LeBron’s Shot Selection Costs Cleveland A Game | NBA Playbook

LeBron’s Shot Selection Costs Cleveland A Game

In the fourth quarter of the Cavs game against the Celtics, LeBron James was a runaway freight train.  He scored 20 points in said quarter, and he did it by attacking the basket.  When James decided to put his head down and get to the rim, he either got himself an easy basket or a foul call.  Conversely, nothing was dropping from the three point line as he was 0-7 from deep with his team down 2 with just about 10 seconds left.  That is what makes his decision for a pull up three on a 2 on 2 situation so confusing.

We have all seen LeBron’s heat check threes before, you know, the ones that as he pulls up everyone says “No!  God no!” but then it goes in to a resounding “Yes!” but those usually come after a couple makes.  LeBron was so successful attacking the rim in the fourth quarter, it was just plain silly:

This was 1 of 5 plays that LeBron had where he attacked and ended up with a dunk or a lay-up.  Now, let’s look at that final play:

As Kendrick Perkins lets his shot go, he knows that he missed it and he tries to bowl his way to the rim.  Perkins ends up falling, and somehow the ball bounces right into LeBron’s hands as he is moving forward.  LeBron makes the catch already running in stride, with 3 Celtics behind him.

It looks like it is going to be a 1 on 2 fast break, but to Antawn Jamison’s credit, he puts his head down and runs the court as fast as he can.  This is important because he balances the floor for James, and forces the defense to worry about him.

James has Tony Allen on his heels, which means that if LeBron James chose to drive the basketball, he should have been able to easily get by him and get to the rim.  Instead, James decides to pull up from about 30 feet.  As he does, he sucks in Ray Allen, and that actually leaves Antawn Jamison open on a cut to the basket.

James doesn’t look for him, and he shoots a pull up three.  He misses it, going 0-8 from 3 for the game, and the Cavs lose their chance to crush the Celtics and their fans spirit.  Here it is in real time:

It almost seems like that the Celtics got in his head late, and that James wanted to “end it” so he could be able to close out the Celtics.  However, he missed, and it was the Celtics who were able to come away with the win.

<img class=”alignnone” title=”LeBron James” src=”http://nbaplaybook.com/images/JamesAttack/Three1.jpg” alt=”" width=”716″ height=”395″ />

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05
Apr 2010
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POSTED IN 4th Quarters Bad Decisions Boston Celtics Cleveland Cavs
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  • http://www.backseatgmblog.com Ricky

    LeBron after the game said he saw that Jamison had rebounding position…not sure that is a good excuse but take it for what its worth. If he saw Jamison, a pass to him right there would probably lead to an easy bucket. Seems to me like he let the Celtics trash talking get to his head and he wanted to be the hero

  • Gavin

    You go for the win on the road.

  • http://celticshub.com/2010/04/07/links-of-interest-dojs-hof-worthiness-video-goodness-all-d-teams-uconn/ Links of Interest: DOJ’s HOF Worthiness, Video Goodness, All-D Teams, UCONN!!!! | Boston Celtics Basketball – Celtics news, rumors and analysis – CelticsHub.com

    [...] Speaking of video, NBAPlaybook, which gives you top-notch video analysis every day, breaks down LeBron’s shot selection down the stretch against Boston on [...]

  • B

    I was watching the game live and jumped up and down (I am a Celtics fan) screaming to my brother in-law how Lebron just blew the game!!!! It’s awesome to see this is the highlight of the game from you…thank you!