3.04.2012

Once again, the LeBron James clutch debate takes spotlight

As ESPN analyst and former coach Jeff Van Gundy sees things, there’s really no reason to get all atwitter every time LeBron James makes a questionable judgment late in a game.

On Friday afternoon, discussing James’ perceived failures in clutch situations, Van Gundy said, “Give me LeBron for 45 minutes, we’ll figure out the final three minutes.”

On the final possession with the Heat trailing by one point, James chose to pass rather create a shot for himself—as he did last Sunday in Orlando, when his pass to Dwyane Wade was picked off with five seconds to play. Against Utah, teammate Udonis Haslem missed a jumper to finish off the Heat loss.

So we’re back to familiar grounds—with the Jazz defeat following the All-Star game so closely, questions about James’ late-game credentials are bubbling up again. Both James and coach Erik Spoelstra held firm to the logic that James made the right play, that passing to Haslem yielded an open shot that Haslem usually knocks down.

“For me, I just try to make the right plays and do what it takes to win games,” James told reporters. “I know that at the end of the day games are not lost on one shot at the end, me not taking one shot at the end. But I wanted that game as bad as anyone else on that floor. I just didn't make enough plays. … It was a good look. Put the ball in my hands and either I make a play myself or make a play for my teammate.”

Of course, the decision to turn to a teammate in that situation just adds another layer of drama to what was already a fortuitous bit of scheduling—Sunday’s Lakers-Heat showdown. In the All-Star game, after James passed up the game-winning opportunity, he was approached by Lakers star Kobe Bryant, no stranger to make-or-break shots. Bryant told James he needed to shoot himself in that situation. James, clearly, didn’t take Bryant’s direction.

The Lakers-Heat game was already drawing advanced attention because, during the All-Star game, Bryant was knocked in the face by Heat guard Dwyane Wade, a blow that wound up giving Bryant a concussion and a broken nose, forcing him to wear a protective mask. Bryant has pushed aside any notion that Wade had intentionally injured him, but the question of whether—and how—the Lakers will take revenge on Wade has been an open one since.

It’s a game with meaty story lines, but the one most easily overlooked is that it is an important game for both teams. The loss to the Jazz snapped the Heat’s nine-game winning streak and, with the Bulls on a five-game winning run, moved Miami behind Chicago by a game in the race for the top record in the East. The Lakers, meanwhile, have won seven of their last nine and are in a virtual tie with the Clippers for the lead in the Pacific Division.

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