Last Week

Since that embarrassing loss to Boston on April Fools Day, Miami has won three of their last four games.

Dwyane Wade sat out against Philadelphia and LeBron James scorched them for 41 points last week. Mario Chalmers stepped up and scored a combined 36 points with Chris Bosh. The next night Wade returned with 19 points, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. In a battle of MVP candidates, James carried his momentum by posting 34 points, 10 boards, and 4 steals, out-dueling Kevin Durant’s 30 points and 9 turnovers. Those back-to-back victories against playoff teams extended Miami’s home winning streak to 17.

That was until Friday when Memphis came to South Beach jumping to a 13-point lead in the 1st quarter, and never looking back. The Grizzlies shared the wealth and seven players scored in double figures, despite a 60-point effort by the big three on a poor shooting night.

On Sunday Wade got another game off to rest his ankle on this five game home stand. James and Bosh paved the way by putting up half the team’s points, with a cameo from James Jones. Jones chipped in with 19 off the bench to run the Pistons out of town, holding them to 75 points.

James pushed the pedal to the metal in the MVP race last week, and was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the fifth time this season.

In Cleveland, LeBron James was relied on for everything. If a game was on the line, Coach Mike Brown chose him to shoot the shot. But the thing is, even if LeBron deferred it in Cleveland, no one would have cared because he was the outright star and leader on that team, whatever he thought was best was the right choice. These days it doesn’t come that easy.

If people believe that LeBron has lost the ability to make a game-winning shot, they are crazy. Against the Jazz on Friday night, James went 8-9 in the 4th quarter with 17 points, but was largely criticized because of his decision to pass the ball to Udonis Haslem for the final shot of the game. If this were Cleveland, no one would have said a thing, but the fact that LeBron is now on a team with 2 All-Stars, the circumstances change.

So at the end of the day, I believe that playing with 2 All-Stars is what has held LeBron back. He is scared to take that last shot because he knows there are 2 other guys who are also capable of making that shot. If Udonis Haslem had been Mo Williams and there was no D-Wade on the court, it wouldn’t have been a big deal. LeBron does not want to let people down, it’s the story of his life. He was heartbroken that Cleveland decided to hate him and he feels the same way about letting his team down.

LeBron James is hands-down the best player in the NBA. He obviously has a ton of pressure on him and the media always takes shots at him. From the bike he rides to the game to his mom getting arrested to his house, the media obsesses with him. He is very self-conscious about his image and if he messed up, he’ll pay for it.

LeBron, you are the best player in the NBA. Please take the last shot. Chances are that it will go in and you will be the man. You are already the King, but why not add meaning to that name. This is what separates you, Jordan, and Kobe. Even if you miss, you tried and had the balls to take it.

For people to call LeBron “Scottie Pippen” or Robin (from Batman) is absurd. Scottie Pippen was never the front-runner for MVP and never was regarded as the best player in the NBA. So let’s throw all of that garbage out of the window. To be realistic, Dwyane is Scottie (sorry D-Wade) and Bosh is the scoring version of Horace Grant, while Udonis is the rebounding version of Dennis Rodman. LeBron is the best player in the NBA and once he starts knocking down that game-winning jumper and winning championships, there won’t be a debate anymore.