Posted:
#1
I've wasted a lot of my life watching basketball. Too much if you ask me. From the 80's until today, I've watched and watched. And here is what I have to say about LBJ in relation to tonight. Unless he gets 30 from Love and 30 from Irving, he will have to carry his team to victory with all the pressure in the world once again on his shoulders. In hindsight, he might have had a better chance of quietly going into Oracle, down 1-3, and stealing a game. But not now. Not with how he baited green into a technical/flagrant situation, and not with his reaction afterwards, asking the league to investigate. At the time, I thought it was a brilliant chess move on his part, and gave him credit for the gamesmanship. But the move has backfired big time, turning even Warrior haters (like Barkley) against him (at least in backing up Green). And let me be clear, I think Green does deserve the suspension and the onus was on him not to lose his cool.
But this post is not about what happened, but only how it will impact tonight's game. Having watched LBJ for these many years, I can tell you that in his entire playoff career, I have only seen him perform and succeed under this type of pressure once, and that was against the aging Celtics down 2-3 in game at TD Garden, when he put his team on his back from start to finish. Let's recall, at that point he still had not won a title (losing to the Mavs the previous year) and there were questions about whether or not he would ever win won. Of course, he has played great playoff games and won titles (with the help of the refs against OKC and with the help of Ray Allen against the Spurs), but this man does not perform well under pressure. He simply doesn't. He is not Jordan, Bird, Magic or Kobe. He just is not wired that way. And now he has put even more pressure on himself by baiting Green and then asking the league to do something about it, not to mention the supposed umbrage he took at being called a b i t c h when everyone in the world knows how common that kind of language is in the heat of battle.
So, a man who has rarely come through under pressure, goes into one of the most hostile environments in the NBA, against one of the best team's in NBA history, whom he has given added incentive to and practically turned into underdogs (at least in their own minds) through his actions, with the pressure of having to come through in a do or die game. As a basketball fan, I'd love to see him do it. I love the Warriors, but I love basketball even more and would like nothing better than to see the series and the drama get extended. But I don't think it's happening, because LBJ and clutch rarely go together.
GC Wrestling has said some of the most retarded things I have read on this website. Check out his other posts too...
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