Did Lebron "Check Out" Of Game 4?

According to the Mavs' DeShawn Stevenson, he did.

Stevenson followed up his statement by saying Dwayne Wade's strong performance may have caused James' anemic play but also believes that James is no longer the same dominant force that he was when he played for the Cavs.

WAS LEBRON'S TRIPLE DOUBLE REALLY A TRIPLE DOUBLE?

Or was it a product of the NBA marketing machine?

A couple of days after Kobe set a Madison Square Garden record of 61 pts in a game, Lebron came to the Big Apple and came away with a 52point, 11 assist and 10 rebound performance. 

But several independent organizations (including Yahoo Sports, AP etc...) only had LBJ at 9 rebounds. Here's the controversial rebound that ONLY NBA scorers awarded to LBJ as a rebound.

You decide if it was an LBJ rebound or a Ben Wallace rebound and pass to LBJ.

 

LBJ MAYBE GREAT BUT...

...he sure sucks at counting.

Lebron was whistled for traveling when he executed his "crab dribble" move. According to him, the "crab dribble"is a hesitation move and that it was legal. 

Uhm, Lebron? You took three steps. I don't care if its the "crab dribble", the "lobster dribble" or the "chicken dance". Three steps equal traveling.

THAT WAS A CONFRONTATION?

If Bill Laimbeer saw that, he would have taken on both teams at the same time and kicked both their asses to kingdom come.

LEBRONS PLAYS A LIL DEFENSE...

...on rising NBA PG Ramon Sessions, an outstanding call up from the D-League.

Guess the D-League doesn't have LBJ-type defenders.

LEBRON'S NEW NIKE TVC.

Personally, I don't get it. But hey, it's Lebron.

ANSWERS TO YESTERDAY'S QUESTIONS

The Beast of the East remains to be the defending champions. KG and Ray Allen had a bad game but Paul Pierce took over with 27pts and Lebron missed a layup and 2 free throws in the last minute to seal the Cav's fate. Celtics win by 5pts.

The premier big man of the future? Neither Bynum nor Oden, if we go by this game. Bynum logged 8 points and three rebounds, Oden had 5 rebounds, blocked a shot and missed his four free throw attempts before getting injured. Yes, again.

Bulls versus Skiles. Winner, Bulls. Derrick Rose had 11 points and 9 assists, Deng had 21 pts, Gordon had 18, Hinrich had 15pts, Tyrus Thomas had 15 pts and 10 rebounds. Bulls win by 13pts, Skiles loses 100 strands of hair.  

A "NO-CHANCE, NO-WIN" SITUATION

Argentinean stalwart and NBA superstar Manu Ginobili says Argentina has no chance of beating the Redeem Team.

American and NBA megastars Lebron James and Carmelo Anthony huarantee that Argentina has no chance at all of beating the Redeem Team.

Seems to me like the Ugly Americans have already lost the worldwide basketball community to the unselfish, team basketball oriented and back-to-basics Argentineans.

Hope the Redeem Team gets their collective asses handed to them.

ALL THE KIING'S MEN

When Game 3 started, everyone was focused on the King.

Which is probably why the Cavs' Game Three heroes are a quartet of role players who weren't even a part of the team till midway of this season.

Delonte West scored 21pts, a far cry from the 7 pts he scored in games 1 and 2 combined and Joe Smith scored 17 on a perfect 7-7 stint.

Wally World scored 16pts, 12 in the first half and Ben Wallace scored 9 points and grabbed 9 rebounds plus two blocked shots.

With support like that, Lebron James finally broke loose to score 21 points, including 3 3pointers and came away 8 assists. But his biggest contributions came on the defensive end, as he logged in two of the most amazing blocks in the playoffs so far, both coming on fastbreak plays, with the unfortunate Rajon Rondo on the receiving end.

If the all the King's men keep playing that way, the Celtics may have to rely on their homecourt advantage to pull them through to the conference finals.

But then again, we all know what LBJ did to the Pistons last year on the Pistons' home court.

GOOD "D" OR BAD "O"?

This seems to be the most pressing question of the Celtics-Cavaliers series...

We know the Celtics are the best defensive team in the NBA...but are they really this good?

Good enough to hold Lebron to 16+points a night, at around 19% shooting?

Or is Lebron just going through a rough offensive patch?

Game 3 should show us the answer. If Lebron breaks through with some home cookin', shakin' and bakin', then we know Paul Pierce is going to have nightmares the rest of the series. But if almost-MVP Lebron fails to show up...then Celtics might have an easier 2nd round than anyone ever expected.

THE BIG THREE VS THE CHOSEN ONE

Three perennial All Stars versus the Anointed One.

The Big Ticket, The Truth and the Baby Faced Assassin versus The King.

Who will win? Boston will win in 6 games. I think.

But it won't be easy, oh no. They'll have to bring their A-Game every night (unlike the Hawks series, when the decided to send stunt doubles to play the games in Atlanta)

This is going to be real hard. Ilgauskas will body up Garnett and when he's done, Wallace will harrass KG. Lebron will run Pierce ragged while dominating both sides of the court (Pierce averaged like 13pts a game vs the Cavs in the regular season while Lebron logged in around 30pts)

So Boston will win because of Rajon Rondo (Boobie Gibson, hand him your "Surprise of the Playoffs" trophy, please), Sam Cassell and PJ Brown, not to mention Tony Allen and Glen Davis. Cavs have Pavlovic, Joe Smith and...well...Donyell Marshall.

Now all the Celtics have to do is make me a soothsayer instead of a liar.

THAT'S THE WAY, A-HA A-HA!

The real Boston Celtics play only on their homecourt.

They hire stunt doubles to play in Atlanta, which is why this particular series went to 7 games.

Jeff Van Gundy said it best during halftime when he commented "This game is already over. Too bad we don't have a mercy rule."

I have to agree with JVG on this one. There is nothing more boring than 24 minutes of meaningless basketball, when the subs are playing for more playing time next year and the fringe players are showing off in the hopes of landing another 10day contract.

I mean, come on! Glen "Big Baby" Davis passed up two open teammates in the paint just so he could run to the three point line and launch one. How pathetic is that?

But thank God this one is in the books already. Now we can move on to a more intriguing match up: Boston versus Cleveland.

My pick. Lebron's gonna have a great series but would I really pick LBJ over KG, the Truth and the Baby Faced Assassin? No, I don't think so. I think it'll be Boston in 6.