%20%20--%3E%0A%3Csvg%20version%3D%221.1%22%20id%3D%22Layer_1%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20xmlns%3Axlink%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F1999%2Fxlink%22%20x%3D%220px%22%20y%3D%220px%22%0A%09%20width%3D%2239px%22%20height%3D%2240px%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%2039%2040%22%20enable-background%3D%22new%200%200%2039%2040%22%20xml%3Aspace%3D%22preserve%22%3E%0A%3Cpath%20fill%3D%22%23FFFFFF%22%20d%3D%22M38.5%2C7H28.2v26h10.3V7z%22%2F%3E%0A%3Cpath%20fill-rule%3D%22evenodd%22%20clip-rule%3D%22evenodd%22%20fill%3D%22%23FFFFFF%22%20d%3D%22M26.1%2C25.5c0%2C5.8-4.1%2C7.5-12.9%2C7.5C3.9%2C33%2C0%2C31.2%2C0%2C25.2v-1.1h11.6%0A%09v2.4c0%2C0.7%2C0.1%2C1.4%2C1.2%2C1.4c1%2C0%2C1.2-0.4%2C1.2-1.3v-0.9c0-1.6-0.9-1.6-3.5-2.2C2.2%2C21.7%2C0%2C19.7%2C0%2C15.3v-0.9C0%2C9.3%2C5.5%2C7%2C12.9%2C7%0A%09c10.2%2C0%2C12.8%2C2.6%2C12.8%2C7.4v1.8h-11v-2.9c0-0.6-0.4-1.1-1.2-1.1c-0.6%2C0-1.2%2C0.4-1.2%2C1.1v0.9c0%2C1.5%2C0.9%2C2%2C3.3%2C2.5%0A%09c8%2C1.6%2C10.5%2C3.3%2C10.5%2C7.5V25.5z%22%2F%3E%0A%3C%2Fsvg%3E%0A)
What They're Saying About LeBron James
What They're Saying About LeBron James
LeBron James faced an enormous amount of scrutiny in the Cavs' second-round loss to Boston -- and the spotlight will only get hotter now that the two-time reigning MVP is just weeks away from free agency. Here's a sampling of the media's game-by-game views on LeBron against the Celtics. "Just in case anybody had second thoughts, LeBron James demonstrated why he was just named the league's back-to-back MVP. ... By any means, [Boston needs to] get the ball out of LBJ's hands and force [Mo] Williams or [Delonte] West or [Antawn] Jamison or anybody else to carry the offense for sustained periods of time. After all, what do the Celtics really have to lose? Besides, that is, the next three games?" -- Charley Rosen, FoxSports.com, after Cleveland's Game 1 victory
"After watching James finish with 35 points (12 of 24) with 7 assists, 7 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks -- on a night when he was consciously working his teammates into the game -- is to realize just how unlikely it will be for the Celtics to beat him four times in this series." -- Ian Thomsen, SI.com, after Game 1
"[H]e wasn't committed to working within the flow of the Cleveland offense and that comes down to effort. That comes down to wanting to make an impact. ... Even down the stretch with his ears perked, James just didn't have it. ... If James is hurting, he needs to let his team know, and the Cavs have to find a way to work around it. He has to be honest about his limitations. And if he can play though this pain? If he can dominate with it, as was the case late in Game 1? Then he needs to get to dominating." -- Kelly Dwyer, Yahoo! Sports, after Cleveland's Game 2 loss
"Enough with the elbow. ... First of all, the Cavs weren't winning this game if LeBron had three healthy elbows. Second of all, LeBron is 48 hours removed from taking over a game. Third of all, LeBron didn't play like he was hurt. He played like he didn't have control of the game." -- John Krolik, Cavs: the Blog, after Game 2
"LeBron James played as if he were tired of all the panic. ... The Cavs' lack of intensity had been replaced by a collective sense of purpose. All panic was forgotten. Or at least shelved for another day." -- Marla Ridenour, Akron Beacon Journal, after Cleveland's Game 3 win
"LeBron James had 19 and 8 assists, but also constantly deferred in the fourth quarter, passing up open looks over inferior defenders to opt for plays like Antawn Jamison threes (which he hasn't hit) and Anderson Varejao 12-foot jumpers. You can imagine how that wound up. ... While James was passing in traffic to heavily defended big men who struggle to finish anyway, [Rajon] Rondo did everything you can imagine. ... [The Cavaliers] learned that there's a time and place for James to defer to his teammates and a time and place for the LeISO set that everyone criticized the Cavs for." -- Matt Moore, ProBasketballTalk.com, after Cleveland's Game 4 loss
"This isn't important enough to LeBron James. That's the uncompromising, unconquerable truth. Everything has come too easy to him, and he still doesn't believe that winning championships takes a consuming, obsessive desire that borders on the maniacal. ... Stop strutting, stop preening, stop stomping away as an ungracious winner, a sore loser, and win something, LeBron. Win something now." -- Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports, after Cleveland's Game 5 loss
"While he will be the first to tell you that he's a leader and you can see that his teammates are fully invested in that situation, he has not seemed to act like one during much during this series. ... It has further become problematic that James has been disengaged during the games. Not only has he fallen into the trap of 'letting the game come to him,' but he's been increasingly distant. In huddles he's looking at the ceiling or into the distance. It is not the James anyone on the team knows and his teammates and coaches have seen it. More problematic, they can't explain it and that is making the entire locker room uneasy." -- Brian Windhorst, Cleveland Plain Dealer, after Game 5
"Spare us the assertion that after one bad night we know James has always had a permanent flaw. It's just absurd, and amazingly some of it's coming from the faithful in Cleveland. Twitter, Internet comments, my e-mail inbox, Facebook, all are loaded to the gills with talk that he's doomed to mediocrity, psychologically deficient or was intentionally tanking. As if those 69 playoff contests and 548 regular-season games were the aberration, and this one horrible night was the truth. As if the guy who scored 25 straight against the Pistons in a similar situation needs a lecture, from Twitter, on embracing the challenge." -- Henry Abbott, ESPN.com, after Game 5
"Is he cut out for this yet? Is James cut out to win when the stakes are at their highest? When will he be ready to truly assume his place among the game's best, the kind of recognition that only championships can provide? I'm beginning to wonder." -- Chris Dempsey, Denver Post, after Game 5
"The Cavs are certainly in trouble. Giving a team as strong as Boston this sort of opportunity is dangerous. But because Boston has that opportunity and because LeBron didn't produce in a critical Game 5 doesn't mean James is a fraud. That's a facile, unnuanced way of looking at the situation. The world just ain't that simple, and neither is LeBron." -- Tom Ziller, AOL FanHouse, after Game 5
"LeBron Marino strikes again." -- Tweet from Mike Freeman, cbssports.com, after Cleveland's Game 6 loss
"The Knicks won't know until July if the Celtics' 94-85 victory represented New York's biggest win in years but it certainly felt like it. Cleveland misery could become New York's salvation. It must have been music to Donnie Walsh's ears that the Celtics fans chanted "New York Knicks" whenever LeBron shot free throws. If LeBron does sign on the dotted line in six weeks, it won't matter to the Knicks or their championship-starved fans that he experienced another disappointing playoff exit or that he suffered through a perplexing two-game stretch that saw the NBA's two-time MVP look rather average at times." -- Frank Isola, New York Daily News, after Game 6
"Now what? The Cavaliers' season is over, the questions begin. [T]he free-agent frenzy will be out of control. James to the New York Knicks? James to the New Jersey Nets? James to the Chicago Bulls? James to the Miami Heat? You'll hear James heading everywhere except Duke University. You'll hear lots of rumors, but no one will know what James will do. Perhaps not even James. At least not right now." -- Terry Pluto, Cleveland Plain Dealer, after Game 6
