebron did not try to get his teammates involved early, middle and late. I dont understand this criticism at all. Lebron is twice as unselfish as Wade and five times as unselfish as Kobe. He always tries to get everyone involved early. In Game 5, his teammates knocked down those shots. In games 1-4, they mostly didnt. Mo, Z and West were all well off their usual FG%. If that's Lebron's fault....

So, he is 2nd on the list with Jerry West. You're right if you dont "break new ground" with your performance it is your fault when you lose. Got it. He's ONLY having the 2nd best statistical performance in conference finals history. That's crap. Step it up, Lebron.

The problem with not breaking new ground is everyone on this forum apparently forgot the NBA existed before Lebron. He wants to be the "King", the center of attention for the entire league, the most famous and most wealthy athlete in the world, sorry if to reach those goals he have to shoulder the burden of losing. Actually I'm not, you wanna be the man you take the bad with the good.

And his performance is far from second best in conference finals History. Kobe is breaking conference finals scoring records in the other series and his team is up not down.

Tell me to get excited about James, and I'm nodding. The guy is incredible. His fourth quarter was damn near perfect. Orlando led 79-78 entering the fourth, but Cleveland outscored the Magic 34-23 in the final quarter. Of those 34 points, James scored 17. Of the Cavs' remaining 17 points, James assisted on 12. You follow? Cleveland scored 34 points in the fourth quarter, and James scored or assisted on 29. The only five he didn't directly create were the last five points of the game, all from the foul line.

"That's what great players do," Cleveland coach Mike Brown said. "Great players put the team on their back."

James is certainly a great player, so great that he deserves a place in the conversation about the best players of all time. And he has been consistently great in this series, averaging 41.2 points, 8.6 rebounds and 8.2 assists. Those are cartoon numbers.

But even with James playing the road runner to Orlando's coyote, Cleveland wasn't going to win this game without enormous contributions from elsewhere. And Cleveland got that, most notably 24 points from Mo Williams and 11 points from Daniel Gibson, who combined to go 9-for-13 on 3-pointers. It also helped that Cleveland center Zydrunas Ilgauskas went 6-for-8 from the floor.

Those were fantastic contributions, but here's why I'm not enthused about Cleveland's ability to win this series: They were, as far as this series goes, flukes. All of them.

Mo Williams came into the game shooting 32.4 percent from the floor, 22.2 percent on 3-pointers. But he was red-hot in Game 5. Ilgauskas had been shooting 41.9 percent from the floor, but he almost couldn't miss. And Gibson? He barely played in the first four games, scoring eight points overall. But he has 11 in Game 5.


That sums up the series. Lebron is historically good, his teammates terrible until Game 5. Gasol and Ariza are having great series....so LA is winning. Williams and Z disappeared so the Cavs are losing. Kobe is having a nice conference finals but he is asked to carry half the burden Lebron is. 41,8,8 is ridiculous. If they lose, he will have done all he could.

Gasol isn't having a great series, he is efficient but they haven't been getting him the ball nearly enough. Ariza seems good for 2-3 big plays a game to swing momentum or seal a victory. He has had a good playoff run overall.

And if the Cavs lose sure Lebron will have done all he could. I wouldn't expect Mo and DG to go 9-13 from 3 again, especially on the road. Also if Z is on the floor the Magic should be pushing him on the defensive end, they didn't last night.

Can you guys take this back over to the Lebron thread please? We don't need 2 threads with this shit.

not like there is a lot of traffic in here anyways......the Cavs losing (and how Orlando is doing it to them) is the story of the playoffs (celts/bulls a close 2nd).

One other thing, we all remember the performance Lebron had in the playoffs against the Pistons because it helped them win. If he had done the same thing in a loss, not so great.

funny chart, gives way too much credit to soccer refs (and is too hard on NFL refs who I think do a decent job overall).

I think soccer is that high because of the ability to call penalties in the box where one call can easily determine a game. And yea it's probably a bit harsh on NFL refs.

I meant more that soccer refs are often really incompetent....

sigh at Denver's sloppy game 6.

here's to lots of horrible calls favoring the cavs

here here

wow it's gonna take a lot of ref help to pull this off

lol only the magic

hahaha

I honestly knew it was over when Mike Brown started bragging about letting LeBron go 1 on 5 for the whole 4th of game 5

You're a coaching genius and that's all you could come up with - We got LeBron get out of the way?

I'd like to thank the Magic for winning me a nice expensive dinner tonight. I'd also like to tell Lebron to kiss my ass for missing a 3 late in the second quarter that cost me a over/under bet on the halftime score. The one time I'm cheering for you to make a shot and you let me down.

Magic-Lakers should be great fun to watch.

Lakers bigs/mediums match up SO much better against Lewis and Hedu than the poor Cavs did (Odom/Gasol/Ariza/etc)... Bynum and friends aren't going to shut down Howard anytime soon, but the Lakers biggest weakness (small, quick PGs who can actually shoot) won't come into play, since Rafer Altson isn't about to light anyone on fire.

What am I rooting for? A slap-fight breaking out between JJ Reddick and Adam Morrison.. Anything else is gravy.

Agree with everything and LOL at the highlighted.

With Ariza and Odom, the huge advantage Orlando had over Cleveland wont be present against the Lakers.

Lakers in 5.

whos gasol gonna guard?

WTH, when did LA get Adam Morrison. How did I miss that? And what happened to him, was/is he hurt?

he just isnt good

Traded Radmanovic for him and Shannon Brown.

final the finals are upon us!go lakersss


no jameer nelson tonight as well

lewis until odom comes in, gonna be interesting

That really was the steal in that trade.

Did a series of JJ Reddick highlights just lead us into a commercial break?

Why does everyone think that Phil didn't know the foul situation at the end of regulation? He said they had a foul to use, which meant he thought they were going to foul to send them to the line, but if they took it out full-court they wouldn't foul right away which would give them a chance to get a running start and maybe get a look. Is it just me, or does like 99% of people that write about basketball have no idea what they are talking about?