Posted by BY J E SOLOMON
Everywhere I went and people were talking about the NBA finals, it was clear that many basketball fans were rooting for the Dallas Mavericks to beat the Miami Heat.
Even many sports enthusiasts in New Jersey who should be happy to see an Eastern Conference team win the NBA championship title, were, surprisingly rooting for the Western Conference champions. And it was all because of the self-proclaimed “King”, Lebron James. As for Ohio fans rooting for a Miami loss, it was understandable, but why New Jersey fans?
The overall contention among fans was, “LeBron James has become too arrogant and conceited. He’s excessively proud of himself as a superstar. He’s been acting as if the championship title is already there for him.”
Many fans didn’t like the infamous “Decision” and the way he left the Cleveland Cavaliers from Ohio. One guy, Stephen, said Lebron isn’t a competitor. “He wanted a shortcut to an NBA title and thought by teaming up with two of the best players in the NBA, a championship title would come handy.”
Among other things, the fans cited his response to a reporter who asked him why he didn’t play like a true NBA superstar but was “unbelievably passive” in the fourth quarter of Game 3 of the finals. Lebron, after explaining his overall performance in that game, told the reporter, “Next time ask a better question.” That was a show of arrogance. Lebron scored only 8 points in that game, making just 3 of 11 shots from the field and no score in the 4th quarter. That was the first time he had less than 10 points in 90 postseason games.
The Miami Heat, as a team, wasn’t particularly a favored team in the eyes of many basketball fans because of the loud noise that surrounded the coming together of The Big Three – Lebron James and Chris Bosh joining Dwyane Wade. On the court the players were frequently seen whining. TNT basketball analyst, Charles Barkley, rightly described the Heat as the most whiny team in the NBA. He called them the “whiny bunch.”
Their preseason celebrations over their Big Three; the Lebron James-Dwyane Wade taunting jubilation in front of the Dallas bench in the fourth quarter of game 2, which they ended up losing after a 15-point lead; the contemptuous cough, cough mocking of Dirk Nowitzki, were a few of the things that inspired coldness toward the team. In their semi-final Eastern Conference elimination of the Boston Celtics for instance, James in particular, and the Heat players in general reacted as if that win over Boston Celtics was the ultimate NBA Championship victory.
The whole Big Three idea was like counting their chickens before they were hatched. Perhaps the only consolation for the Heat is that they were the losing finalists. Unfortunately, as we all know, “there’s no place like second place. Second place was created to make the losers feel better.”
It has been said that there are dreamers, and there are achievers. The difference between the two is action. Lebron should stop dreaming about a title and, instead, learn to show more action especially in fourth quarters of crucial championship games as D-Wade and Nowitzki did throughout the play-off series.