There are plenty of debatable things you can call LeBron James these days. Traitor. Backstabber. LeChoke. Quitness. He's probably earned many of those names, and it's not going to be easy for him to shake off those names anytime soon. (For the record, this is still my personal favorite.)
What is NOT debatable is his basketball acumen, which is almost unparalleled. When he's on, no one in basketball can take care of him, and on this team, he has to be single-covered by most teams. This will usually end in disaster, as it did on Friday night at Oracle Arena with a casual 25 point, 7 rebound, 9 assist performance. Check out the highlights after the jump.
(via heatnation1)
Ex-Miami Heat wing Dorell Wright found out first hand when given the unenviable task of guarding James. James smoked him and other miscellaneous Warriors defenders with a series of spectacular plays, including plenty of incredible layups, a monster dunk off a Chris Bosh feed, an alley-oop from Dwyane Wade. Most notably were the three off-balance triples he drained in less than ninety seconds in front of Wright to end any hope of a Warrior comeback. It was a tour de force for a team on the move up, for a player back on the scene.
Bill Simmons suggested that James thrived off the electric crowd in Oracle Arena and that he's had a series of great games here as a result (including a game-winner a few years back). Other than an awful 5 for 22 night in 2006, the stats seem to hold up (three 30+ point games, one triple double, four near triple doubles...). I'm sure Golden State fans will be happy not to see him again in person until next year. Although based on some of the reactions, there's probably a few stirrings of people remembering why LeBron was so compelling to basketball fans in the first place.