Hamilton: Abate The Hate, Applaud LeBron James

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MIAMI — They defied the odds and fooled the world. After dropping the first two games of their conference final showdown against the number one seed—a battle- tested team who had been there and done that—they won four straight games and shockingly won the right to play for the NBA’s crown.

They tricked us into believing they had a fighting chance to win the whole thing, but after four games, it became obvious that the NBA Finals was a bit of a mismatch.

Beaten, battered, and bested by a more experienced team, the 23-year old wonder kid who enamored us with his potential retreated meekly and mildly into a shell nobody knew existed.

This is Kevin Durant’s story, too, but back in 2007, LeBron James lived it first.

That year, at 23 years-old, James led his Cavaliers to the NBA Finals before being swept by the San Antonio Spurs. As we watch Durant and his Thunder struggle to close games, I can’t help but to marvel at how—amazingly—history is repeating itself. Stronger, wiser, and faster, his past has helped James perform in his third NBA Finals.

“One thing I’ve learned is that the greatest teacher you have in life is experience,” James said on Wednesday. “I’m happy to be back on this stage and want to make my teammates proud and make this organization proud.”

With the score tied at 94 in Game 4, James’ one-legged 3-pointer gave the Heat the lead for good. It was, without question, the finest NBA Finals moment of James’ career.

Like Durant, his meteoric rise to NBA superstardom yielded a very unlikely NBA Finals appearance at the ripe young age of 23. Durant, in 2012. James, back in 2007.

And now—five years later—there’s opportunity at LeBron James’ door. He hears it knocking. His Miami Heat need just one more victory before he can open it up and embrace his long eluded first.

2007 was so long ago, and since then, James has gone from being the toast of the NBA town to the ire of its purists.

Commissioner David Stern called “The Decision” ill-conceived and poorly executed. Cavaliers fans burned his jersey and Michael Jordan chastised him for electing to form a basketball conglomerate with Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and Pat Riley.

Wiser, stronger, and more confident, James has put together one of history’s most remarkable playoff runs.

We take his greatness for granted. And we’ve hated him for transporting his talents down I-95.

Now—today—It’s time to move on. It’s time to appreciate one of the greatest to ever play the game and marvel at—not diminish—his greatness.

As I told Tommy Dee of SNY’s TheKnicksBlog.com on Wednesday, I’ve been wrong about my fair share of playoff predictions this postseason. But after picking the Thunder to beat the Heat in seven games, I now believe that they have squandered too many opportunities and won’t be able to do what no team in NBA history has been able to—erase a 3-1 series deficit to win the NBA Finals.

But even if the Thunder somehow manage to pull off the seemingly impossible, it shouldn’t diminish James’ greatness. Today, the Heat are a single victory away from capturing the franchise’s second NBA championship not in spite of James, but because of him.

James, though, has vowed to not look too far ahead.

“I won’t get caught up in that,” he said. “I won’t think about what we’re going to do if we win the Finals until I look at the clock and it says triple zeroes and I see that we’ve won.”

For two years now, we’ve hated James because of the notion that he took the easy way out by teaming up with Wade and attempting to ride the coattails of the 2006 Finals MVP to multiple championships. But we’ve failed to acknowledge that since joining forces, it is James who has mostly carried Wade.

We’ve mocked James because of the idea that he’s not “a closer” without appreciating the fact that he is unselfish to a fault and has undying faith and confidence in his teammates.

And we’ve criticized his lack of an offensive post-game without fully paying homage to the fact that he is one of the few superstars of our generation who exerts equal amounts of energy—and is equally effective—on both sides of the court.

Abate the Hate.

Durant and the Oklahoma City represent all that is right about the game of basketball. Down to earth kids, an organically grown program, and a small-market team excelling in an era in which celebrities, sexy skylines, and nine-figure bank accounts overshadow what this is all about—the game of basketball.

It’s easy to love the Thunder just as it was easy to love James’ Cavaliers back in 2007. Back then, James was Durant, and he lived through what Durant is currently experiencing.

“In 2007, I was young and inexperienced and ran into a San Antonio Spurs team that had won three championships to that point,” he said. “They had been in that moment and they showed it.”

Now, five years later, James is the one who has been here, even if he hasn’t done that.  He’s failed twice on this stage before. But now, he’s so close, he can smell it.

And while I will not go as far as to say that anyone who is not fond of James or the route he has taken to becoming a champion should be rooting for him to succeed, you shouldn’t be mad if and when he does, because he deserves it.

Through four games in these finals, James is averaging 29.3 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 6.0 assists while shooting 49 percent from the field and 81 percent from the free-throw line. I mentioned all of that in my Game 4 story. What I didn’t mention, though, was that James’ impact on the defensive end is unlike anything I’ve ever seen.

From the press box in the American Airlines Arena, I’ve witnessed James closing out on shooters on the perimeter, disturbing Serge Ibaka’s finishes at the rim, and battling for defensive rebounds, often in the same possession.

In his third NBA Finals, nobody has worked harder. In the 2012 NBA playoffs, nobody has played better.

If you’re from Ohio or a fan of the Knicks, Nets, Bulls, or Cavaliers, it’s easy to understand why you can’t support James or his quest. But if you’re a fan of the game of basketball and of greatness, you should.

It’s time for us to collectively forgive LeBron James and turn the page on the Summer of 2010. As difficult as it may be, win or lose, it’s time to tip your cap.

History will repeat itself. The Thunder will ripen, Durant and Westbrook will lead them to the promised land, and their performance in these 2012 NBA Finals will ultimately fuel their fire and make them stronger and wiser. But right now, today, the Heat have been the better team and James, the ultimate competitor.

Abate the Hate, it’s time to give him some credit.

No, the Heat won’t win seven championships, especially not with Dwyane Wade showing every one of his 30 years of age. In years to come, the Thunder will progress and the Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers, Philadelphia 76ers, and New York Knicks will improve. Things will get tougher for James and the Heat.

But today, at this moment, with a single victory forever removing him from comparisons to Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, and Patrick Ewing, James has done any and everything within his power to put himself and his team in this position.

Love him or hate him, you’ve gotta respect that.

Moke Hamilton is a Senior NBA Columnist for SheridanHoops.com and is on assignment in Miami for the NBA Finals. Follow him on Twitter.

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Hamilton: Westbrook and James Were Great, But Game 4 Ending Wasn’t

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MIAMI — Did the basketball gods just play a cruel joke on us?

Tuesday night’s Game 4 of the NBA Finals has come and gone, and although the game was competitive and entertaining, I feel cheated. I wanted LeBron James and Russell Westbrook to go at each other over the final two minutes of the game, continuing their epic showdown.

Instead, neither walked proudly off the court as the game ended.

In the game’s final minute, the Miami Heat should have needed James—the probable Finals MVP—to bring them home. Westbrook, for all his brilliance, should have had the ball in his hands with a chance to win the game.

Instead, Westbrook blew the game while James was on the bench.

Tuesday night’s Game 4 saw the Heat best the Oklahoma City Thunder, 104-98, and take a commanding 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals. The Heat is now just a single victory away from claiming the 2012 NBA title. The King’s coronation could come as soon as Thursday night.

But consider the irony.

James scored a team-high 26 points, hitting 10 of his 20 shots. He chipped in nine rebounds and 12 assists. He also cramped up in his legs, forcing him to watch the final moments cringing on the bench.

So with 13.8 seconds remaining and the Heat needing two free-throws to clinch the game, it was Mario Chalmers at the charity stripe. It was he who held the Heat’s fate in his hand at the game’s most critical juncture.

And even crazier? It was Westbrook—who scored 43 points—that needlessly put him there.

After failing down the stretch once again, the Thunder are faced with a daunting uphill climb and will attempt to make history by being the first team to win the NBA Finals after trailing 3-1.

To that, I say don’t hold your breath. Scott Brooks has proven on more than one occasion that he’s in over his head. Perhaps we shouldn’t blame him for that. Brooks, after all, is only in his fourth year as an NBA head coach. But what you can blame him for is Westbrook’s critical and unnecessary foul that put the nail in the Thunder’s coffin.

With 17.3 seconds on the clock and the Thunder trailing the Heat, 101-98, Udonis Haslem and James Harden were whistled for a jump ball with 0.8 seconds left on the shot clock. Westbrook, unaware that the shot clock was then reset to 5 seconds, fouled Chalmers after Shane Battier directed the loose ball to him. Chalmers would sink each of his free throws and help push the Heat to within one game of winning the championship.

That is just the latest mistake down the stretch of a game that may end up costing the Thunder the championship. Clearly, Westbrook did not understand the situation, and his coach is to blame. Although it’s reasonable to expect Westbrook to have the presence of mind to know the game situation, it’s the coach’s job to ensure that he does.

“If they win the jump ball, they gotta shoot within 5 seconds, so don’t foul!”

Brooks failed to give such an instruction and ended up robbing us of what should have been a better ending to Westbrook’s amazing performance.

In the moment immediately following the foul, Westbrook let the world know that he was clueless about the game situation since the first thing he did after committing the foul was look at Brooks. Brooks yelled “No Foul!” during the final seconds of Game 3, but James Harden didn’t hear him and made the same exact error as Westbrook.

Fool you once? Shame on you.

Fool you twice? Shame on your coach.

Afterward, Brooks refused to acknowledge that the blunder significantly hurt the Thunder.

“One play does not determine the outcome of a game,” Brooks said. “There’s 200 plays involved in every basketball game, it doesn’t come down to one play.”

As the Brits would say, poppycock.

In that moment, in that situation, Westbrook should have known better and his coach should have made sure he did. And because of this, Westbrook’s heroic 43-point effort is forever diminished, just like the 20 shots he made in 32 attempts and the seven rebounds, five assists, and three steals that he killed himself for.

He’ll be remembered for his brain fart.

“My performance doesn’t mean anything,” Westbrook said. “We didn’t come out with the win and that’s all that matters.”

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He’s right and that’s sad. His performance, his effort, and his team deserved better. But instead of talking about his magnificent game, we’ll be discussing why the Thunder continue to crumble in big moments after never showing their immaturity before this point.

As I said in Sunday’s post-game piece, maybe it’s all just growing pains.

After all, LeBron and the Heat had to go through much of the same sort of on-the-fly learning during last year’s playoff run. When I spoke with Mario Chalmers on Monday, he said that the Heat were much more comfortable executing in end-of-game situations because of what they’d been through as a team.

“We’re a lot better, closing is now something we’re all comfortable with,” he said. “We don’t get shaken by anything.”

It was somewhat prophetic considering Chalmers had to score the final five points for the Heat. James, who played 45 minutes in Game 4, began to cramp up midway through the fourth quarter. In the first three games of the series, James logged 46, 44, and 43 minutes, respectively. His attrition, then, is no surprise.

In his third NBA Finals, James has been masterful. If his 29.3 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 6.0 assists weren’t proof enough, he’s shooting 49 percent from the field and 81 percent from the free-throw line. He’s simply playing his guts out.

The idea that he always shrinks in big moments is now a farce. James has come up big when it’s counted most. He’s dominated the Thunder on both ends of the court and has been absolutely punishing them on the interior while operating from the post. He is finally playing with the attitude of an MVP who knows he is an unstoppable freak of nature.

“For me, it’s all about seizing the moment,” James said earlier this week. “Last year, I didn’t think I had many game-changing plays, but this season, it was all about just trying to have more.”

And despite being limited down the stretch of Game 4, he did just that.

Hobbled and dehydrated, James was forced to check out of the game with 5:15 remaining and the Heat nursing a two-point lead, 92-90. With him on the bench, the Thunder scored four consecutive points and took a 94-92 lead with 4:05 remaining.

Limping badly, James re-entered the game and gave the Heat the lead for good when, with just under three minutes to go, he drilled a 3-pointer to break a 94-all tie.

James’ performance in these Finals—and especially on this night—have been nothing short of inspiring.

What’s most interesting, though, is that he didn’t finish the game. James checked out with 55.5 seconds remaining and the Heat nursing a three-point lead. At that point, it was Chalmers that scored the final five points for the Heat and sealed the deal.

So in the end, though Westbrook and James engaged in a joust worthy of acclaim, neither would have wanted the story of Game 4 to end like this.

I can’t remember an NBA game—especially not in the Finals—that ended with neither of the game’s top performers outshining the other as the final seconds expired.

As the game’s final precious seconds ticked away, neither of the stars that shined brightest were emitting light. One’s failure was mental and the other’s physical.

As we look toward Game 5, we can only hope that the basketball gods continue to bless us with what has been a much more entertaining series than the 3-1 game count suggests.

Moke Hamilton is a Senior NBA Columnist for SheridanHoops.com and is on assignment in Miami for the NBA Finals. Follow him on Twitter.

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The best NBA Finals Game 4 showdowns of the David Stern Era

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If you’re looking for an illustration of why Celtics-Lakers is the best rivalry in the NBA – and perhaps the most enduring of any in the four major pro sports – then read the piece below.

Before each game throughout the NBA Finals, we have been encapsulizing the top five Game 1s, Game 2s, etc.

As the Thunder and Heat steel themselves for what should be a pretty intense Game 4 tonight, we offer you our top five Game 4 showdowns in recent NBA history.

All five games include the Lakers, and all but one of the matchups includes the Celtics.

Keep in mind that our historical cut line is 1984, when David Stern first became commissioner and the playoffs first went to a 16-team format that required all teams to play four postseason rounds. So we are not even including some of the classic Celtics-Lakers matchups of the 1960s, when the teams met a staggering six times in the Finals.

All of those showdowns were won by the Celtics. The rivalry has been much more balanced during Stern’s reign, as you will see below.

And if you’d like, you can also catch up on our picks for best Game 1, Game 2 and Game 3.

5. THE CELTICS STORM BACK: In 2008, the Celtics and Lakers met in the Finals for the first time in 21 years. Neither team broke through on the road through the first three games, and that trend looked like it would continue in Game 4 as the Lakers opened a 35-14 lead after one quarter. The lead grew to 24 points with less than five minutes before halftime and was still 70-50 midway through the third period when the Celtics finally awoke. Boston got a huge boost from bench players Eddie House, James Posey and P.J. Brown while LA was getting nothing from reserves Sasha Vujacic, Jordan Farmar and Ronny Turiaf. The Celtics closed the quarter with a 21-3 run, and when Leon Powe scored to open the final period, the game was tied. “The air went out of the building,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. The Lakers briefly rebuilt a four-point lead before the Celtics took control for good with an 11-2 burst triggered by Posey’s 3-pointer as a swarmed Kobe Bryant went without a shot for three minutes. Posey stuck in the dagger with another 3 for a 92-87 lead at the 1:13 mark, and the Lakers never again had the ball with a chance to tie. Posey scored 18 points, three more than LA’s reserves. The Lakers were limited to 33 second-half points in a crushing 97-91 loss that virtually assured Boston’s 17th championship, which the Celtics secured five days later on their home floor.

4. DJ DRILLS A DAGGER: The 1985 Finals between the Celtics and Lakers featured huge momentum swings. Boston won the first game on its home floor by 34 points, then abruptly lost the next two and found itself fighting for its series life in Game 4 at the Fabulous Forum. In the final minute of a tense fourth quarter, the Celtics forced a miss on a baseline skyhook by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. But Magic Johnson – who had a triple-double with 20 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds – sneaked in for the offensive rebound and putback that tied it, 105-105, with 17 seconds to go. With the luxury of holding for the last shot, the Celtics initiated their set with Dennis Johnson at the top and Larry Bird coming off a right side curl. On the catch, Bird was doubled by Magic. He took one dribble to freeze Magic, then pitched back to Dennis Johnson, who buried an 18-footer at the horn for the win that evened the series. The shot capped a simply spectacular game for Dennis Johnson, a Finals MVP in 1979 with Seattle who had 27 points, 12 assists and seven rebounds while adding to his resume as a clutch performer. The Finals went 12 years before seeing another pure buzzer-beater.

3. KOBE BRYANT COMES OF AGE: Despite Kobe Bryant’s meteoric rise to superstardom over his first four years, the Lakers were still Shaquille O’Neal’s team when they met the Indiana Pacers in the 2000 Finals. O’Neal won MVP honors that season, and Bryant was still the beta dog, intermittently picking his spots in and around O’Neal’s dominance. But in Game 4, he fully emerged from Shaq’s shadow. Bryant badly sprained his ankle in Game 2 and sat out Game 3, which the Pacers won on their home floor to get back in the series. O’Neal was his usual unstoppable self with 36 points and 21 rebounds. But he missed a potential game-winning jumphook at the end of regulation and fouled out with 2:33 left in overtime, handing the reins to Bryant, who wasted no time proving he was up to the challenge. On consecutive possessions, he answered baskets by Rik Smits with jumpers. After the second one, he retreated on defense while pushing his palms downward, as if to tell his team, “Calm down, I got this.” Which he did, putting home a reverse layup off Brian Shaw’s miss with 5.9 seconds to go. The Lakers survived a potential game-winning 3-pointer by Reggie Miller and held on for a 120-118 win, regaining control of the series in one of the more underrated Finals games in NBA history. At practice the following day, I bumped into Bryant as he left his media session and headed down a back corridor for treatment on his ankle. I told him that Game 4 would always be remembered as the day when he emerged from Shaq’s shadow. “Really?” he responded, sincerely pleased. “I hope so.”

2. THE JUNIOR, JUNIOR SKYHOOK: In 1987, the Lakers and Celtics met in the Finals for the third time in four years. The Lakers were rested and won the first two games at home rather easily, averaging 133.5 points. The Celtics got back in the series with a home win in Game 3 and appeared positioned to win even the series as they opened a 16-point lead in the third quarter. The Lakers staged a furious rally to tie the game with 5 1/2 minutes to go, then rallied again after Boston rebuilt an eight-point lead two minutes later. An alley-oop dunk from Magic Johnson to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar gave the Lakers a 104-103 lead with 29 seconds to go. Larry Bird drilled a 3-pointer to reclaim the lead for Boston, and LA went to Abdul-Jabbar, who was fouled. He made the first shot and missed the second, and the ball was ruled out of bounds off Kevin McHale, allowing the Lakers to retain possession with seven seconds to play. The Lakers called timeout and went to Johnson, who used a hesitation dribble to get into the lane and floated a running hook – which he later called a “junior, junior skyhook” – over the outstretched arms of McHale and Robert Parish with two seconds left, silencing the Boston Garden crowd. Bird was able to get free of James Worthy for a 3-pointer from the left corner that bounced off the rim as the buzzer sounded, giving the Lakers a 107-106 win and a 3-1 series lead. In the moments after the game, James Brown of CBS interviewed Johnson in the cramped corridors of Boston Garden. During the interview, shouting could be heard in the background. It was Celtics GM Red Auerbach, reading the referees the riot act.

Go to the 3:45 mark of the video below for Red’s rant.

1. THE CELTICS BULLY THE LAKERS: The 1984 Finals began with the Lakers nearly taking the first two games on the road from the Celtics, who were rescued by a timely steal by Gerald Henderson to win Game 2. Back in Los Angeles, the Lakers pounded the Celtics in Game 3, and Larry Bird called out his team in the media, calling it “a bunch of sissies.” Only he didn’t say “sissies.” He said a word that begins with P and is a synonym for a cat. The Celts decided that they would go down fighting. Bird shoved Michael Cooper in the second quarter and nearly came to blows with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the third period. But the most memorable altercation was Kevin McHale’s clothesline takedown of Kurt Rambis on a fast break that resulted in several scuffles with multiple players coming off both benches. In today’s game, McHale would have been suspended for at least five games, and many others would have been facing bans of at least one game. But incredibly, no one received as much as a technical foul. Despite the rough stuff, the Lakers led by five points with a minute to play but allowed a three-point play on a follow shot by Robert Parish, who later stole a pass by Magic Johnson after Larry Bird sank the tying free throws. In overtime, a three-point play by James Worthy gave the Lakers a 123-121 lead before Bird tied it with two free throws and – after Magic missed a pair from the line – gave the Celts the lead for good with a turnaround jumper with 16 seconds left. Worthy drew a foul, but when he missed the first free throw, Celtics forward Cedric Maxwell walked across the lane and made the “choke” sign. Boston held on for a 129-125 win as Bird had 29 points and 21 rebounds, Parish added 25 and 12 and Dennis Johnson had 22 and 14 assists. Abdul-Jabbar scored 32 points, Worthy had 30 and Magic Johnson had a triple-double with 20 points, 17 assists and 11 rebounds. It is inarguably one of the greatest Finals games of all time.

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