Usually the media gets a little carried away with criticizing great players in big moments. (See Alex Rodriguez) In the case of the NBA Finals though, Lebron James and Dwyane Wade blew the series. I know you can argue they don’t have the supporting cast or that Chris Bosh is really ugly and difficult to play with, but the fact is the Mavericks didn’t have anyone who should’ve been able to stop these guys. It’s pretty obvious that the Heat only go as far as Lebron and Wade take them and they just didn’t show up in the Finals.
Give credit to the Mavs, they outplayed, outhustled, and outcoached the Heat. It’s pretty simple, the Mavs were a deeper team that not only wanted it more, but just executed a game plan much better. I want to give the Mavs all the credit in the world but I just keep coming back to the fact that the Mavs used Shawn Marion, Jason Kidd, Deshawn Stevenson, Jason Terry, and JJ Barea to guard Wade and Lebron and it worked. I mean there’s so much to say about it. How the hell does this happen?
Let’s start with Wade. I half expected Lebron to disappear because I’ve seen him do it before but the fact that Wade didn’t just dominate this series shocked me. I remember thinking “if the Mavs think they can put Kidd on Wade this series, they’re crazy.” I kept waiting for that point where Wade just realized nobody could guard him and would just go on to torch the Mavs. It never happened and it made me realize something that is probably the most neglected story of the “Big Three Seven Championship Dynasty”. Dwayne Wade is past his prime.
He is. He just isn’t the same player he was in 2006 and he just isn’t the same player he was a few years ago. I kept expecting him to just explode to the basket but it just wasn’t there. Time after time Wade drove past Jason Kidd but just couldn’t use his patented 3-4 step athletic burst past the help defense he’s known for. I know the Mavs played some great team defense and Wade might have been hurt, but that only furthers the point. He’s not the same guy. He’s not a top 3 player in the NBA like everyone says he is. Not anymore.
I’m not saying he’s not an amazing player but we’re talking about a guy who’s a step slower, injury prone, doesn’t have a jumper, and isn’t really that effective of a passer. If he’s not beating guys in their 30’s to the basket at 29, how is he going to be when he’s 32-33? I know Wade is a crazy athlete but he certainly looked physically run down in the Finals and even at times in the Conference Finals. You can argue he’s hurt but I’d argue that he’s not going to stop getting hurt unless he stops playing 40 minutes a game. Unfortunately for the Heat when you have 3 guys making 17 million on your roster you don’t have that luxury.
This is why whether he likes it or not, Lebron has to be the man on this team. What I saw in the Finals was a team that was just begging Lebron to take over but he just refused. He kept deferring to Wade and Wade kept taking 9 steps to a crazy shot and complaining he got fouled. It was one of the more interesting dynamics I’ve seen on a court and probably the most interesting story in sports over the next few years.
So Lebron needed to be the man and he decided to soil his pants instead. Yeah I know his numbers don’t look that terrible but one of those two guys had to dominate for them to win that series. That’s how they beat the Sixers, Celtics, Bulls, and it’s how they had to beat the Mavs. The point I knew that Lebron wouldn’t be the man in this series is when the Mavs put Kidd on him in Game 4, just daring him to play like he always does. He should’ve simply dominated that situation and he just choked. There’s no other way to put it. How can he go from playing well against Paul Pierce and Luol Deng then not just dismantle 38 year old Jason Kidd? He wanted no part in that situation and I just don’t get that. Did he really think coming to Miami was going to give him a pass from these situations?
Lebron needs to work on his game and I am not convinced that he does. I’ve always suspected this considering he’s the exact same player he was 4-5 years ago but during his postgame press conference he kind of took it upon himself to talk about how hard he works when the camera’s aren’t there. It almost looked like he was trying to convince himself that he has worked very hard. He also made it clear to say he listens to no one and this is very obvious considering he hasn’t fixed any of the flaws in his game. Maybe he should be listening to some people. Maybe he should learn how to play in the post. Maybe if he had a go to style in crunch time he wouldn’t be scared shitless when it came around.
Quite frankly, if Lebron James is not hitting 3’s at the end of a game he has nothing else. He can’t shoot mid-range, he has no post game, and he has TERRIBLE footwork. I do mean terrible footwork too. This is something I watched closely this series and it was even worse than I expected it to be. He shuffles his feet just about every time he touches the ball, takes at least 3 steps every time he drives, and changes his pivot foot constantly. It appalls me every time I see Lebron drive out of control, travel, and initiate contact and get bailed out with a foul call. In the Finals Lebron was so scared of the moment that he didn’t even do that.
It all comes down to the fact that Lebron is a one of a kind athlete but he doesn’t have the basketball fundamentals or the mental toughness to lead a team to a championship right now. Miami has very little roster flexibility after stupidly signing Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem to long term deals so this team is probably going to be very similar to the one next year. Bosh is good but not great, Wade is breaking down, and if Lebron doesn’t improve these things we’ll be talking about the Heat as the most disappointing team of all time. Lebron didn’t show up in the 4th quarter of the Finals once the entire series and until that changes there won’t be a championship for Miami. Miami’s window for winning a championship is much smaller than people think too. Wade won’t be this good for much longer and if the Heat want to win Lebron has to elevate his game crunch time.
It’s all on him and it will continue to be until he gets a ring. Just following his career and his postgame statements throughout the years it’s pretty obvious he’s not a very mature guy and that’s probably why he folds in these situations. He actually thought it was a good idea to make a statement about everyone who hates him having to continue on with their lives instead of just saying, “I blew it and I’m going to work as hard as possible to make sure it doesn’t happen again.” He’s clearly not over The Decision and clearly not over everyone hating him. Until he is we might never see a title in Miami.
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