LeBron James Comes Up Clutch Once Again

In these playoffs…the only thing Lebron can’t close is the hater’s mouths. It’s fine though….they can rattle on throughout the summer as they have to get used to seeing red and black take home Larry O’Brien trophies for the next decade (Bulls fans will also be celebratory over the next few seasons too).

im not going to call him clutch until he does something in the final ten seconds when its tied or they’re down, cuz he’s failed in that area basically every time he’s had a chance since he came to miami

Is that the only version of clutch? From the 5 minute mark down Bron took over. Therefore, they did not need a game winning or game tying shot.

So sick of the ‘last 10 seconds’ or ‘only the game-winning shot counts’. The fact is, Bron closes games out. Throughout the 4th. Sure, Melo and Kobe hit tough Js to win by 1 or 2, but there’s a reason they need that last second shot. Watch the games and you’ll see, he’s going to get the win by dominating on more than one possession. I’d take 10-15 points, key passes and big boards in the 4th over one big shot any day.

Yeah Lebron put in work in the clutch last night….If you can’t respect that you either are a hater or don’t play basketball

This is not to diminish Lebron in any way, he was clutch. While Lebron might have scored, Wade did an amazing job of shutting down Rose in the 4th quarter. Rose was not able to make plays due to the constant pressure. The work Wade put in off the ball on the offensive end of the court was not only clutch it was selfless. His work provided a target that could not be ignored by the Bulls defense, thus providing Lebron the opportunities to close out the game.

theres a reason why he doesnt need to take those last 10 second jumpers, because he dominates the fourth. and everyone is to quick to forget the clutch shots he also made as a cavalier

i just think when its 10 sec or whatevr left in the game and its tied or ur down theres more pressure, becasue its “make this shot or lose.” its different cause sure its the 4th quarter and its important, but u have alot more breathing room esp in the nba with the shot clock ur gonna have alot more opportunities to come back. in the final sec, its one shot… one opportunity…

Bron might be more focused now. He needs to be, he cannot jump quite as high as he used to, and he cannot change direction with the ball any where as quick as he used to. His jump shot and post-up game are improving.

Only children and idiots think last second shot are clutch. Lebron is extremely clutch… he took a team of practically D league players to the championship game and to the best record in the league. This is an impossible feet if you are not clutch. Most players are at best 25% for last second shots and for Lebron’s career he is like 29%. However when it comes to bringing a team from behind in the final 3 minutes and winning the game comfortably he leads in this department. To me I would much rather have that player then a player who waits until the last second to take a shot that he only has a 25% chance of making. However the media has played on fans and people with limited basketball knowledge and made clutch out to be a last second shot. Lebron is pretty clutch.

AllBall Lebron is still extremely athletic and quick. Rumor has it he has been caught up in this fear of preserving his legs that he doesn’t jump as hard or try to dunk on people as much. This has helped and hurt… it has allowed him to improve his jumper a lot but it has caused him tomiss shots at the rim when he blows past a player. Now he blows past a player and tries to lay it up and sometimes it rolls right off the rim. When a year ago he would blow past a player and put them in the rim. His advisers have said he has gone into this mode of conserving his knees so he is still the same freak but he is holding back. he is scared of burning them out too soon.

Is it me or does Lebron look less athletic than before? He didn’t get up as high as he used to on that nice dunk today.

LeBron is still extremely athletic, and he is still very quick for his size. LeBron cannot jump as high as he used to, and cannot change direction with the ball like he used to. It’s easy to see from watching him not just in this series, but the whole season. If you think LeBron actively tries to not dunk the ball or not jump high to save him self, then we will agree to disagree.

Let’s not say he’s closing people out. The final score in the 4th quarter was what 14-10? That is not clutch, by anyone.

Lebron has not had one major injury to his knees.. not one. He is 26 years old… he won’t start losing his athletic ability until very early 30s unless he is injured. He has mentioned several times about conserving his knees. He even mentioned his knees when he talked about leaving Cleveland. He said he didn’t want to wait until his 30s when his knees are gone and not have a chip. His ex high school teammate and advisers talked about him wanting to conserve his legs. Why in the heck is this so hard for someone to believe from a 26 year old with no injuries? Not sure what’s so hard about that but some people never want to believe anything.

If there is a hidden injury we don’t know about that’s one thing but I remember the whole knee conversation this summer after the decision.

I agree with alot of ya’ll…really even in that rough mid-season patch he was fine in the clutch(last 2-5 min) you just didn’t want him taking the last shot…Bron absolutely closed the bulls out last night..people need to take kobe’s dick out their mouth..there’s more than one way to finish a game

@nbk: The final score for the quarter was 14 – 10, Heat. But for the final 4min and change, the score was 12 – 2, Heat. And LeBron scored 9 of those 12. THAT is closing out. Just mentioning the points each team scored and basing your argument on that, without even attempting to delve a bit deeper and see how and when those points were score, is dishonest. You’re a stats guy, you should know this. And if you looked at the game, there’s no way in hell that you can’t say that the Heat and LeBron didn’t close the Bulls out. Don’t forget, with about 5 min left, the score was TIED. And the Heat won by 10. That says to me that one team was shut down. It’s not rocket science.

I realize LeBron scored 9 points in the last 4 minutes. And Chicago scored 2, clearly the story of the “close-out” was defense. LeBron hit some huge shots, but he did not put on a jordan cape and churn out a great clutch performance or anything like that. Defense won the game, not LeBron James.

@nbk and IF LBJ scored 18 points in the final 4 minutes you’d counter with another, 100% weak juice argument?

Maybe defense won the game, buuuutttt, with the score TIED, someone needed to score. And LeBron stepped up to the plate and hit a homerun. Why is it so hard to admit that dude played great at the end of the game when his team needed it the most? Also, only idiots are saying that he put on a Jordan cape, that’s to attract readers, it’s all bullsh*t. LeBron did what he ALWAYS does, which is put games out of reach. People said he wasn’t clutch and couldn’t perform in end of game situations, and that he needed Wade to close games for him. Now that’s he doing it, it’s not closing out. It’s only team defense. The team held Chicago to 2 points. Yes. But if LeBron hadn’t scored and willed the Heat to a win, they would have lost because those 2 points the Bulls had scored would have won the game, seeing that the score was tied and all.

You can’t be that ignorant to make such a comment nbk, really. I guess being damn near the only person scoring in the final moments of a game isn’t considered closing anymore. I guess he didn’t close Boston out in Game 5 either? Yeah, it was all team defense. LeBron sucks.

Maybe he will be labeled a choke artist again if he misses in the clutch the next game, but why dismiss when he ACTUALLY closes out games? Where’s the sense in that? It just makes you come across as bitter. And f*ck the fact that he misses those shots normally, people don’t hit half court buzzer beaters every game, yet we marvel whenever it happens. Why should we be like “meh, he doesn’t hit those very often” when he does actually hit big shots? Where is all this whenever Kobe, or Melo or whoever the f*ck else hits these kinds of shots? I’m sure there’s a statistic that shows that LeBron’s midrange shooting percentages aren’t as terrible as you make them out to be. And if I’m not mistaken, hitting 45% of your shots in the midrange is a GREAT percentage. In other words, missing 55% of your shots from the midrange is considered great shooting. Dirk hits a bit over 50%, and he’s an alien. You’re arguments hold no water.

You must not know anything about me, or pay attention to anything I say. at all. its your argument that holds no water, simply because it is not based on anything I’ve ever said.

nbk’s defense comment actually supports LBJ’s clutchness even further since it was he who spearheaded the defensive efforts by shutting down Rose and Deng in the final minutes. He was clutch offensively AND defensively.

The Heat closed out the Bulls. LeBron led the charge, is he anymore clutch then he was before? No. Should yesterday’s game have changed anyone’s opinion on anything about LeBron James and the Heat? Not unless what changed is how you feel about them with Udonis Haslem. — Your reading comprehension is porous at best, if you know ever pay attention to what I say on this site (which you obviously don’t) you would know that I have had LeBron as the best player in the league, since the end of 2007. You’d also know how I feel about everyone else in the clutch which you clearly don’t, judging from your Kobe/Melo comment. And bringing up LeBron’s mid range shooting % in a clutch conversation is irrelevant to, just to let you know. As I was referring to his % in “clutch” situations only, and am perfectly aware of his efficiency throughout a whole game. Actually what I said about LeBron is not dissing/hating in anyway, saying the Heat closed out the Bulls is obviously true. Just look at what they score in an average quarter, or h*ll look at what LeBron scores by himself on average in the 4th quarter. What’s bullsh*t is you getting upset about a topic that you paid little attention too, and clearly know little to nothing about