by Ryan Isley
It was the night of May 25, 2007.
At first glance, that date may not mean anything to most people. Now add the names LeBron James and Donyell Marshall to that date and immediately it should hit you as to why that date is significant in the career of LeBron James and the history of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
With the Detroit Pistons leading the Cavaliers 78-76 with 12 seconds to play in the game one of the Eastern Conference Finals, LeBron drove and kicked the ball out to Marshall, who missed a three-pointer in the final five seconds that ended up wrapping up a victory for the Pistons.
And that is when it started – the argument on whether LeBron James had the “clutch gene” or not.
But what is lost in the discussion is this – the play was the right basketball play. And it is a play that LeBron has repeated over the years. For LeBron, being clutch isn’t just about making baskets and scoring points – it is also about trying to make the right basketball play in every situation. And if that means finding an open teammate who has a better shot at scoring then he does, so be it.
And here is the thing: if Marshall hits that shot – as he had six times in the team’s previous game – nobody talks about the pass not being the right play or LeBron not being clutch. Don’t believe me? Ask Michael Jordan if he took criticism for passing to John Paxson or Steve Kerr. He didn’t because those guys hit the shots.
Even look at LeBron in the 2012 NBA Finals. He had a total of 25 assists in the final two games as the Miami Heat finished off the Oklahoma City Thunder to win LeBron’s first NBA title. He knew what guys had the hot hand and continued to find them at all points throughout the games.
LeBron’s unselfishness has always been something that makes him one of the best players in the NBA and has led to him winning four NBA MVPs in the last five seasons. But it is also what has cost him in the discussion of who is clutch.
When people look at the word “clutch” and try to define it, they always see who is scoring the points in the last minutes of the game. They look at guys like Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, etc. and see these guys putting points in the scoring column so they think LeBron is less clutch than guys like that, which is a fallacy.
Sometimes, it is the guys who make the plays and set up the scores that should be considered clutch. I would rather have someone who is willing to give the ball up for an open shot to a teammate than take a bad low-percentage shot just because they are the best player. After all, basketball is a team game. Why have four other guys out on the floor if you can’t trust them to hit shots?
Of course, LeBron has also shown the ability to throw the team on his back and carry them to a win when that seemed to be the only option for success. Flash back to that series against the Pistons mentioned earlier in this column. In the same building in which LeBron had passed off on the game-winning shot just 10 days earlier, LeBron orchestrated one of the best performances in Cavaliers history in game six.
With his team tied at two games apiece with the heavily-favored Pistons and with the Cavaliers leading by just one, LeBron took over and scored 29 of their final 30 points in the fourth quarter and two overtimes, including the last 25 points and all of their points in the overtime periods of the 109-107 Cavaliers win. He hit 11 of his final 13 shots in the game, including the game-winning layup with 2.2 seconds remaining in double overtime.
You can also look at game six of last season’s Eastern Conference Finals (ironic) against the Boston Celtics. With the Heat trailing in the series three games to two, LeBron scored 45 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and handed out five assists to tie the series and eventually led the Heat to a win in game seven to finish the series.
You want LeBron to score? He can do that as well. In last season’s postseason, he scored 30 or more points in 11 of the Heat’s 23 games and scored 26 or more points 21 times. He averaged 30.3 points per game throughout the playoffs but also added 9.7 rebounds and 5.6 assists in one of the greatest postseasons in the history of the league.
And who could forget his streak to begin this season, where he scored 20 or more points in 32 straight games to start the season, only bested in the last 30 years by George Gervin in the 1981-82 season. That’s right – no Kobe, no Carmelo, no Durant (yet) and no, not even Jordan.
But at the end of the day, LeBron cares more about winning than he does scoring points. If the smart basketball play is to get someone else a shot, that is what he is going to do. If taking the game over and scoring points is what is needed, LeBron will do that too.
Another aspect of LeBron’s game that shows off his willingness to be more of a team player than a “me-first” player is his defense. At various points this season, LeBron has guarded all five positions on the basketball court which was one of the reasons that some people thought he deserved to be the league’s Defensive Player of the Year – an award in which he came in second to Marc Gasol.
The one play that typifies LeBron’s mindset on defense is the highlight block on Tiago Splitter in game two of the NBA Finals this past Sunday. Splitter went up to dunk as LeBron had rotated over and LeBron met him at the top with one of the cleanest blocks you will ever see.
After the game, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told the media that there a lot of players who would not have gone for the block for fear of getting dunked on and said it showed courage for a guy to challenge that play. While I don’t know that courage is the correct word in that situation, Spoelstra was right. It takes something for a player – especially one of LeBron’s stature in the league – to take that chance he would get dunked on and be on the wrong side of the highlight reel. But again, LeBron showed his team-first attitude and took the challenge anyway.
So don’t dismiss LeBron’s unselfishness as being “unclutch” – it might just be the exact opposite.
Comments? Questions? You can leave them here or email Ryan at ryan@morethanafan.net
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