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Despite living in Baltimore, I’m a big LeBron James and Cleveland Cavaliers fan. My wife and I decided to splurge and get tickets for game one on Saturday between the Cavs and the Celtics so I figured I’d share my thoughts and observations with the B/R community. Cleveland is a very easy city to drive right in to the downtown area. Parts of the city do look a little derelict, but there’s ...
I know there's an unwritten rule that the game is called differently in the last 30 seconds or so, and I get that refs (and fans) don't want games decided at the free-throw line, but Kevin Durant got fouled last night on that last-second three-pointer.  The refs swallowed their whistles and the Jazz won the overtime "classic," 140-139.  Except it wasn't a classic—because no classic can ever end with the the wrong ...

All-NBA Teams: Let The Arguments Begin

Posted: 3rd April 2010 by Karl in NBA
Each year, the NBA names 15 players to its three all-NBA teams.  With half a dozen games left, I’ll indicate whom I would pick.  I know that people will disagree with some of my picks.  That’s fine.  I will not spend much time discussing the “no-brainers.”  I’ll focus on the close calls.             But first, a couple of preliminary explanations:   No David Lee:  In terms of his individual statistics, David Lee belongs ...
ESPN.com is reporting that LeBron James, who currently leads Kevin Durant by a fraction of a point for the NBA scoring title, declared that he doesn't care if he wins it or not. What he cares about is what the team achieves, James said.  And then, almost as an afterthought, he added, "If I really wanted to, if I really wanted to be the scoring [champion] every single year—every single ...

LeBron James: How He Closes

Posted: 18th March 2010 by Karl in NBA
Kobe Bryant has been appropriately lauded for his phenomenal game winning shots.  That's as it should be.  But tonight, LeBron James demonstrated against the Indiana Pacers that he has his own way of closing games.  With four minutes, seven seconds left in the game, the Pacers had closed to within one (88-87).  At that point, LeBron simply asserted his tremendous physical abilities to impact the game and put it away for Cleveland, ...

Cavaliers Without LeBron Didn’t Look Good at All

Posted: 6th March 2010 by Karl in NBA
All season long, I've seen people raise the question at B/R, what would the Cavs be without LeBron?á Well, it was just one game, but tonight we got a look.á Mike Brown made the decision to give LeBron a rest because he's been beat up a lot lately and could just use the rest.á It was probably a good decision. On tonight's telecast, the commentators mentioned that the plan is to continue ...

The Five: Re-opening the G.O.A.T. Discussion

Posted: 8th September 2009 by Karl in NBA
There are five players in NBA history who have a legitimate claim on the title of greatest of all time (G.O.A.T.), though for many fans it’s sacrilege to suggest that it could be anyone other than Michael Jordan (I can hear them screaming right now, and I expect their inflammatory comments on this thread).  These folks remind me of people who glare at you with a hint of intended violence as ...