One Last Bitter Moment
Posted: May 14th, 2010 | Filed under: Other Sports | 100 Comments »
The clock ticks down – 56 seconds … 55 seconds … 54 seconds — and Mike Brown waves his arms, and his players just stand there. They just bleeping stand there. You know they’re not going to win. I know they’re not going to win. Boston is beating Cleveland by nine, and that’s too much. There are no miracles left, not for this disappointing Cleveland team, not for this wooden version of LeBron James. They are not going to win, not tonight, I know that, everybody knows that. But they just stand there. They just bleeping stand there.
“MOVE OR SOMETHING!” I hear myself shout.
Is this really how it ends? The Cavaliers players just stand there as the clock drains away – now 51 seconds … now 49 seconds … now 47 seconds— and even coach Mike Brown has stopped trying to wake the dead. He stands with his hands by his sides now, as defeated as his players. He can’t even inspire them to foul.
There have been so many heartbreaking moments for us Cleveland fans … each of them conveniently named so that they can be itemized when a Cleveland team loses yet again. Red Right 88. The Drive. The Fumble. The Shot. Old timers will remember Willie Mays’ catch. Youngsters will remember Joel Skinner, the third-base coach who held up Kenny Lofton. Each of those moments, and others without names, were so heart wrenching for a city that has not won a championship since 1964.
But at least none of those teams quit. Maybe they faded. Maybe they choked. Maybe they even fell apart. But to quit? No, teams don’t really quit. As the Kansas State football coach Bill Snyder said when his team was credited for playing until the end of a game: “They don’t let you quit.”
Only … they’re just standing out there. They quit. Forty five seconds. Forty four. Forty three. The Cavaliers are just standing back, away from the Celtics, waiting for the time to expire so they can leave, waiting for this season to end, waiting like this is some pointless Tuesday night game against Milwaukee or Phoenix in December. They’re just waiting to go home. Maybe they can’t win. But what kind of team just waits for the sad ending? What kind of players give up on a season when there’s still time left on the clock?
In a minute, the clock will run out, and everyone will be talking about LeBron James. Where will he go? That will be the talk. The New Yorkers will talk about how the only place for LeBron to play is at Madison Square Garden, and they will stir up the ghosts of Willis Reed, and they will talk up the lights and the action and Broadway and Fifth Avenue and if you can’t make it there and Derek Jeter and Donald Trump and pretzels on street corners and all of it. The Chicago people will talk about Michael Jordan and cap money and Derrick Rose and what’s it like to have the loyal people of that city and the Chicago wind at your back. The Miami people will talk up South Beach, and the Los Angeles people will talk up Hollywood, and they will all circle like buzzards around another Cleveland Catastrophe. The world will become mad ambulance chasers.
“Hey, Akron’s a fine place,” some ESPN announcer will say. “Love that Soapbox Derby and all.” Ha ha! Yes, they will mock Cleveland, sure they will. They will wonder why LeBron would possibly want to stay in his hometown, where he is loved, where he is world famous, where he represents something larger than sports. They will tell him that he can shake the Cleveland dust off his feet and come somewhere so much more exciting. Yes. All that is coming in just 42 seconds, and 41 seconds, and 40 seconds.
And still the Cavaliers players just stand around waiting for it.
The Cavaliers lose the game because they aren’t good enough. That’s a surprise. Going into Game 5 of the series, they looked plenty good enough. And then, in Game 5, they got annihilated. Exposed. LeBron himself drifted, like he couldn’t muster the energy, like he was tired of the expectations or the burden or something. He played the worst playoff game of his life. “Let someone else do it,” he seemed to be saying all night long. There was no one else. The Celtics won by 32.
There had always been doubters about this Cleveland team, about the way they were put together, about the purpose of Shaq and the defense of Antawn Jamison and the consistency of Mo Williams. There have always been doubters, but on the night of Game 5 night the realization suddenly slapped everyone in the face. This team has chemistry problems. This team has a coaching problem. This team has a heart problem. This team is built for regular season basketball, when players are going at 2/3 speed and the pain of losing is dulled by the realization that there’s another game in New Jersey tomorrow night. It’s like everyone woke up at the same time and realized, as Jamal Mashburn would say on television, that “Cleveland is a façade.”
And the guy at the center of thing was LeBron James – the man who dared call himself King. He took a ferocious beating for his bad game. More than that, he took a ferocious beating for not being Michael Jordan and not being Kobe Bryant.
“I spoil people with my play,” LeBron said afterward – that rubbed people the wrong way. Spoil people? He had been a part of zero championship teams. Spoil people? But maybe that was part of what he was saying. Maybe what LeBron meant was that he has been such a good basketball player that people expect too much from him. They expect him to be a basketball assassin like Michael and Kobe. They expect him to double his intensity for a big game. They expect him to take on three, four, even five men singlehandedly. Maybe, LeBron was saying, he just doesn’t have that stuff in him.
The clocks keeps ticking – 35 seconds, 34 seconds, 33 seconds – and Boston’s Paul Pierce finally takes a shot. Pierce had taken over the game when it was still in doubt – making two free throws, then a three, then another three, taking Boston’s lead from three to 12. That was when it mattered. Now it doesn’t matter. He misses. The Cavaliers get the rebound. They walk the ball slowly up the court. There’s no urgency, no rush, no point – 30 seconds, 29 seconds, 28 seconds. They might not even take a shot. LeBron is on the court. He is nowhere near the ball.
LeBron’s numbers are special. He scored 27 points and grabbed 19 rebounds and added 10 assists. The headline writers and local television anchors will undoubtedly say that Boston won despite LeBron’s triple-double. “Despite” will be the key word. But it’s probably not right word. Even with those numbers, LeBron seemed oddly distant. He turned the ball over nine times. He shot eight of 21. He too easily gave up the ball time and again so that Anderson Varejao and Delonte West and Jamison could miss shots. LeBron did not make this his game. He did not put himself on the line. He did make back-to-back three pointers with more than nine minutes left to cut the Cavaliers deficit to four. But that was it. He made one field goal and turned the ball over twice in those last nine minutes.
Everyone wants to know what LeBron is thinking. His face is so placid. Is he hurt? Angry? Or maybe he doesn’t want to be the hero. He’s so unselfish, such a good passer, so eager to make other look good – maybe he wants a team that allows him to be himself. Maybe he resents this team that relies so much on him to take center stage. Maybe he doesn’t like having 40-plus years of Cleveland agony heaped on his shoulders. Maybe he wants it to be easy.
With 16 seconds left, Anderson Varejao shoots a three-point shot. Anderson Varejao from three — that’s how the season will end. He misses, of course, and no Cavaliers player even tries for the rebound, and Kevin Garnett gets the ball. There are 14 seconds left, now 13, now 12, and already the Cavaliers players are shaking hands. In a few minutes, Mike Brown will sit in front the press and talk about how his players fought hard to the finish. He will have a straight face when he says it.
The last few seconds seem to last forever, like it’s one of those slow motion sports scenes at the end of a movie. Four seconds. Three seconds. Two seconds. One second. And then, finally, it ends. The players shake hands. LeBron James hugs Celtics players, whispers good thoughts in their ears, wishes everyone luck. This, apparently, speaks to his newfound maturity. Last year, when the Cavaliers lost to Orlando, James was so upset that he left the court without shaking hands, a poor bit of sportsmanship. James is now the ultimate sportsman. He hardly looks upset at all.
As he walks off the court, he half-heartedly high fives a few fans. Then he takes off his Cavaliers jersey. Of course, the announcer wonders if it will be the last time that he ever does. I hope not, of course. I hope LeBron James stays in Cleveland, for many reasons, only a handful of them selfish. I hope he realizes that he doesn’t need the bright lights – he IS the bright lights, and the center of the sports world follows him wherever he goes. I hope LeBron James appreciates that no city will ever love him like Cleveland.
And I hope LeBron James looks back at the sad, even pathetic, way that this season ended and wants to make it right. In the end, though, LeBron’s decision is for another time, and whatever he does you can’t blame a man for following his heart. What’s left of the wreckage of this night is another Cleveland heartache, though not quite like any of the previous Cleveland heartaches. This heartache has no catchy name like The Drive or Red Right 88. This heartache is just about a team getting outworked and outplayed by an old team of Boston champions. This heartache is about a Cleveland team that quit the first chance they had. This heartache is about the last minute of the season, when the Cleveland Cavaliers decided there was no point in trying anymore.
And in its own strange way, this heartache was the bitterest one of them all.
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Circle me William Green
I feel bad for Cleveland. I can empathize as I am a KC fan. However, even as good as Lebron is, do you want him around leading your team, when clearly he isn’t a leader?
It is the argument of whether you would rather be Atlanta (winning a lot, but never winning it all) or Florida (winning it all every so often, but then being terrible for the next couple).
Most importantly, I don’t know that I would want to devote money to a player that isn’t 100% devoted to my team. If a player can’t say that I am here for you and your team alone, I wouldn’t sign him. Just my opinion.
Wait? What is that? I’m not….ooooooooh, yeah, I recognize that empty pit in my stomach. The numbness in my fingers. Welcome back. Looks like you will be setting up camp for some time, no?
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Joe Posnanski, Shari Laster. Shari Laster said: Yep. RT @JPosnanski The last bitter moment in Cleveland. http://bit.ly/92yR8d [...]
“I hope LeBron James appreciates that no city will ever love him like Cleveland. ”
wow…really laying it on thick here, lol.
You think this is the LAST bitter moment for Cleveland sports? How quaint! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have an appointment with a cheese grater and some lemons.
I have to disagree with you about two things, Joe.
First, this loss will have a name: The Quit.
Second, for me, it’s far from the bitterest*. The Cavs did me a favor last night. I was watching the game at my neighbor’s and as the Cavs all stood around and it became clear they weren’t going to foul, weren’t going to press, weren’t going to do anything, I got up, said, “well, if they don’t care, I don’t see why I should”, and walked out. And that’s still how I feel. They didn’t care, so why should I.
*The bitterest was game 6 of the 1995 World Series, watching Joe Brinkman give Tom Glavine an extra foot and a half on the outside of the plate and having to listen to the announcers go on and on about what a great game Glavine was pitching and studiously ignoring the obvious.
The Celtics beat the best all-around player in the NBA. Might as well be the early ’60s.
I actually don’t care about them quitting in the last minute. There comes a point where you’re not going to win, and frankly, I got to go to bed 10m earlier. Should they have done the kabuki play of fouling and heaving 3′s? Do it, don’t do it, whatever. They lost.
I think everyone has unfairly piled on LeBron like he’s never accomplished anything. What? 48 points against Detroit? Taking Drew Freaking Gooden to the finals? He can be a leader. He can win basketball games.
He had a bad series. Maybe it was part emotional, maybe his elbow hurt, maybe it was something else. But he had one bad series. That’s it. Jordan had them, Magic had them, it happens.
But I’ll agree to this — if he does go, and this is how it ends, it’ll be sad. More than sad, it’ll be a reminder of why following professional sports is ultimately a senseless act. Maybe it’s part of the culture, and maybe it’s occasionally entertaining, but at the end of the day, anything beyond the passing interest given to a TV show is excessive and unlikely to be returned.
Especially if you live in Cleveland.
re: Brendan (#2):
Not a leader? Seriously? James is all of twenty-five years old. I know twenty-five year-old military officers, with four years of academy training devoted to creating leaders and four more years of active duty experience leading men and women, making life and death decisions on a daily basis, who are just beginning to come into their own. Expecting more than that from a man who plays basketball, who’s sole training is on-the-job, seems a bit… silly.
When James does sign with a team, he’s telling them that he is committed. It’s implicit in signing a contract. Or do you think that he’ll sulk about and demand a trade, or perhaps show up out of shape one year? You’d certaintly never be able to win a title with a team forged around a superstar like that, right?
Finally, it seems a bit premature to annoint King James with the ‘Atlanta’ mantle, doesn’t it? Let’s get him his Pippen, and then complain if he proves incapable of winning it all…
Pathetic is definitely the best word. More than anything else I’ve encountered in sports, the look on LeBron’s face for the final two games of this series was simply befuddling. I have no idea what was going on in his mind, and it’s pretty clear from what I’ve been reading the past few days that neither do any sports columnists.
Nice post Joe. Glad you captured the emotion of the moment rather than trying to psychoanalyze Mr. James.
As a Celtics fan, I was still worried with a 9 point lead and under a minute to go. This year’s team specialized in blowing huge, late-game leads, and there was plenty of time for them to kick away one more. The Celts weren’t making foul shots. A three, a stop, and a three, and it could easily be a one shot game with more than 30 seconds to go.
Then the Cavs quit. Wow. I couldn’t believe it. This was their season! How could James let this happen? Hell, how could any of them let this happen?
Cleveland should be happy when James leaves. This was HIS team, and his team was a bunch of quitters.
Did this make anyone else think of the HUGE competitive disparity between college and the pros?
NCAA: all heart, no $.
NBA: no heart, all $.
I’ve never seen a college team give up with one minute to go in March. It’s an NBA culture problem that goes much deeper than LJ and the Cavs.
Wow, Joe, two huge sports stories close to your heart in a row.
First Hillman gets fired, then the Cavs lose and everyone is saying Cleveland basketball is d-u-n-done. Crazy night, huh?
I wonder if Cleveland will be happy to get off the national map a bit. If Lebron leaves, maybe the cleveland fans get to make the cavs their own again, instead of having to share them with all the ‘Lebron’ fans.
Lebron’s leaving will show who are the true Cavs fans – the ones that show up next year.
Besides, there’s still the “Ewing theory” (a bill simmons thing, if you’re not familiar, which I’m sure you are).
“Hey, Akron’s a fine place,” some ESPN announcer will say. “Love that Soapbox Derby and all.” Ha ha! Yes, they will mock Cleveland, sure they will. They will wonder why LeBron would possibly want to stay in his hometown, where he is loved, where he is world famous, where he represents something larger than sports. They will tell him that he can shake the Cleveland dust off his feet and come somewhere so much more exciting. Yes. All that is coming in just 42 seconds, and 41 seconds, and 40 seconds.”
This paragraph bothers me, because I think it is true. It seems to me that ESPN has a conflict of interest here. They have started up these “regional” online sites for certain cities. Chicago, Dallas, LA, Boston. And it would seem to be in the best interests of ESPN if the best basketball player in the world played in a city where these sites are located. And we have ESPN talking heads telling us that Lebron is going to leave Cleveland and play for the Bulls or the Knicks or the Clippers, places that it would be beneficial for ESPN for him to play (because they aren’t starting an ESPNCleveland any time soon).
Am I alone in wondering if there isn’t just a little of hope by ESPN and their on-air talent that the King ends up in a “better” city after this year. Certainly it would be better for business for ESPN if he did.
What’s the point of the NBA regular season when almost all the teams over .500 get in the playoffs? Couldn’t we pick 75% of these teams to start the season? And do the other 25% have a chance anyways?
I’m no basketball expert at all, but is the implication here that a triple double wasn’t enough from LeBron? Because he didn’t do it with enough heart or something?
Maybe the Cavs should sign David Eckstein in the offseason.
RayC@12 nailed it from a Celtics fan’s perspective. This team has had trouble closing out games all year, so a 9-point lead with a minute to play was easily something they could have screwed up. Maybe not this playoff version of the team that seems to have found a different gear, but then again, that’s the version that got smoked by 25 on their home floor just a few days ago, so anything was possible. When Cleveland simply quit with a minute to play, I was thrilled. Shocked, but thrilled. Sad ending, even if LeBron decides to stay. That ending is going to put some nasty-smelling funk on his career for a while, I’m afraid.
Still think he’s the 10-best player in history Joe?
I remember listening to the 7th game of the 1966 finals. Celtics leading the Lakers 95-85 with 30 seconds to go. Jerry West scores. West steals the ball and scores again. And again. Lakers announcer Chick Hearn: “Jerry West has the heart of a robber.” And again! 95-93 with 5 seconds to go. That’s how it ended. The Lakers lost, but no quit in Jerry West.
Yes, Cleveland should be thrilled if/when James leaves so that they can go back to the lottery for the next 15 years.
I seriously don’t understand how someone can say that Cleveland should be glad if he leaves with a straight face. It’s utterly ridiculous.
Quitting like that, with a minute left and down 9, was unacceptable. I can’t quite understand it. Didn’t Reggie Miller score 8 points in 11 seconds one time against the Knicks?
Having said that, LeBron had no help in this series. Not even from the coaches. He had 19 rebounds and 10 assists in this game, and everybody wanted more from the guy. At least when the Celtics lose you can say, “Garnett had a good game. But what happened to Ray Allen? And where was Pierce all night?”
But with the Cavs, you can only lay the blame on LeBron because there’s nobody else to pick up the slack. You can’t say, “LeBron had a bad game, yes. But only 12 points from Anderson Varejao? That’s pathetic!” That comment makes no sense because everybody knows you can’t count on Anderson Varejao. You can’t count on anybody on the Cavs.
Apparently not even LeBron.
LeBron is welcome to bring his “quitting” ways to Philadelphia, we’ll take him and his no heart triple double.
I agree with gogiggs #7. The Tom Glavine foot outside strike bothered me much more…take what the umpire gives you, yeah right.
And I agree with the Celtics fan Ray C, #12. The Cavs did quit.
I think this simply makes it easier for LeBron to leave. There will be no hard feelings, he’s a quitter anyway…
“no city will ever love him like Cleveland”
The same city that booed him off the court in what was probably his last game playing for them?
I don’t see how this series could change your opinion of Lebron the player. Look at his team compared to LA, Boston, Orlando, maybe even the Spurs- just nowhere near as deep or talented.
This is beautifully written.
I’ve read sports blogs w/ Xs & Os, I’ve read sports blogs w/ funny jokes, I’ve read sports blogs w/ vaccuous narcissitic ‘experts’, lol, but this article made me relive my incredulity as Brown waved his arms frantically at his players and they just stood there. I was dumbfounded. I thought ‘God, what must the Cavs fans be thinking?!’
Now I know.
“This heartache has no catchy name like The Drive or Red Right 88″
Cleveland Catastrophe?? Cleveland Catastrophe.
Re 17
Yes, he had a triple double – but he also had 9 turnovers and shot just 38%. He had a good game, but not a “best player in the world taking over a series” game.
Will Philadelphia take his 8-for-21 shooting and nine turnovers?
Alright, most of you people need to just stop talking. Is LeBron the best player in the NBA today? That would be a definite yes! Did he play poorly the last 2 games? Yes. But wherever he goes, that team will be an instant contender. He needs his Pippen, as many people have been saying. He needs a coach with a clue. He said last night in the post game conference that it’s all about winning. He’ll get his rings. But I doubt it will be in Cleveland. That team can’t win it, nor do they have the flexibility to get him help. I hope he leaves. I don’t care where he goes (but I sure do wish it was the Pistons). I’m sick of everyone bashing him. He’s the best player on the planet.
We had that for years with AI and loved him just fine.
Again I’m no basketball expert but seems to me a pretty decent game. I’d be willing to bet you couldn’t find too many casual fans who could name anybody other than LeBron on the Cavs. Maybe Shaq?
Mark Daniel @21: “..But with the Cavs, you can only lay the blame on LeBron because there’s nobody else to pick up the slack. You can’t say, “LeBron had a bad game, yes. But only 12 points from Anderson Varejao? That’s pathetic!” That comment makes no sense because everybody knows you can’t count on Anderson Varejao…”
I don’t disagree with your overall point; James got almost no support. But you really should have picked someone else, anyone else, besides Varejao to illustrate it. The only Cav with a positive plus/minus total for the series was Varejao. He’s not out there to score, obviously, but he does almost everything else well in terms of defense, rebounding, energy, etc.
“no city will ever love him like Cleveland”
I guess we all think our cities are special or unique.
Anyway sorry for your troubles, Cleveland, but I don’t think getting rid of LeBron is the answer to the problem. That’s really all I’m saying. If you need to disparage him as a player to help ease the transition to another team, that’s just a coping mechanism.
And nothing is for sure anyway on that score, right? It’s all speculation right now?
Joe,
You nailed it with this article. I’m a life-long Cleveland sports fan that moved to KC in 2000. 38 years, no championships.
We don’t just lose in Cleveland. We lose dramatically with the most painful storylines imaginable. I think you hit the key points well – all of the other losses (Silent bats in the ’95 WS, Red Right 88 (poor Ozzie), Mesa breakdown in Gm 7 in ’97, Fausto and CC choking in ’07 up 3-1, Cory Snyder/Joe Carter SI cover (“Indian Uprising”) in ’87, Jordan’s shot (and having to see it on every Gatorade commercial in the 90′s), Byner’s fumble, 98 yard drive by Elway (why didn’t “Big Daddy” Hairston keep his arm up to block that Elway TD pass?)… NONE of these losses were the result of lack of effort / lack of leadership / lack of passion / lack of belief.
After watching literally >500 Cavalier games of LeBron James, I have never seen him play like this. I have never witnessed the disinterest or the overwhelmed state he appeared to be in. In the meaningless games in December (as you suggested in your blog post), I witnessed FAR MORE interest and passion than I did the last week. WHY? Because the pressure was OFF. Those games meant relatively nothing. Even the regular season BIG games meant far less compared to the last week.
LeBron is a cryptic communicator. He seems to be giving the “company line” now in every interview. His mind seems to be elsewhere. Where was the disappointment in the interview? As a Cleveland fan, hearing the comment, “It is what it is” is simply awful to hear. It’s more than that. He says he cares about the fans of Cleveland but we’ll see if he TRULY DOES.
I cannot believe they QUIT like that last night. As much as Mo Williams sucks at Defense, at least HE came to play last night. He tried. No one else seemed to have.
Goodbye, LeBron.
- Neal in KC
What Brent #15 said…
Does anyone else find it odd that he was ripped for poor sportsmanship last year for caring about being eliminated and walking off the court, but the media wants him to be Jordan or Russel or something resembling a player that values winning over everything and is a killer in the biggest of games? I found it strange that he could look like he cared so little that they lost after the game last night. He almost seemed relieved that it was over. I hope that he stays in Cleveland. I remember what it was like when KG left MN, because that was the moment that basketball died here, and it would be sad if it happened in Cleveland (or Miami to some extent) too.
I too was amazed at how they ignored Mike Brown in the last minute and put the over/under on his firing announcement at 48 hrs.
I still maintain that something happened between the owner and LBJ during the series. When you have the owner doing an interview talking about how he spent $100m and they put the best product on the floor they could etc, it seems that LeBron’s response was I’ve got no support and if this is how you spend $100m then I need to get out of here.
I think just like Kobe’s bad playoff games, this moment will be nothing more than a small footnote in James’ history 4-5 yrs from now.
Yeah LeBron shot 38%. He had 9 turnovers as well but they still were only down 9 with one minute to go. I do think LeBron was hurt but being hurt doesn’t make you give up.
What can make you give up is bad coaching and playing timid. I didn’t see any plays that they normally run during the regular season all I saw was pick and rolls with bad execution.
Where was the the two man game that Mo and LeBron usually run at the elbow of the three point line. It was non existent. You can’t change your plays up in the playoffs you can only refine them. Mike Brown is a terrible playoff coach and he doesn’t know how to calm his team down and have them execute.
They also played timid. Every time you got a close up look at LeBron he looked scared. I didn’t see a look of determination on his face. Andy had it for a while and Mo attempted in the first half but the team as a whole just seemed scared.I could probably go on but its no point whats done is done.
Rondo’s numbers from Game 4:
29, 18, 13 (one of the greatest performances in Celtics history)
Lebron’s numbers from Game 6:
27, 19, 10 (he doesn’t have the will to win)
This is getting ridiculous.
Ooooh, I love blame the superstar syndrome! Oh wait, no I don’t. It’s stupid. Come to Brooklyn Lebron!
Sure, the numbers might be similar (though you left out turnovers). But your eyes tell you the difference.
“But your eyes tell you the difference.”
That does not leave a lot of room for debate since it is based on nothing that we can actually point to except impressions based on observation.
You nailed it, Joe. All suspicions were confirmed in those last 2 minutes.
Now, Lebron can’t complain about being forced to go it alone. It’s a prison of his own making. He wants to dribble out the end of every quarter before lofting a bad three-pointer, he wants to decide who he guards, he wants to lead the sideline tomfoolery. It’s his team. They looked to him. If they got the wrong message, he sent it.
I hope he comes back. With a new coach and a new understanding of the specific elements of leadership.
Cleveland has had SEVEN YEARS to assemble talent around the league’s best player, and this is the best they could do? You guys are pissing on LeBron’s tailored alligator boots and telling him it’s raining.
In the end, all the fans of the other cities and states can try to comprehend a couple of Joe’s paragraphs about Cleveland, but they can’t.
Sure there are cities with spectacular sports failures. Sure there are states with double-digit unemployment rates. Sure there are places of sheer desperation and melancholy. There are states of former national prominence that are losing all political, social and cultural relevance.
But no place else in this country has all of that meeting in one giant clusterbleep quite like Ohio and specifically Cleveland.
They’re literally building a casino across the street from Quickens Loan Arena because LeBron James played there. He is a hundreds of millions of dollar entity in this state.
To say Joe is laying it on thick would be correct. Only because this would be one final kick in the teeth to Cleveland. I don’t think the fans come back from this one. I don’t think the Cavs stay in Cleveland through this one. And as Brian Windhorst recently said, the Indians are teetering themselves on the brink of irrelevance, perhaps even financial ruin.
This is heavy stuff, not just LeBron leaving.
Paul White@31. Yes, you’re right that Varejao is maybe the one guy who provides good support for LeBron. But desipte this, nobody is talking about Anderson Varejao. He put up 6pts, 7 rebs, 0 assists, with 3 TOs. That’s worse than his season average on all counts. But I’ve yet to hear anyone lay any blame whatsoever on Varejao specifically. I just think that points to how little support LeBron actually has.
@9 “He had a bad series. Maybe it was part emotional, maybe his elbow hurt, maybe it was something else. But he had one bad series. That’s it. Jordan had them, Magic had them, it happens. ”
Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird…legends…NEVER had the type of series LeBron James just had. NEVER. Injured and struggling…MAYBE. But none of those guys EVER quit on the game. Because of his effort in this series, LeBron should NEVER be put in the same category as Magic, Larry or Michael ever. He can be just like Wilt…HUGE NUMBERS…HUGE SKILLS…no HEART when it matters.
Michael, Larry, Magic…those guys played in the playoffs like they were playing for their lives. Larry Bird never passed up a 4th quarter shot, unless it was to lead Ainge, McHale, Parrish etc. to the hoop for a dunk. Magic broke my heart in 1980 when he crushed the Sixers pretty much all by himself when he put up 42 pts and 15 boards, not to mention another 7 assists playing center for the injured Jabbar. AS A 20 YEAR OLD ROOKIE. And was there ever a time when you watched Michael Jordan play in the playoffs that you thought “Wow, he really doesn’t look into it tonight”? EVER? I didn’t think so. Now we can say that about LeBron not once, but TWICE at least.
Loved most of the column, but Pierce is one of the last Celtics I’d credit here. He had one good game out of six. Rondo was outstanding, KG was a warrior, there are so many others. This was *not* a Paul Pierce story.
And I fully agree, it was a joke for Mike Brown to tell the media that his team played hard the entire way. That’s just not true, Mike. The game was televised, you know. We are all witnesses.
[...] and actively trying to help his team put points on the board. (Until the last minute that is, which Joe Posnanski breaks down amazingly in this must-read piece.) It’s weird that I even feel the need to type that. But he forced me to with his Game 5 [...]
@ 19. Lakers did not foul with 5 seconds left. West had one steal. The other was an offensive foul.
Watch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMCATfNqBmw&feature=PlayList&p=86F0133AF8151414&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=10
[...] Joe Poskanski (of Sports Illustrated) Everyone wants to know what LeBron is thinking. His face is so placid. Is he hurt? Angry? Or maybe he doesn’t want to be the hero. He’s so unselfish, such a good passer, so eager to make other look good – maybe he wants a team that allows him to be himself. Maybe he resents this team that relies so much on him to take center stage. Maybe he doesn’t like having 40-plus years of Cleveland agony heaped on his shoulders. Maybe he wants it to be easy. [...]
The Cleveland-Boston series should be known as the “Cleveland Steamer.” Wholly inappropriate but strangely appropriate.
Mash called it: this is
“The Facade Game.”
@39
Rondo is a 4th year player who is 6’1″ tall. LeBron is the two time MVP 6’8, 250lb freak of nature.
I agree to knock LBJ’s line is pushing it, but the Rondo performance, especially the rebounds, is amazing.
And they won.
The game could be nicknamed something along the lines of “The Resignation”
[...] The Cavaliers’ Season Ends In Bitterness by Joe Posnanski [...]
joe: great per usual. #12 rayc hit boston fans’ feelings exactly. #47 chris: nail on the head. my observations of lbj have been few but each one has a common factor: sore loser. symptom of a bully. once the nose gets bloodied a punk always gives up. i hate to think it but i’ve seen what i’ve seen.
Forget Winning Time, this final minute was Quitting Time.
Are you kidding me? Watch the Spurs last game against the Suns. Watch how, when behind late in the fourth quarter, they are pressing as much as possible and trying to stay in the game.
Now re-watch the Cavaliers near the end of their game against the Celtics.
That was a shameful display.
“This heartache has no catchy name like The Drive or Red Right 88.”
Shouldn’t it just be called “The Quit”?
I wasn’t so surprised to see them quit with a minute to go, not after seeing Verajao spend an entire Cavs possession in the 3rd quarter arguing with a ref.
[...] Joe Posnanski » Blog Archive » One Last Bitter Moment [...]
I haven’t looked it up in awhile but Magic was acknowledged for practically single handedly blowing a series… Anyway… Not a LeBron apologist, but this series and season was destined to fail. The Cavs actually had a championsip caliber roster, but you wouldn’t know it from who Brown chose to put on the court. Too much Shaq, too much Z, too much Jamison. Not enough West, Hickson and Varejao. I don’t even want to suggest LeBron choked or gave up. Sometimes you’re just beat. You can’t have a game 3 every night or a 48 special. Look it up, even Jordan didn’t do it every night. But…. Anybody who praises Wilt and rides LeBron at this point is a hypocrite. He stayed on the court and was taking shots. I saw energy on the boards. You can’t will yourself to win when you’re playing against your coach and 3-4 Hall of Famers.
“And we have ESPN talking heads telling us that Lebron is going to leave Cleveland and play for the Bulls or the Knicks or the Clippers, places that it would be beneficial for ESPN for him to play (because they aren’t starting an ESPNCleveland any time soon). ”
I thought I heard someone say today at the Dan Gilbert presser than they were from “ESPN Cleveland.”
If I didn’t get it across before the problem is that the Cavs lost with all the answers at their disposal. Hickson, West and Varejao (and to a lesser extent, Moon) all give the Celtics matchup problems, but the Cavs were so caught up in having Shaq ready for Howard that they bastardized their rotation to have him ready. I liked the aquisition of Shaq, I didn’t care for bringing in Jamison. Shaq should have been a 18 minute a game guy, mostly playing when James was resting. Jamison was unnecessary and took minutes from Varejao and Hickson. West is capable of guarding Rondo.
I feel badly that LeBron didn’t have the opportunity this year to bring it home. He absolutely didn’t have his best series. His confidence wasn’t there. I assume there are things we don’t know because while Bron has been criticized for not posessing that killer instinct, which he undoubtedly DOES have, I would never accuse him of not caring.
That being said, the last two minutes were disgraceful, but not necessarily for LeBron.
Now we just have to see what the fallout is.
Nine points with a minute to play is a doable comeback. Watching the game, I was doing the math thinking “foul, three, foul, three, foul, three, foul, three” and the game could be close. Obviously a lot has to happen but don’t tell me that’s so outrageous. Just google last minute nba victories and see what comes up.
Of course, if you quit, it will be impossible.
“I spoil people with my play,”
he does… I know Cleveland fans maybe didn’t realize this until now, or it won’t fully sink in until LBJ leaves (or Cleveland gets someone to play with him)…. but he has made a bunch of old guys (Shaq, Big Z), throw aways (Parker, Moon), overrated players (Williams, Jamison) and role players (Varejo, Hickson, West) look like they belong on a contending team. Most of them don’t… or atleast don’t deserve the playing time they got.
Without LBJ, I would honestly be suprised if cleveland makes the playoffs. I think that clicked in after game 5 for LBJ. Near the end of game 6 he just said fuck it… my team is crap, I need more.
Blame LBJ all you want… he was a monster. Even his ‘crappy’ game 5 was still all-star calibre. He is carrying everyone else…. eventually everyone gets tired.
If LeBron didn’t have a good enough supporting cast, he had no one to blame but himself. By not signing a max contract three years ago, and then being coy about weather he would stay or go at the end of the contract, the Cavs were unable to sign any big name free agent to be his Pippen, because no one wanted to be stuck in Cleveland if he left. Ferry did everything he could with his hands tied. The Cavs have bent over backwards to keep him happy. From building a state of the art practice facility in Independence, to flying his mom to road games in a private jet. If LeBron were to leave because he feels he can win somewhere else, it would be the ultimate slap in the face to the Cavs organization and all of Northeast Ohio (including his beloved Akron).
I’m not stupid enough to want LeBron to sign elsewhere. I want him to come back. I’d like to see what the team could do with a the assurance that LeBron would be with the team for at least six years, and a good coach. But I’ve gotten to the point that I just don’t care anymore. We’ve had to listen to the speculation for three years now, and it’s just old. We would love to have you, but if you want to go, just go already.
With that said, this is the best column I’ve ever read concerning Cleveland’s heartbreak. Excellent job.
I’m going with: “Exodus, King James version” ok, too long to be a nickname.
I’m glad that Cleveland fans can muster self-pity before LeBron even leaves. Buffalo has won just as many championships in that time period, and we’ve never had the world’s best anything. And no NBA franchise, either.
The team is awful, even Kobe can’t win by himself. The current Shaq is far from Kobe’s Shaq. Zydrunas is hardly Gasol. And Mo Williams disappeared. Varejao isn’t Garnett.
I was shocked how this series changed in game 5. It was like the Cavs found out that James was leaving. Probably he was just injured, but the whole vibe was weird. It was so out of place for a team that fed off of James and was outgoing, energetic, etc. I think something really happened and we’ll find out later.
And this is sums up why more people don’t follow the NBA…. sad really
sorry about the extra word there, but you got the point!
First, I’m on a voters drive for Merlin.
Cheer up Joe — you can drum up over 4000 votes for a wizard. Thats impressive. Your congressman once got elected with 130000 votes. Youre just gettin started.
But I couldnt agree more with #5. No town will ever love him like Cleveland does?? You thinking about writing any romance novels?
I understand the frustration. They did quit. They would have fouled on a Tuesday night in New Jersey in January. Especially since Lebron got back six points is a few seconds. They should have fouled to the last tick — thats sportsmanship.
If it counts for anything I genuinely like Cleveland. I hope he stays. Its the right thing to do.
Oh yeah — I think the media should give Shaq some love. I hope he played his last game last night.
He looked plain awful out there.
[...] Posnanski: One Last Bitter Moment…. great commentary on LeBron’s most recent basketball game, where [...]
Cannot imagine any great player being part of or allwoing his team to quit like that. James is supremely talented, and he will be paid a king’s ransom. Now may be the surrounding cast was awful, but thus far there’s scant evidence James understands what winning a championship will take.
Late in the game Kevin Garnett was on the bench reading the riot act to Davis. He gets it in big ways James right now does not. It’s not about your entourage, your hack hangers on, your posse, you endorsements; it’s about winning. May be the Celtics will lose, but it won’t be for lack of effort. The Cavs’ effort sucked and James was as much at fault as anyone.
Now it may change. Jordan faced some of the same problems until he won a championship, and a big part was getting Scottie Pippen.But James doesn’t have that win at all costs mentality that Jordan did on day 1.
@ #2, @ #10:
Excuse me, Atlanta DID win it all. So when you attach words like “never” and “incapable” to Atlanta and winning it all, what that makes you is LIARS.
Say Atlanta lost a lot of World Series, fine. Say Atlanta could or should have won more titles, fine. Say Atlanta should have won the pennant every year in the 90s but didn’t, fine. Ignore the greatness of the two series with the Pirates, that’s your choice. Say 1995 wasn’t memorable (because Atlanta was so dominant the series weren’t dramatic), if that’s your opinion, fine.
But don’t come in here and LIE that Atlanta never won it all. Atlanta won the 1995 World Series and no one can take that away from them. But people can lie about it, apparently.
Saying he needs his “Pippen” doesn’t really do it justice. Pip is one of the best players in the history of the game. He could use a Ginobili, Gasol, Hamilton, Allen…anybody. I’ve watched the clowns that the Cavs have trotted out as a “supporting cast” over the last 7 years and thats exactly what they are…just a bunch of guys. How many times in the playoffs do you see a 6th man come off the bench and drop 20 in a game to swing a series? Do the Cavs have anyone capable of that? Have they ever? Did LeBron quit? Absolutely. But the failures of management to get him even one decent offensive threat to play with him is mind-boggling. Look at their draft picks over the years. Luke Jackson? Really? Even guys like Kapono and Shannon Brown are contributing for other teams. How different would things be if they hadn’t been bamboozled by Carlos Boozer? He needs to stay there and the entire organization needs to be blown up. Keep Varejao and Mo and clean house.
[...] HP. Height doesn’t play that big of a role in rebounding. Just ask Donte’ Greene.7th: Posnanski. Thursday night’s last two minutes were so weird, don’t you think? Read this.8th: [...]
Forget even needing his Pippen…heck, if he just had a Horry and a Kerr, they probably would have won the title last year. I’ll say it again, Michael and Shaqobe wouldn’t have won all their titles without role players stepping up, and NO ONE on the Cavs elevated their play this last series.
Way too early to give up on Lebron.
[...] Joe Posnanski » Blog Archive » One Last Bitter Moment [...]
There seems to be a lot of “quitting” going on in Boston lately.
Flyers 4, Bruins 3.
Bwahahahahahaha
Not saying Lebron didn’t dog it in those final 2 games, but how quickly everyone forgets how he took over and completely dominated the Pistons a couple years back. Scoring the 26 straight points or whatever, is that just ancient history already?
[...] HP. Height doesn’t play that big of a role in rebounding. Just ask Donte’ Greene.7th: Posnanski. Thursday night’s last two minutes were so weird, don’t you think? Read this.8th: [...]
[...] Joe Posnanski » Blog Archive » One Last Bitter Moment [...]
Lebron’s regular season record: 27.8 ppg, 7 reb, 7 ast, 47.5% fgp, 32.9% 3ptp, 74.2% ftp
Lebron’s playoff record: 29.3 ppg, 8.4 reb, 7.3 ast, 45.9% fgp, 31.6% 3ptp, 74.3% ftp
He makes a higher percentage of game-winning shots than almost anyone.
He AVERAGES almost a triple double in elimination games.
Anyone calling Lebron a ‘quitter’ or unclutch or a choker is talking complete and utter bs.
Has everybody forgot that Kobe scored 81 POINTS IN 1 GAME… Is that ancient history too Anon. People dont like Lebron ’cause he is too egotistical. I we just had a passion to win and NOT QUIT, then he would be great. But he cares about money more… He even quoted that he wants to be the 1st billionaire athlete in the world.
If he ‘only cared about money’ then what was the financial reasoning behind playing brilliantly all season in games not many people were watching, but having a bad one in a playoff? Like #40 said, this is a classic case of ‘blame the superstar’ syndrome for not carrying his mediocre team all the way.
I love this blog, but this is a disappointing article. I though Joe was above pop psychology and stuff about ‘heart’, and smart enough to realize sometimes people just have an off game or get hurt at the wrong time.
Yeah..quitting just 9 down with 1 minute to go should be unacceptable. That’s still a lot of time for things to happen. As a Rockets fan, I can point to Tmac’s 13 points in 35 seconds or the 4 missed free throws by Orlando during the 1995 Finals. Is it unlikely? Perhaps, but a couple of made shots and a steal could change everything. To not even try speaks volumes.
Two things struck me:
1. As Paul and Ray mentioned, Boston has not been a strong game closer most of the year…I was shocked that Clevelend gave up with over a minute left to the game, and give up they did.
2. After LeBron, there was…nothing. Time after time he dished off to a player that could’ve/should’ve scored, but didn’t. I am not a LeBron apologist, and yes, at times he almost did appear befuddled, but then despite their regular season record, this was a decidedly weak supporting cast, yes, much like the Bulls before Pippen during the Jordan era.
#69 John said it perfectly. How can you build a team when you always have this three year deadline staring you in the face?
Great story Joe.
Ouch, I didn’t know you were a Cleveland sports fan, Joe. That’s a lot of a pain, between the Kansas City Royals and Cleveland sports clubs.
As far as building a team with a three year deadline, that’s not that much harder than building a team without a deadline. It’s being really shortsighted and continuously building for the present that’s hard to watch. Even worst is when a team tries too hard to maintain a team on the decline or can’t figure out if they should be rebuilding or winning.
For LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, I think the problem was that the management was too worried about what LeBron James thinks instead of trusting in their own judgment of the future. Perhaps they had a vision of what the team should become with James as its core but it clearly didn’t come together. In the battle against the Celtics, the team on the floor felt discombobulated. Place next to the unified defense and the coordinated attack of the Celtics, the Cavaliers looked a much inferior team.
I think the front office should have been more proactive in selling an idea of a team to James rather than be so tentative about what to do to keep the guy as a free agent.
What does a “three-year deadline” have to do with it? Suddenly free agents don’t sign two-year deals anymore? Hell, I’d be folding myself into an origami crane for the chance to run the point on LeBron James’ team. Don’t tell me that a bunch of solid role players and a quality second-banana wouldn’t take shorter deals to be part of the King James Show.
That would have shown LeBron that the Cavs are committed to winning and given him a better chance of success. It would leave the future cap situation manageable. It makes it much more likely the man gets a title and everyone is more willing to re-sign when the time comes.
I don’t think LeBron’s contract status really had as much to do with it as people thought – unless the talk about he, Wade, and Bosh going to a single city as a “package deal” is true, in which case… is it collusion and/or tampering when three players conspire in such a fashion before the season is over?
I’m kind of surprised about the complaints of his supporting cast. I really didn’t hear any of this in the 87 games before this series. Did they all get bad at once? I’ve found that a team get’s it’s emotion from it’s leader. That’s why a leader has to be up even when he doesn’t feel that way. Is that why they lost? I think it was a combo of lack of playoff coaching experience, a lack of being pushed much in the regular season and a lack of a leader or two that were willing to get in the face of other team mates when they were slacking or not following the game play. It’s not one simple thing to point at and it won’t be solved every year by just firing everyone involved. You have to have a team together that learns from these experiences. Cleveland has a great fanbase that deserves a team to stick it out and win a championship. I should add that I’m a Laker fan for years but would like the fans of Cleveland to get a championship (as long as it’s not against the Lakers).
[...] Only … they’re just standing out there. They quit. Forty five seconds. Forty four. Forty three. The Cavaliers are just standing back, away from the Celtics, waiting for the time to expire so they can leave, waiting for this season to end, waiting like this is some pointless Tuesday night game against Milwaukee or Phoenix in December. They’re just waiting to go home. Maybe they can’t win. But what kind of team just waits for the sad ending? What kind of players give up on a season when there’s still time left on the clock? [Joe Posnanski] [...]
great piece of journalism! very well written article in this day and age of associated press bla bla bla!
I enjoyed it very much
It takes a special kind of player to maintain mental toughness enough to win an MVP during the season, then to carry a team in the playoffs, ignoring dings, bruises, and the occasional hard foul the Celtics have been known to deliver. I don’t fault LeBron James for 8 of 21; after all, getting hacked hard enough to force a miss has to count as a missed shot, since it will also count as a made shot. He shot 4 more free throws than anybody on either team, and scored a superb 1.3 points per shot taken. But he can’t carry a team by himself. I’d still take him over any other active player in basketball, even Kobe.
[...] choice back to Cleveland because Dan Gilbert is opening up the Quicken vault. Joe Posnanski will write a beautiful and poignant 30,000 word essay about it and everybody will be [...]
[...] most of you fuckers even know who that is). Then things get worse. Turns out, LeBron has been spoiling his teammates with his exemplary play for years. They never really learned how to play basketball! Fuuuuck! That’s the kind [...]
Now he can put his focus on winning a NBA Title.
(King) Lebron James is at it again with his newest music video “Got No Rings”. Follow him on his journey to winning that elusive NBA title that eludes the true Kings of the NBA…sarcasm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JSfre74_gY