Pictured are Cleveland Urban News.Com Sportswriter Karl Kimbrough and Miami Heat Forward LeBron James
By Karl Kimbrough, Cleveland Urban News.Com Sportswriter
CLEVELAND, Ohio-When asked if he heard the boos during his latest return to Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena for a bout between the Cavaliers and the Miami Heat, Miami Heat forward LeBron James, once the prince of the Cavaliers, said that “ yes its a mixture, I hear them both."
James said that "nothing can ever get as worse as the first time I came back and its just been different every time since we played here December 2, 2010.”
In this game though James had his shot going from the tip of the ball in the first quarter as he scored 25 points. Remarkably, seven of those points came in the last minute of the quarter. It appeared that he turned the “Q” arena into his own personal playground, making eight of the nine shots he took. The final score would be close, a 100 to 96 Cavalier loss. At times it seemed as though James was toying with his former team because he made it look so easy.
James said that “its just one of those zones, and its one of those great feelings."
The worst part, said James, is that I missed four free throws.
"I was one for five from the free throw line ( in the first quarter) and I was hoping it didn't take me out of my rhythm," he said.
Rhythm from the three point line is what James had going. He made five of them in the first quarter. Three of those were in transition due to the up tempo pace that the Heat created. Playing to the other teams tempo has been a problem for this Cavalier team all season. LeBron would finish with 43 points on 14 out of 19 shooting from the field and 9 out of 13 from the free throw line. At half time he had 31 of the Heat's 57 points, which indicates that he was a willing passer even though he had more than 50 percent of his teams points.
This season LeBron has led his team in points with a 26.8 average, rebounds at 6.9, and assists with 6.5 per game, and while playing an average of 37.7 minutes. Also, in the most recent game against the Cavaliers James was again playing without his partner in domination, Dwayne Wade. Wade was resting as he often has this season to save his body for when he is needed most. James more than compensated for Wade's absence. After he scored 25 points in the first quarter, James allowed his teammates to take the majority of shots. In the next two quarters LeBron scored only six points in each. This is where you can see that his game has grown. He backed off and let others get into the groove and stay in a rhythm. Then in the fourth quarter when the game was in the balance, as usual James stepped up and made the plays that needed to be made to insure the win.
With less than two minutes to play and the Cavaliers within two points, James made two critical blocks and then made six straight free throws. It is apparent that LeBron learned from his season high 61 point game recently when his shot volume took his teammates out of their rhythm and led to a number of poor performances the following two weeks. Even after 10 years he is still getting better.
