Friday, November 12th, 2010 at 10:15 am  |  276 responses

LeBron James Thinks He Played Too Many Minutes

by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

Last night, absolutely everything went terribly wrong for the Miami Heat. The Boston Celtics came into their house and straight punked them.

To make matters worse, unlike the previous disaster against the Utah Jazz, the whole basketball-watching world had tuned in for this one. It didn’t help that TNT’s cameras kept panning over to Pat Riley’s increasingly frustrated mug after each dagger from Boston.

Following the game, after submitting a superhuman performance in the losing effort, LeBron James complained about his playing time.

James looked visibly gassed in the fourth quarter against the Celtics, and thinks he played too many minutes. The message to his already embattled head coach was clear and unmistakable.

Yahoo! has some of the usual vitriol, plus the quotes:

“For myself, 44 minutes is too much,” James declared. “I think Coach Spo knows that. Forty minutes for D-Wade is too much. We have to have as much energy as we can to finish games out.” There you go, Coach Spo. Get to know him well.

Two days earlier, James had done nothing in overtime and ultimately decided the difference was a Hall of Fame coach, Jerry Sloan, who knew exactly what the Heat were going to do. James never takes responsibility, never says, ‘I’m the MVP and I need to do more.’ He didn’t do it in Cleveland, and he’s never going to do in Miami. Now, 44 minutes in a grudge game with the Celtics is too much. Always an out, always an excuse.

Erik Spoelstra has not had a very good week.

Nine games into season, there are plenty of questions and doubts about the Miami Heat. It remains to be seen just how much time Erik Spoelstra will be given to come up with satisfactory answers.

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  • Kyle

    I agree that they have the wrong coach, but isn’t this LeBron’s mantra? He always has an excuse… He is the guy who said signing Larry Hughes would get him to the finals(so they overpaid him and you know the rest.) And he thought Bosh would help him? He had a more loyal team in Cleveland, and deserted them. LeBron and Wade both need the ball(look at their assist totals and number of shots they’ve taken throughout their careers.) They monopolize the ball… this is like when Francis and Marbury teamed up(but with more talent and more FAIL to be had.)

    It was a poorly put together team of 2 all-stars(one being a fake one sort of like Rasheed Wallace or Antoine Walker.) He needed someone who could shoot from deep and hit clutch shots. Or a real low post presence. They wanted a running team, but didn’t get the right pieces. You need a true point guard and power forward who can play center and RUN the floor if you want that.

    And a real point guard just in case LeBron is turning the ball over 8 times that night. Even Mike Miller was a bad call, because though he can score and shoot, he’s always hurt No coach would be able to manage this team. They’ll breeze into the playoffs(and they’re going to still win 55 to 58 games) and get knocked out by Orlando or Boston. Or even the Hawks. It’s pretty funny. Sloan wouldn’t want to coach LeBron or Bosh, he’d flip if Queen James cried about playing too many minutes when they’re an undermanned team. Or literally cut Bosh after Rondo dunks like that while he just watches.

  • Kyle

    Del Negro was also a pretty good coach… he had the underdog Bulls with a rookie in Rose and Hinrich at 80 percent(plus Ben Gordon who’s 5’9)take the Celtics to a game 7.

    But those players had heart.

  • Yesse

    I think this is just an excuse. You can’t blame the coach for everything and LeBron can’t play 44 minutes? Come on. Alot of guys older than him can play that much. Maybe not every game, but every once in a while.

  • RedRum

    I still cannot get this… seriously, is that a real quote? So what happens in Game 7 ECF against the brutal Celtics, he plays 39 mins to keep himself fresh? this guys is really ridiculous…

  • max

    And people got on Iveron balls for complaining about practice??? This is effing ridiculous. Lebron, no matter his stats, is just so unprofessional. He takes everything for granted, more than any other professional athlete on this planet. He’s lost all sense of reality…

  • Justin

    Yes Lebron played hard, he played well, and it doesn’t matter. 44 minutes for a guy in his prime, supposed to be a specimen of an athlete, should not be that big a deal. Harlem said you can’t play that many minutes and have spring in your step to finish games? Oh really? Ask Magic who played the entire game vs. Philadelphia in the Finals playing every position. Tell that to Michael who averaged 42 minutes a game in the Finals against Phoenix and look at the garish numbers he put up every game. I keep mentioning the Finals because those are some 90+ games ahead of the 9th game Lebron is complaining about minutes in. I don’t think I’ve ever heard any superstar, or any player for that matter, complain about too many minutes. You do whatever it takes to win every single minute on the floor in every single game. Period

  • All Day

    Maybe LeBron took too much of his talents to South Beach…bring some of that talent with you to American Airline Arena so you can play heavy minutes without complaining, bro!

  • danmcdirty

    this is the first time ever that i heard that from a professional basketball player. jordan, bryant, iverson, ewing, barkley, bird, magic, olajuwon, robinson, kemp – not even the fat one -, malone, pippen, you name em wouldve ever possibly stated too many minutes as a cheap excuse for a loss. any leader wouldve always loved to be in charge for 48 minutes. many of them did and put games away. this is not about athleticism or game. this is about character and will. as much athleticism and game james may have… in the same way he lacks character

  • JalepinoSausage

    Ha ha Brian C Can’t see the fact that Bron was saying that post game because he wants Pat to coach the team. Not because hes blaming Wade & Bosh as they will take a bit of time to adjust. Let me break it down : He feels Pat can bring discipline above all & great things to the team. A good coach won’t bring a title , a great one will. Ur too ANALitical to see the truth. + U CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH so u make things up. :-)

  • JalepinoSausage

    word

  • JalepinoSausage

    No one in the League was The Killer from day 1 apart from Magic.

  • JalepinoSausage

    Who decides the minutes peeps play ? I wonder… hmmm..

  • lebronze

    the problem is “He spoiled us too much with his play” that’s the problem.

  • Blackphantom

    What kind of NBA Superstar complains about the amount of minutes they play when they aren’t even injured?? Wow, he’s being such a Prima-Donna

  • Fat Lever

    They got 2 coaches on this team dictating minutes now. Coach Spo and Coach Ho.

  • Tom Heinsohn

    Ray Allen, 41:23… age 35 Heart of a champion

    LeBron James, 44:00….age 25 Heart of a fraud

    Let’s be honest, the Heat’s Big Three is a big two with a 7 foot perimeter shooter thrown in. Bosh is soft. Dwade is the real deal, but he and Bron are clearly struggling to synch up. When LeBron is forced to take it to the hole over and over (because Wade is either cold or sitting and there is noone else), he is getting clobbered in the paint. He is going to be one beat up Nike salesman by April.

    Unless Riley can play point guard and coach at the same time, it is not going to matter. Celtics are better. Magic are better. And Bulls may well be built to beat the Heat. Hah!

  • Aaron

    Suck it up Bron you wanted this

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/32JSE Yesse

    Every time LeBron has problems he blames the coach. Mike Brown got fired, soon Spoelstra is gone. He can’t really mess with Pat, because Pat would make him feel the punishment on that. You gotta have the passion to win if you want to win. I’m sure Kobe could have made the finals if he would have been a Cavalier instead of LeBron.

  • tavoris

    players are getting bigger, but their hearts are getting smaller.

  • tavoris

    Lebron never complained about minutes before, because he subbed himself in and out in Cleveland.

    It’s clear that he’s not used to being COACHED.

  • vtrobot

    @ JTaylor: I didn’t know that we were talking about Reggie. Who has more rings, Reggie or Ray? Who’s going to have the most 3′s ever in the L? In the who looks more like an alien category, Reggie kills Ray. Also, Ray can only dream of being the commentator that Reggie is.

  • giogolo

    F00k Lebron. Hes a cancer to dwade’s career.

  • http://slamonline.com Philly

    they need a center!! Z is too old

  • Jake

    WAAAH WAAAH, Lebron always whines and never takes the blame. He ALWAYS blames somebody or something other than himself, Pau just played 43 minutes in the denver game and when the media asked him how do you feel about all those minutes he replied “I’m fine with it, because of our current predicament I have to play more but you have to do what it takes”.

  • http://celticknightk3@aol.com Celtic Knight

    Ok I see some people here talkin’ Reggie better than Ray so it looks like they felt threaten by Ray Ray about to break Reggie’s record HA! Oh if they say Reggie > Ray then I say Larry Legend > Reggie cos the Legend gets pushed out of bounds while he makes 3s and has won 3x three point contests and made much more three pointer game winning shots than Reggie ever had PERIOD!

  • DarK_Kai

    It is so obvious that there are beginning to be more Lebron haters than Kobe hater and nut riders put together. Why is it so polarised in the US?

    Why cant you see that even when people play lots of minutes, they normally get a rest in the 3rd or 4th quarter – a decent rest. Look at Kobe’s minutes and other major stars minutes.

    Secondly, not everyone plays at both ends of the floor.

    Lastly, as someone pointed out earlier, if you get hammered on your layups for 44 mins, it takes it out of you. Ask Shaq about the Hack-a-Shaq.

    Yall are weak. Still way to early to call him a quitter.

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