Date: December 25, 2009. Boxscore: scores.espn.go.com After the Cleveland Cavaliers made the defending NBA champions look ordinary, the Los Angeles Lakers’ fans threw up their foam hands in frustration. Mo Williams scored 28 points, lebron James added 26 and the Cavaliers beat Los Angeles 102-87 Friday in a game that ended with angry Lakers fans throwing dozens of giveaway foam hands onto the court. Shaquille O’Neal had 11 points in his latest Los Angeles return with the Cavaliers, who dominated the Lakers with sharp shooting and physical defense, prompting several technical fouls and retaliation hits in a one-sided matchup of title contenders. The Lakers’ crowd lost its holiday spirit with 4:04 left when Lamar Odom’s ejection and another T on the Lakers’ infuriated bench prompted many fans to throw their pregame presents onto the court. After another foul with 3:45 left, several more foam hands were thrown along with a full water bottle, which skittered between players without hitting anyone. Kobe Bryant scored 35 points for the Lakers, who had won 16 of 17 before Cleveland’s decisive victory behind Williams, James and the Cavs’ impressive interior play, which negated the Lakers’ usual advantages down low. After Odom got his second technical foul in an altercation with Williams, the Lakers’ bench drew a T — apparently on purpose — for delay of game by failing to produce a substitute in a timely manner. When referee Dan Crawford whistled that T, the Staples Center crowd let its hands fly. The foam hands weren’t the usual No. 1 finger normally found at sports events, but a representation of two puppet hands making the “LA” sign in a connection to Nike’s advertising campaign featuring puppets of James and Bryant. But with Williams leading the way in his third straight impressive road game, the Cavs forced Bryant and the Lakers into their least impressive performance in six weeks. The loss dropped the Lakers (23-5) back into a tie with Boston atop the overall NBA standings.Get your very own NBA team designed on custom silicone wristbands and share it with your friends.
NBA TOP PLAYS OF THE 2007-2008 SEASON: KOBE VS LEBRON FOR MVP ——————————— ABOUT VIDEO: ——————————— Video highlight mix of the top best plays from superstars Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant (Black Mamba, KB24) and Cleveland Cavaliers forward lebron James (King James, Chosen One) in the 2008 regular season before the All-Star Game in New Orleans, Louisiana. Includes dunks, assists, blocks. Music by Mos Def Video courtesy of NBA TV ——————————— ABOUT KOBE: ——————————— Coming from Lower Merion High School and into the 1996 NBA Draft, Kobe Bryant was selected 13th overall by the Charlotte Hornets which made him the youngest (age 17) to ever be drafted in the NBA. He was later traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Vlade Divac. With hard-work and determination, Kobe emerged as a prolific shooting guard who would later be compared in similarities to one of the greatest players of the game – Michael Jordan. He has since won 3 NBA Championship Rings, numerous awards and achievements – Slam Dunk Champion, Scoring Champion, All-Star mvp, and many more..along with becoming the undeniable vocal leader of the team. Here are his some of his career achievements: 2008 NBA Western Conference Champion 2008 NBA Most Valuable Player 1997 NBA Slam Dunk Champion 1997 All Rookie Second Team 10-time NBA All-Star 9-time All-NBA Selection 7-time All-Defensive Selection 2-time NBA All-Star MVP 2-time NBA Scoring Champion. ——————————— ABOUT LEBRON: ——————————— Straight out of St. Vincent – St. Mary High School, lebron James, now commonly nicknamed “King James” and/or “The Chosen One”, was selected the 1st Overall Pick of the 2003 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers. With hard-work, lebron has established his presence in the NBA as a legitimate triple-double threat, as well being compared to the greats of the game – Oscar Robertson, Michael Jordan, and Magic Johnson. Since, he has won numerous awards and achievements such as NBA Rookie of the Year, All-Star mvp (’06,’08), and several medals with Team USA Basketball. He also led the Cavs in the 2006-2007 season to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 1992, as well as a first appearance in the NBA Finals in franchise history. Here are some of his career achievements: 2007 NBA Eastern Conference Champions 2006 FIBA World Championships Bronze medal 2004 NBA Rookie of the Year 2004 NBA All-Rookie First Team 2004 Olympics Bronze medal 4-time NBA All-Star 3-time All-NBA 2-time NBA All-Star Game MVP ——————————— © 2008 Mindslush Visit www.nba.com for more highlights of dunks and amazing plays. ———————————
NBA All-Star lebron James is defeated by contestant David Kalb at Venice Beach,California, 2008.
The Orlando Magic advanced to the NBA finals after defeating the best team going into the series in a 4-2 series. Many were shocked, to say the least, that the Magic was able to dominate the Cavs especially since almost everyone was convinced that this season’s NBA finals was to be a Kobe and LeBron showdown. When a strong and a fan-favorite team like the Cavs gets beat in this fashion, there is plenty of debate as to where the blame should lie. In this case, however, there’s only one person to blame—Mr. MVP himself, King James.
No leadership from LeBron
It goes without saying that the reason the Cavs are so great is because there’s a player like LeBron James in their squad. If it wasn’t for King James, the fans in Cleveland would literally have nothing to root for. Just as LeBron is the savior of the Cleveland Cavaliers, he is also the reason for their brutal loss against the Orlando Magic. The Magic simply outworked the Cavs the entire series, starting from offensive rebounds and turnovers, down to three point shots and field goals made. Cleveland just didn’t seem too enthusiastic about winning the series, and Lebron allowed that to happen. If they had been playing with Michael Jordan, the original number 23 would have had them playing like it was the last game of their lives. Further, towards the end of the series, you can easily tell that the Cavs only plan of action was to give the ball to LeBron and let him do the magic he was expected to do. This made LeBron even shabbier as a leader because he actually believed that he can singlehandedly lift the Cavs to finals.
LeBron’s just too young and too nice
LeBron’s a great guy. His character is genuinely likeable. He is charismatic, funny, and obviously a kid at heart as he loves to dance and have fun all the time. For someone as enormously famous and rich as he is, it is rather surprising to see this kind of real quality about him. The problem, however, is that he is too nice. To simply put, he’s still a kid. He doesn’t have the willpower of a warrior and the determination of a champion yet. He’s too busy showing off his skills and scoring abilities.
James is far from being a Jordan
People want to compare King James to the likes of the greatest player ever, Michael Jordan. It’s not a far cry since both practically share the same playing style in that these two can easily dribble past multiple defenders and find their way to the hoop with an effortless lay up or dunk. Or if they wanted to, both can just throw a fade away jump shot 20 yards out and the ball would touch nothing but the net. Indeed both players are remarkable in their outer game, but the fact of the matter is that they are polar opposites in terms of inner game. LeBron is simply not that competitive. While Jordan would go at great lengths to a win every single game, James seems more interested in his personal statistics than that of his team. Aside from Scottie Pippen, the talent of the supporting Chicago Bulls was pretty much comparable to the current roster of the Cleveland Cavs. But Jordan was just so bloodthirsty that he demanded nothing but excellence from his team. As for James, he just wants to prove he can do it all by himself, which is apparently impossible.
lebron James Nike Commercial – Swimming Pool. Advertisement aired at the beginning of the 06-07 NBA season. The song is “Summer Madness” by Kool & The Gang.