Updated throughout the day with quick takes from staff.
It seems counterintuitive to criticize the decision-making of a player who is, by far, the best clutch player in the NBA this season (sorry, Kobe). And yet we must say this: LeBron James blew the Celtics game today after leading his team back into it.
On their face, LeBron's numbers look great. 42 points on 31 shots, 7 rebounds, 9 assists, and a +/- ratio that was three points better than the final margin. 20 points in the fourth quarter! That's outstanding production, clearly.
And yet, observe his shot chart from today's game:
That's 13-16 from inside 15 feet... and 1-15 outside 15 feet. 1-15! Obviously, this is a severe aberration, as LeBron James will almost never miss long jumpers at such a ludicrous rate. But with such success getting to the rim and/or the free throw line (22 attempts; he only made 14, but that's an issue for another day), it defies reason that LeBron should have even taken 15 long jumpers to begin with.
We can't and won't attempt to match the depth to which Kelly Dwyer tackled this very subject six weeks ago. His analysis is solid, and you should take his word for it. We'll just add this: LeBron James is a rocket-powered tank of a man. His talent is limitless. He is capable of doing whatever he wants on a basketball court. We sure think it'd be a better idea for him to want to do something other than hoist more than a dozen long jumpers in a big-time game like the C's/Cavs contest tonight.
3 comments
Comments
yeah he took too many from outside when he was having his way on the inside. but why does he get so much crap from people on the few occasions this does happen. how many times does kobe shoot like 30% on a lot of shots when others on his team are dominating (like today for instance) and noone says a word. ONE part of lebrons game wasnt incredibly amazing today and theres posts on the subject, lets not make a big deal out of this. How much do you want to bet this doesn’t happen again this season?
by CavsLebronFan on Apr 4, 2010 9:31 PM EDT reply actions
Homer.
No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!
by Diosnomeama on Apr 5, 2010 2:01 AM EDT up reply actions
Inconsistent.
I’ve seen games where Lebron’s nailing perimeter shots and then I’ve seen games like yesterday’s game. He is a wildly inconsistent jump shooter who’s true value there lies somewhere in between. What’s incredible is that even with an 0-9 night from distance and 1-15 from the perimeter he still had 42 points on 31 shots and made an impact all across the stat sheet.
His biggest problem is that his form on jump sots changes from game to game. When he shoots off balance, pull up jumpers he sucks like most of his misses yesterday. When he comes off screens and pulls up straight in the air, in control he’s good shooter. At the end of the day he’s good enough where you can’t leave him wide open from the perimeter, which is all that’s necessary anyway. If anything the most important development for him to make is a post up game, which he has began to slowly add to his repertoire.
by aramnath on Apr 5, 2010 9:17 AM EDT up reply actions
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