The Payback Trilogy

I've read enough Baseball Prospectus to understand that nothing I do, as a fan, has any effect on the outcome of a sporting event. Not my yelling. Not my would-be-witty blog posts. Not the spot where I sit while watching. None of my actions have any effect. Which makes me, in this regard, nearly as useful as Andy Rautins.

Now, I don't mean to say that I still didn't worry over which Jets jersey to wear during Gang Green's recent playoff run. Because I did. But I understand that the only purpose of such behavior was to give me something to do before the game and something to talk about during. My ensemble didn't help Shaun Ellis sack Tom Brady in New England or prevent Bart Scott from wrapping Rashard Mendenhall in Pittsburgh.

Recent events, however, have forced me to revisit this stance about my own ineffectuality. Maybe Bill Simmons is right. Maybe reverse jinxes matter. Maybe RBI is a valuable evaluation tool. And, just maybe the things I do and say and eat and drink can alter the performances of athletes that don't even know that I exist. Because that seems to be one of the only ways that I can explain how the woeful Cleveland Cavaliers have beaten the Knicks three times in three tries this season.


In case you haven't heard, those 2010-2011 Cavaliers have been one of the worst teams in NBA annals. Byron Scott's charges have just 12 wins. Seven of those triumphs came in the first month of play, but the comic sans wave crested in the first quarter of LeBron James' return to Cleveland on Dec. 2. With a vociferous crowd behind them, the Cavs took an early lead. The high point came when Antawn Jamison drew a foul while scoring a driving layup. He then knocked down the ensuing free throw to give the home team a 17-12 lead. From that made free throw up until now it's been a nearly uninterrupted free fall. The South Beach SuperFriends finished the quarter strong, with James scoring 11 of his team's final 16 points while assisting on the two buckets he didn't score. The next three quarters would go just as well for Cleveland as the close of the first.

The Cavs would go on to drop their next eight games before the Knickerbockers arrived in Cleveland for their first meeting on Dec. 18. The Knicks squandered a lead in the final minute of the game before capitulating in overtime. As I said earlier, the freefall was nearly uninterrupted. After that first win over the Knicks, the rudderless Cavs would go on to lose their next 26 straight games, establishing a new mark for consistent putridity.

When the Knicks next came calling at Quicken Loans Arena in late February, the 'bockers had just acquired Carmel Anthony, Chauncey Billups and assorted Balkmans from Denver. The new-look New York team stuttered and fumbled its way to a win over the Milwaukee Bucks in its first future outing, but would then go down in Cleveland. In that game, J.J. Hickson played with a ferocity that neither me or the Knicks seemed to anticipate, and it was only a fourth-quarter explosion from Billups that made this one close down the stretch.

Already rocking an impressive 0-fer against the least competitive team of recent vintage, Anthony sounded almost Rexian in making it clear to the media that there would be no messing around when Cavaliers visited the Garden just a few days later. True to his words, the Knicks began brightly in the game, with Toney Douglas continuing his recent streak of strong starts. TD attacked the rack for the opening score. Soon after, Melo dropped a three and then Amar'e got himself to the line after a strong drive. Douglas was propelling the offense at full speed, pushing it through Amar'e. When Jared Jeffries took a charge early it looked like this one would be over early.

To their credit, the Cavs would battle all night, playing with a confidence and an anger that one might not expect from a team so far down the standings. Some of the spirit of belief was imbued by recent arrival Baron Davis, who generally embraces the Garden stage, but just as much was contributed by bulky Newark-schooled Samardo Samuels. For all their brutish exuberance, though, the Knicks lead ballooned to 12 points midway through the fourth quarter as Stoudemire was again working himself past 40 points.

But with an offense operating at full speed only in fits and starts and a defense still being lashed together on the operating table, the home team stalled as the finish line came into sight. It shuddered and shimmied just like the 1986 Dodge 600 I drove used to as I'd force it to make that last hard uphill left turn toward my high school in 1999. This sudden and dramatic loss of locomotion was exactly what a drafting Davis had been waiting for. He exploded toward the tape, knocking down several big shots and playing with the been-there confidence that LBJ used to provide for this team in the building.


Soon enough, the Knicks were trailing in the final minute and forced to have Amar'e shooting a three pointer. As is his wont, he nailed it. Obviously. Former Dan D'Antoni protege and onetime apple of the Donnie Walsh's eye Ramon Sessions then went 1 for 2 at the line to give the 'bockers one last chance to avert disaster. Trailing 115-117, the Knicks had the ball with 7 seconds left (or less).

The ball was never going anywhere but Anthony. He lowered his head and he drove through the paint toward the rim, rising up into the air when he was halfway there. With a clean look above the fray to the cylinder, Anthony was oblivious to Samuels planted beneath him until both were tumbling toward the parquet. Whistle. Offensive foul. Game. Over.

While getting ambushed by an engaged Davis is not exactly the same as losing a lead in Cleveland or as no-showing in Cleveland, there is not enough lipstick out in the wider world to enter this pig in the beauty pageant. This was the worst loss of the season. Because it came after those other two. Because it came with Carmelo. And because it came after Carmelo talking about how this team would not lose the third meeting after dropping the previous two.

Those three wins for Cleveland account for the better part of the paltry five that this club has gathered since that relatively hot first month. But, why? How? Are you there God, it's me Margaret and I want to know how these players have consistently lost to those players?

Oh. I see. Damn. Yeah, our bad.

It's because we, as fans, wanted this for Cleveland. We wanted their homegrown hero to leave. We wanted the 26-game losing streak. We coveted LeBron James and we gleefully scribbled slogans on poster board to this effect. We printed Knicks jerseys with LBJ's name and number on them. It didn't matter one lick to us Knicks fans if Cleveland went 0-82 this season. Nope. In fact, our addition was always supposed to be there subtraction. That was, when you got down to it, part of the fun. Because we could get what they had just because of who we were: Knicks fans. This was the prevailing we-gomaniacal thinking. No?


For 18 months, the Knicks were the free agency bogeyman haunting everything that Cleveland did on and off the floor. We're responsible for the Cavs mortgaging the future for suitable sidekicks for James. Danny Ferry and the Cleveland front office felt incapable of building something strong and sustainable because the lure of James Dolan's money, Madison Avenue market share and Madison Square Garden seemed stronger than the quainter comforts of Cuyahoga County.

When it comes to the relationship between these two franchises, it matters only slightly that LBJ opted to take his talents to South Beach instead of Seventh Avenue because the Knicks and New York City created "The Decision." It was the confidence that we had of James' ultimate departure and the passion with which we wooed him that sewed the seeds of that heartbreak. These Knicks can't beat those Cavs because we created them.

As James would tweet, ain't karma a bitch.

The First Annual Corey Hart Invitation

Recently felled by LeBron's Instant Karma severe migraine headaches, Miami Heat shooting guard and band-aid spokesmodel Dwyane Wade donned a pair of tinted glasses for last night's Knicks-Heat donnybrook at the Garden.

The pair of shades that he was initially planning to wear - in hopes of limiting the impact of the brights lights on his eyes - were deemed too dark by the NBA. It was stated that they would give him an unfair advantage. Mostly, in awesomeness.



Thankfully, the Knickerbockers took the floor for the opening tip with a bespectacled player of their own. Recently minted All-Star Amar'e Stoudemire has been wearing protective lenses ever since he suffered a detached retina during the 2008–2009 season while he was still in Phoenix. With a captain from each side wearing shades for this indoor night game, WWOD? dubbed it the first-ever Corey Hart Invitational shortly before the opening tip.

The Knicks brightly opened the C.H.I. with an ally-oop slam by Wilson Chandler and soon got out to an early lead thanks, in small part, to Danilo Gallinari taking a charge at one end and then driving baseline for a slam at the other. Gallo's crowd-pleasing swashbuckling aside, the driving force behind the initial Knicks' rush was Amar'e. Pure from 17, driving layup, and then a three from the corner.

He was abusing 35-year-old Lithuanian center Zydrunas Ilgauskas with a severity that made me think about sending a distress signal to Vilnius on his behalf. Maybe Marko Ramius could commandeer a submarine to save his countryman. But before I had could begin the hunt for Ramius's cell phone number, Heat coach Mark Spolestra, gave Z the hook like a stuttering standup at the Apollo, sending in Jo-el Anthony, the last son of Krypton.

Although Amar'e quickly scored on Anthony, extending the Knicks' lead to 13-7, the Heat finished the first quarter with a flurry. First Wade and then Mike Miller threw long ally-oops to LeBron James on the break. He seemed to reach up to Row G in section 414 to grab the overthrown pass by Miller and stuff it home. These furious flushes were straight from Sega-era NBA Jam and illustrated the physical majesty of this Heat club once they get running downhill.

Amar'e, Landry Fields and Shawne Williams combined for 19 of the team's 23 points in the second quarter. Yet no number of swooping layups by STAT could undo the pyshic damage of those on-the-break-oop LBJ dunks in the first quarter. Those four points lent an air of menace to everything the Heat did and left the Knicks seemingly trailing from ahead.

It seemed a fait acommpli when the visitors took a slim two-point margin into the intermission. Heck, I even felt glad the Knicks were so close. The supposed Miami missing link, Miller, was the first player out to warm up before the third quarter. When the ball was rolled out again, though, Wade and Amar'e picked up where they left off, battling. For their part, the rest of the Knicks managed the trick of missing loads of just the sort of open shots that they would seemingly need to stay in a game with this team.

Slowly, at first, the game began to turn as Heat extra James Jones dropped in a few threes with his lightning quick release. And when Amar'e picked up his fourth foul in a futile attempt to stop another Wade foray into the paint things began to turn more quickly. Check that, the game didn't so much "turn" as it was grabbed by both shoulders by Wade and shaken briskly. Damn near to death. Turiaf replaced STAT and Wade, at some point, switched his scopes to infra-red.

As he drove and dished and drove and then looked to dish but then drove again, rumors spread through Section 323 of the Garden that Wade's sunglasses offered him a T-100 optical enhancement of the playing surface. His shots were laser-guided and driving lanes were mapped according to Skynet algorhythms. Great Sweetwater's Ghost, he might have derailed every Long Island Rail Road train several floors below at Penn Station had he been allowed to wear his first-choice of shades. The NBA office was correct. Wade is a menace.

Even with his second-choice eyewear, he came at the Knicks as relentless and natural as the tide. He scored 14 points in the quarter and the Heat's edge ballooned to nine entering the fourth. The Knicks hopes teetered on the edge of the abyss between quarters three and four. If the Heat's lead got any larger there would be no coming back, not with the way the team had been shooting.

Trailing but not tiring, the Knicks opened the fourth quarter pushing. Toney Douglas and Fields both broke off long rebounds. As they picked up the RPMs the crowd raised the decibel level. More importantly, Wade was no longer getting all the way to the rim. He was being challenged and/or fouled in the paint. The shots stopped dropping, and then so did the free throws. As he faltered, Gallo grabbed the reins of the game. His three-point shot with 5:20 remaining gave the Knicks the lead, 77-76, seemingly for the first time since Allan Houston's '99 game winner.

With the Knicks out in front, LeBron finally showed what he can do at his cynical marauding best. He gathered himself at the equater and flew to the rim on the next possession. He was playing for the foul all the way. Williams obliged and LJB sank both free throws. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. James scored four of the Heat's next six points in the same fashion. After featuring fierce defense throughout, this game was going to be decided by shotmaking. And, with one of the game's best closers making amends for a mediocre night, bettors in the stands were offering Heat -3 to anyone who would take it.

Trailing the NBA's most hyped squad, 84-83, with less than a minute and a half to play, the Knicks came up with two of their biggest makes of the season. Gallinari again put the Knicks back in front with another treble; and then, after a mercifully missed James Jones jumper (LBJ drove and then kicked it to JJ), Fields hit the message bucket of the game. His easy stroke for another three pushed the lead to five points and told everyone on the floor and in attendance that the Knicks weren't giving this one up.

Coming out of the ensuing timeout, the GardenVision screen above the court played its "Get Loud" montage, with footage of a grinning Gallo imploring the crowd to raise the volume. For the most, part no one paid much notice. We were already loud, and we were preparing to unleash the full strenght of our voices in a D-FENCE chant. This wasn't no Nets game when the loudest noises were dictated by the JumboTron. We were doing just fine on our own. And after sputtering on offense all night, so were the Knicks.

LeBron scored four more points in the final minute but the Heat would never regain the lead thanks to four Felton free throws. As Felton stepped to the line for the last charity toss of the game, the delirious crowd chanted, "BEAT THE HEAT BEAT THE HEAT."

In Defense of LeBron James
For a guy who has the highest active career average in the Garden and whose teams haven't lost to the Knicks seemingly since hightops were made simply of rubber soles, canvas and metal eyeholes for laces, LeBron looked completely out of sorts last night. While Wade rampaged downhill like an avalanche, LBJ pounded it on the perimeter like he was Zach Randolph.

In recent meetings between the 'bockers and LBJ, New York has thrown out strong oversized two-guards like Wilson Chandler and Quentin Richardson at him. They've bodied him and hounded him around the perimeter. They've pressured him on the ball and tried to deny him when he didn't have it. And he's driven to the lane when they crowded only to confidently catch and shoot from distance when they inevitably backed off.

Last night, he didn't know if he was coming or going, driving or shooting. One minute, he was trying to face up on the much smaller Ray Felton and then later trying to back down the taller Shawne Williams.

With Heat power forward Chris Bosh sidelined by an ankle injury, James started at the No. 4 spot and this allowed the Knicks to throw all their rangy forwards at him. When Turiaf first checked into the game, Amar'e even shifted down to power forward spot and d'ed up James for a few trips.

While I won't pretend to know what LeBron was thinking, I will say that it looked like he was spooked. Or, at least, rattled by the size in front him. He wasn't assertive until the waning moments of the game. Until then, he always paused when he got the ball, and this wasn't the Chesire grinning toe-tap pause he sometimes takes before swishing in a three from deep. These pauses were not strategic. It looked like he didn't know what to do. It looked like he heard the crowd and then forced a bad shot in an attempt to show us what was up. But instead of taking control of the game away from the Knicks (and from Wade) he was bricking shots at the end of the shot clock. He was facing up and swinging eblows int the faces of smaller players, and being whistled for it, instead of backing them down. It looked real bad, and I've never seen that from James against this team.

Notes, Observations and Things Best Left Unsaid
-Of the many shots missed during the game by home players, Wilson Chandler missed more than his share. After opening the game by flushing home an ally-oop he tallied just a few more hoops. I couldn't help but feel like his offense was thrown off by the spanking he was taking at the other end from Wade.

Quote(s) of the Night:

"We're just as real scrappy team. That's how we play. That defines us on the defensive end, trying to outscrap every team that we play."
-Knicks forward Shawne Williams, who played poised, physical defense on LeBron James throughout the second half of the game.

"If you know Shawne's background, I don't think he's going to be intimidated. That's not going to be a problem," Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said with a laugh. "He's coming at you. And I like that about him.

LeBron's Instant Karma

In many Indian religions, Samsara means the "flow of life," or the continuous cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth. One's movement around this wheel depends on one's karma, or actions. Whether enforced by a deity or not, this belief system states that immoral actions will have negative consequences while positive behavior will be rewarded as one progresses through the many states of existence.

After the Cleveland Cavaliers' 57-112 loss to the Lakers on Jan. 11, LBJ tweeted:

"Crazy. Karma is a b----.. Gets you every time. Its not good to wish bad on anybody. God sees everything!"

While theologians puzzled over the significance of his evocation of both the Judeo-Christian deity and the Eastern idea of karma, veteran followers of the NBA quickly surmised that James' barb had been intended for Cavs owner Dan Gilbert, who very publicly lambasted the King after he abdicated his Cleveland throne over the summer. By LeBron's logic (or belief?), the Cavaliers were rocked by a franchise record 52 points because of Gilbert's comic sans misdeeds.

The SuperFriends weren't playing that night, so it's possible that LBJ was watching the Cleveland game on television. Miami was coming off an overtime win at Portland and had won 21 of it's previous 22 games, including the thorough triumph over the Lakers on Christmas. Based on his espoused theory of karma, it would seem that James must have been pretty well behaved.

Given the instant karma that's been visited upon him in the week and half since, I'd imagine that either his self image or his belief in moral causation has been shaken. The night after James' tweet, the scorching Heat were dropped by the Clippers. LBJ sprained his ankle during the game and was forced to miss the next game in Denver. The Nuggets blew the doors off Miami in that contest. Up next? A visit to Chicago, where the Heat went down again. They hadn't lost three games in the previous eight weeks total, but they had dropped three on the bounce when they got their talents back to South Beach for Tuesday night's game against the Hawks. LBJ was back in action, yet the Heat dropped the tilt in overtime.

To sum up, that's four consecutive losses after the karma tweet after just a lone loss in 22 tries immediately before. How's that for some instant karma?


For the second time this season, WWOD? has uncovered some strange connection between a John Lennon song and James. And if you read LeBron's initials backwards then you get JL. Which are Lennon's initials!

LeBron burried Paul. Cranberry Sauce.

Unhappy Returns: Pat Riley to the Garden (1995)

Unless you spent the past few days tirelessly (and futilely) crisscrossing the globe for the past week with Sunil Gulati, president of US Soccer, then you are fully aware of the coming of the Lebronagdeon to Cleveland tonight.

Five months from leaving his home-state Cavaliers for the sultry shores of South Beach, LeBron James will tread the boards at the Q in downtown Cleveland. Lots of folks, like SI's Joe Posnanski, have already covered the myriad angles of the return. As a Knicks fan, I can't help but think back to the last time we had a tried and true traitor return to the scene of the crime. It was December 19, 1995, and former Knicks coach Pat Riley returned to Madison Square Garden with his own Miami Heat.

Riles had shocked Knicks fans and players alike when departed for the sultry shores of South Beach during the preceding offseason. Best of all, his resignation came via fax. Which given the tech-standards of the mid-1990s must have been liking breaking up with someone via text message. Is there a lol-type texttype for dumping someone?

The Dawn of a New NBA Age

When 38-year-old leviathan Shaquille O'Neal lowered his meaty, tattooed left shoulder into the lane and flipped up the first shot of the 2010-2011 NBA season while wearing a white-with-green-trim Boston Celtics uniform it was undeniable that the political topography of the NBA is vastly different than even a decade ago.

Also on the floor in the home white for the Celtics were power forward Kevin Garnett, small forward Paul Pierce, shooting Ray Allen and point guard Rajon Rondo. First-round draft picks at every spot. Pierce was drafted out of the University of Kansas with the 10th overall selection by the Celtics in 1998 and has been in Boston through the dark ages and the stabbings, but Allen and Garnett were acquired in separate trades prior to the 2007-2008 season.

Dubbed "the Big Three" and saddled with expectations befitting the sum of their impressive talents, the veteran trio went on to win the NBA championship in that first season together. After being ousted by the Orlando Magic in the Conference Finals in 2009, Boston took a lead into the fourth quarter of Game 7 of the 2010 Finals before succumbing to Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers in the waning moments. ESPN's Bill Simmons will forcibly explain why this is the closest a team has ever come to a title without winning despite the fact that there have been 16 other Game 7s in the history of the NBA Finals and three of those were decided in overtime. Losing teams broke the 80-point barrier in handful of those games, as well.

As anyone with access to a television, radio or garrulous regulars at a dive bar can tell you, the Celtics' opponent on the opening night of the 2010-2011 NBA campaign, the Miami Heat, made waves in South Beach and throughout the Association this past summer by inking LeBron James and Chris Bosh to free-agent deals. James is the reigning league MVP, and Bosh is a very good (though not nearly as great as the company he keeps) jump-shooting big man. Both were brought to Miami by Heat executive Pat Riley to join the homegrown stud Dwyane Wade, who had lifted the club to a championship in 2006. That '06 Heat team also featured the aforementioned Shaq at center. But more about him later.

Wade, James and Bosh are to be the Bigger Three. Perhaps the Biggest Three if none are felled by injury; and respected veteran shotmaker Mike Miller (also acquired via free agency during the offseason) starts to shoot again after two years with fewer than nine field goal attempts per game. In the first nine seasons of his career he'd never put up fewer than 12 per 36, and this drop-off has gone largely unexplained (at least to me). Sidelined due to a hand injury, Miller wasn't involved in last night's season-opening tilt. On the floor to open the game and wearing black jerseys with white letters and red piping for the Heat was point forward James, shooting guard Wade, power forward Bosh, designated small guy Carlos Arroyo and center Jo-El Anthony, who, judging by the pronunciation of his first name, would be better suited playing outdoor day games so that he could absorb the powers of our yellow sun.

When James, Wade and Bosh entered the league as the first, fifth and fourth picks, respectively, of the 2003 NBA Draft such a constellation of stars playing in one regular-season game would have seemed far fetched. For the most part, David Stern's NBA entered the 21st century with a de facto one-in-his-prime-superstar-per-franchise policy. San Antonio Spurs power forward Tim Duncan had been named league MVP after the 2002-2003 season. He had led his team to the championship as well. Garnett was a menacing war machine in Minnesota that year and Karl Malone was still musclebound and delivering parcels in Salt Lake. Allen Iverson led the Sixers in points and body art.Tracy McGrady was dropping better than 30 per night in Orlando. Jason Kidd was the engine of a fast-breaking New Jersey attack. Chris Webber was angling to get over in Sacramento. And Rasheed Wallace was the main attraction under the big top in Portland.

Most star players (who were piloting contending teams) had a talented running mate or two playing with them, guys good enough to make an all-star team in their best years, but only Pierce had a pal netting better than 20.0 per game in Antoine Walker. And nobody was mistaking 'Toine for an alpha-male superstar.

The only title aspirant that really broke the star-plus-sidekicks mold in the season before James, Wade and Bosh broke into the NBA was the Los Angeles Lakers, who featured an increasingly tenuous pairing of future Hall of Famers in Shaq and Kobe Bryant. The Lakers had acquired the Big Aristotle via free agency after the 1996 season, three days after corralling Kobe in a trade with Charlotte, who had just selected the high-school hotshot with the 13th selection in the '96 draft. Looking back, one assumes that the Lakers had an inkling that they'd be inking Shaq when they shipped out incumbent center Vlade Divac in order to acquire Bryant.

At this point, though, there was no Twitter, no YouTube and no Facebook friending, and with the shine having come off international competition and even the All-Star Game and dunk contest there were seemingly far fewer cordial ties among players around the country. It was still a dog-eat-dog game and pride and respect seemed to be on the line more often than not. If Philadelphia played Orlando then Iverson believed a win would prove that he was a better man than McGrady. Those were the stakes.

Before Shaq and Kobe teamed up, and probably going back to the heyday of the personality cults established by Magic Johnson and Larry Bird each of the league's best 10 players, winning a championship meant overcoming the other nine. Both Magic and Larry wanted to go through the other in the NBA Finals in the 1980s. Jordan furiously guarded his perch above the sport's other luminaries in the 1990s. For them, winning a championship was synonymous with knocking off Jordan. For him, victory meant humiliating his competitors. That was the journey. And it was, more or less, the point. Which is why, for many fans, the 1993-1994 and 1994-1995 seasons occupy the same relation to the rest of the decade that the third installment of the Godfather trilogy has to its predecessors.

During this feudal era, most NBA cities were the fiefdoms of one of the game's top players, and each had his own vassals, valets and serfs. When Shaq entered the league in 1992, Patrick Ewing controlled New York. He had a man at arms in Charles Oakley and a court jester in John Starks. Hakeem Olajuwan ruled Houston with an even more formidable retinue. Dominique Wilkins owned Atlanta. Charles Barkley had just taken over in Phoenix. David Robinson was the Admiral down in San Antonio. Clyde Drexler was the man in Portland. Reggie Lewis was the heir apparent in Boston. And Michael Jordan was Abe Froman, the Sausage King of Chicago. Of the 10 teams to win 45 or more games in Shaq's rookie season only two had tandem headliners. Utah featured John Stockton and Malone while Seattle showcased Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp.

Things remained more or less the same until Shaq departed Orlando via free agency in 1996. The Magic had won 60 games the previous season but had been dispatched by the veteran Bulls juggernaut in the postseason. Shaq then took his talents to sunny Los Angeles and teamed up with the blossoming Bryant. Sound familiar? The Lakers then racked up titles in 2000, 2001 and 2002. Sporting an No. 8 on his shirt, Kobe averaged better than 30 per night the year before Miami's SuperFriends entered the professional fray while Shaq was dropping about 27 per (though his per-minute scoring numbers were slightly better than Kobe's). Two of the most gifted players in the game were teamed up and winning titles. Of course, to hear Shaq tell it, the Lakers also followed the same star-plus-sidekicks formula that was prevalent elsewhere. Tension came with the success, though, and the interpersonal dynamics of the club were back-page news. Could Kobe and Shaq coexist now that each was as full-fledged superstar? Could two of the top players in the game share the ball?

The Shaq-Kobe Lakers were upset by Larry Brown's Pistons in the 2004 Finals, and Shaq was traded less than a month later. Roll credits. With no Hollywood ending for Shaq and Kobe, their divorce seemed to fortify the alpha-male theory undergirding the Feudal Era. Yet it was actually the beginning of the end of the age. And it was, not coincidentally, the debut season for Wade, James and Bosh.

The first time that any of those three took the floor against the Shaq and Kobe, Karl Malone was also wearing a Lakers jersey. So was Gary Payton. Both had come to Los Angeles expressly to win a title before retiring. After falling short throughout their accomplished careers, they were taking their last best shot before they hung up their hightops. When their bid fell short, most fans and members of the media considered the Pistons' upset a referendum on such piggy-backing, but the formation of the 2010-2011 Heat suggests that the league's impressionable young players felt differently.

In the aftermath of the Lakers' loss in the '04 Finals, the club unloaded the Big Carpetbagger for a satchel-full of spare parts and a draft pick. Looking to reach the Finals with a third different franchise, Shaq opened the next season in Miami, with Wade. Pat Riley was running the Heat at the time and moved back too the sideline in December 2005. The trio would edge Mark Cuban's Dallas Mavericks in the 2006 Finals (a fact that I was unaware of for several days having departed for '06 World Cup in Germany after Dallas had taken a 2-0 lead in that best-of-seven series).

Cuban was and remains an aggressive presence in the league and no doubt understood that if Shaq could switch teams twice in the middle of his career then any personnel move was possible if you could find a hamstrung franchise to poach from and solve your own salary cap. Which is how the Celtics would acquire Garnett from Minnesota in a similar many-for-one type of deal just two seasons later. Which, mostly brings us back to last night's game, when Shaq was starting at center for the Celtics with hopes to win his fifth title before he hangs up his high tops.

Everyone wants to credit James, Wade and Bosh with ruining or forever altering the game, but the players drafted in the class or 2003 are the children of the Shaq-Kobe divorce that came after 2004 Finals, caught between O'Neal's gregarious roadshow and Bryant's isolationist rage, with their value system totally skewed by the spite-fueled rivalry between their estranged parents. James is not an innovator any more than he is a team captain for the Heat. He and his peers have grown up in the league as Shaq has traversed the country and won titles on both coasts. They've formed their opinions on business and team-building as he's paired with Kobe and with Wade; hooked on with Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns; and even danced on the sideline with James in Cleveland before coming aboard the Good Ship Celtic. Just like Malone and Payton had signed on with the Lakers for the '03-'04 season.

Even if the plan to join forces was hatched during 2008 Olympics in Beijing, the worldview that each of those players brought to the Redeem Team was forged in the Lakers' flameout of 2004 that occurred during their rookie season. More than James, Wade or Bosh, Shaq is responsible for the current roster of the Miami Heat. And, along with Kobe, he is responsible for promulgating the notion that quantity of titles matters far more than quality. The former running mates have been engaged in a counting competition ever since they parted ways. "More than" the other guy is now more important than directly beating the other guy in a head-to-head fashion. In other words, Robert Horry is an icon.

The notion that how one wins matters is perhaps the last vestige of the NBA's feudal era and the source of the rift that opened up between the two generations of players this offseason. Magic, MJ and Barkley all publicly criticized James for taking the "easy" route to the winner's circle. Meanwhile, Shaq continues to chase rings around the country. Which is why his presence on the floor last night in a Celtics uniform christened the beginning of the NBA's League of Nations Era just as much as the debut of the Heat.

Formerly autonomous nation-states in Cleveland, Toronto and Miami, respectively, each SuperFriend has sacrificed his provincial sovereignty to acquire titles faster and in greater number. And, if South Beach is the NBA's Versailles then we all now what comes next. World War II once enough superpower teams are established, the Cold War once the next Kobe-Shaq dyad emerges, and eventually a first-third world divide in which the scrappy have-nots will constantly threaten the juggernaut haves (think Golden State over Dallas). Carmelo will not stay in Denver. And Chris Paul is not long for New Orleans. Few players will see the value in asserting their rule over a particular city and player movement will increase. In part, because frst-world general managers like Mitch Kupchak will continue to fleece third-world executives like Chris Wallace for their naturals resources (think the Pau Gasol deal). Ultimately, more headline players will give up their fiefdoms to form coalition squads.

The kings of old are dead. Long live the League of Nations.

The Unstoppable Force Meets the Movable Objects

So, yeah, Lebron Really, Really Can't Be Stopped

The Knicks lost to the Lebroanliers last night at the Garden. LBJ went off for 33 points His team amassed a 26-point lead before a late charge by the Knickerbockers made the final score look respectable. CC Sabathia and assorted Yankees were in the crowd. Jay Z was there. Chris Rock was ripping on Toney Douglas. Charles Oakley was in attendance and looked dashing and terrifying in his all-black ensemble. I was on the couch solo with six High Lifes and a bottle of wine. And a lot of leftover Halloween candy.

There are a lot of issues to talk about with this game but attention must be paid to the shooting display that James put on last night. The reason is twofold. First of all, he's just undeniably unstoppable. His midrange game is leaps and bounds better than it used to be back when his best moves were his leaps and his bounds to the basket. Tonight he was hitting all those contested shots that Kobe has proven so adept at. His third field goal was a three-pointer with Larry Hughes wallpapered all over him. With a hand in his face as he faded slightly away on the jump, James drained the shot. On the way back down the court he smiled, slapped Hughes on the butt and shrugged one of those MJ in the first half of Game 1 of the 1992 Finals against the Blazers shrugs. It was just one of those days. Which meant a long night for the Knicks.
As you'll see below, the Knicks did a fine job of covering James (or at least as fine a job as you can) and denying him the paint. Larry Hughes did the bulk of the work and seemed most adept. He played him tight and worked harder than his teammates to deny the ball or at least ensure that James got it far from the rim. Wilson Chandler, Jared Jeffries also guarded him at times and rookies Jordan Hill and Toney Douglas accidentally ended up D-ing him up, too. No matter who was on LBJ, though, most every shot he took was contested. And, shockingly, he didn't register one dunk or layup (although he did hit a falling, floating +1 shot in close that was boxscored as a layup even though I disagree) in the game. And by keeping him out of the painted area, the Knicks were able to hold him to just 7 free throws. Overall, it was the sort of effort against Lebron that should give you a chance to win. You'll take 33 points almost exclusively on 15+ foot jumpshots and no dunks.

The Knicks didn't lose tonight because of their defense on James. Or on any of the Lebronaliers for that matter. Lebron's 33 were hard-earned and from the perimeter while just two of his teammates broke double digits (Boobie Gibson hit for 11 and Mo Williams for 12). Disconcertingly, especially for a D'Antoni-coached team, the Knicks lost this game on offense (but more about that in another post). Let's take a look at each of Lebron's shots to both appreciate how deadlier he is and how well he was actually defended.

James dropped this early-in-the-clock jumper from 22 feet. Hughes had a hand in his face and was defending with an eye toward keeping the King from the paint. This is the sort of shot that you, in theory, "want" LBJ to take. 2-0 in favor of the city that CC Sabathia used to play for before coming to New York.
After assisting on two of the next three Cavs buckets, LBJ went back to the well once more. With Hughes playing off him a bit to defend the penetration, James rose from about the same spot and canned another jump shot.
Having realized that James was content to shoot from the outside if Hughes allowed, the onetime Cavalier got into Lebron hard on this possession, nearly pushing backing him off the court altogether. James faded towards the sideline and away from the rim from beyond the three-point line. Hughes rose with him, faded with him. His arm extended, his hand in James' face, obscuring his view of the rim. But the shot dropped pure from 26 feet.
It's officially a futile enterprise defending this guy. He's got 9 of the Cavs' 18 points and the Knicks have 10. The Knicks can barely keep pace with him, let alone him and four other guys playing together.
He missed! Hughes didn't defend this one any better than previous shots. If anything was different, it may have been that he didn't match LBJ's leap as well as he has shown he can.
Chandler fouls James as he powers his way into the paint and Gallo smothers him and his shot to keep the ball from getting up near the rim. Gallo's authoritative play is heartening. I feel like too many young players don't realize that this play goes even past the whistle.
With Harrington substituted for Hughes, it's Jeffries turn. The former Mr. Basketball in Indiana is on James so tight for this shot that he is nearly invisible in this picture taken from behind the play. Did it matter? Nope. Two more for the tally.
See above.
See above.
This is getting ridiculous. Wth Jeffries all over him and with time ticking down in the first quarter James launches up an off-balance three. Good! The score is 40-21 after one quarter. The Cavs' lead is 19 ponts. Lebron James has scored 19 points. Coincidence?
After Gallo and the suddenly relevant Jordan Hill winnowed the Cavs lead from 25 to 18, LBJ feels compelled to take another shot. But this time he's got the nearly-seven-foot Hill guarding him deep in the corner. Hill is playing really tight but uses the baseline well to keep LBJ from using his speed advantage to blow by him. James rises and tries to shoot over the lengthy hoopcat. Finally. A miss. So maybe seven-footers are long enough to bother James on the outside?
After starting the second quarter on the bench, then hanging along the perimeter and playing the role of distributor upon entering, Lebron finally looked to drive the ball into paint. He got equal-to and then past Chandler at the elbow before the third-year player out of DePal fouled him to send him to the line. LBJ had still yet to touch the rim or get a layup.




And these free throws produced points 18 and 19 in the first half for the King. Not too shabby.

As the announcers discussed, the Knicks had held James without a dunk, layup or even a shot attempt in the paint through two quarters. Yes, he did make almost all of his jumpshots but you still take that every time you can get it.


A 9-0 Knickerbocker run early in the third quarter made the game competitive insofar as it woke up James and Company. After a dunk from Shaq to open the half and three Cleveland turovers, James took matters into his own hands. He got the ball on the left wing, guarded by Hughes, and dribbled towards teammates at the top of the key, looking to shed his defender long enough to get some daylight. Not that daylight had mattered much in the first half.


After Hughes was held up by the scrum at the top of the key, LBJ exploded into the paint. He was a freight train rolling down the tracks and Chris Duhon seemed a damsel in distress tied to the tracks like the heroine in some old-timey Western. Except in this case, his shoulders were squared and his feet were set outside of the restricted area well before the train came through.



This was the prototypical charge scenario. 6-foot-8-inch player comes full steam ahead down the lane, his 250+ pounds knocking a point guard with established position several feet back off his spot. Except that this behemoth was no plodding power forward of olden times. It's the point forward next generation prototype: Lebron James. A charge becomes a blocking foul and LBJ gets two shots from the line. Yes. And yes.

After another bucket by Lee brings the Knicks back within 16 points, 67-51, Lebron again answers. Guarded by Hughes as they come down the floor he runs his old teammate off a screen on the left wing. Chandler switches on to James. Wilson doesn't have the same confidence as Hughes while covering LBJ and is giving him more space.



I'm not sure if Hughes' familiarity with James is what he's got over Chandler or if it's just his confidence. Either way, Chandler is giving James some breathing room. And LBJ is more than happy to "take what the defense gives you." I hear that all the time but this play, really illustrates Lebron doing that.




With Chandler playing him with a few feet of cushion, LBJ takes a few hard dribbles toward the paint. Chandler cedes more ground to keep James in front of him. But the reigning MVP plants his foot, stops, rises and fires. The combination of the initial buffer zone he had and the extra step/second he gained with his drive-pull up gives him one of his most open looks of the night.



But to Chandler's credit he recovers almost immediately and is able to turn his own momentum around and still get a paw in the King's face. Although his look was clear, the shot and follow through were most certainly contested as Chandler's athleticism got him back on James, almost totally making up for his timidity in coverage when James was handling the balll earlier in the possession. Chanlder is a terrific athlete and this saves him against most players in a situation like this. Not here. Not against this opponent.


But Chandler's late recovery doesn't stop this one from being pure. Two points and the Lebronaliers lead is back up to 18.

With Chandler and Hughes barring entry to the interior of the offensive end, Lebron "settles" for another jumpshot. This one isn't true. The King intercepts a poor pass by Lee. The crowd is amped, expecting his first dunk of the night. But Gallo hustles back and intercepts LBJ just inside the three-point line. He barrels into him. Whistle. Play stopped. No dunk. Or at least no dunk that counts. James continues towards rim, rises and slams one home for the amusement of the crowd, but the Garden public address announcer quickly notes "No basket."

On this play, Lebron set up deep in the corner away from the ball. Eventually both Big Z and Andy Varejoa set up on the low block and elbow respectively. LBJ ran Hughes off screens by both bigs as he made his way towards the top of the key and the ball handler. Once he cleared Varejoa he made a hard left back into the paint and towards the rim.



I've watched too many games where Reggie Miller would run off two such screens before turning suddenly to receive the ball and fire up a quick shot. For Reggie, though, both screens would usually be on the blocks as his run would be along the baseline to get his shot from the opposite corner or wing from where he had started the sequence.



But Reggie wasn't built like Willis Reed. James is. So he recieves the pass and takes off for the rim. En route he is met by David Lee, who brings both arms down on James to stop him from getting to hoop. The 250-pounder absorbs the blow, hangs in the air, floating off course (more upcourt towards the benches) but still towards the baseline. He hangs and he pushes the ball up at the goal before coming down. And, it's good. He then dispatches the free throw.
With Chandler draped all over him like one of my ill-fitting $100 suits from Target, Lebron didn't get this 22-footer down.LBJ got himself back into the paint after beating Toney Douglas who was ended up covering him as the team came down the floor. Our No. 23 played their No. 23 way too tight way too far from the rim and LBJ blew by him. He was soon swarmed by three Knicks. Chandler fouled him low and Harrington went up high to block the shot and make sure that this wasn't a +1 situation. Again, though, there was nothing easy. Even with the Knicks trailing 77-58 in the waning seconds of the third quarter they are not surrendering to James, who hits one of two free throws.18 feet from the rim. Inches from Hughes. This time the ball doesn't fall true. A miss. Not that this picture looks any different from the ones where he scores. To further minimize the impact of the defense, it could be argued that he missed this shot because it's the first one he took after a few minutes on the bench to start the fourth quarter.
Another 19-footer from the wing, with a Hughes in his front pocket drops for 30 and 31.
Lebron came across the court and took this fading running jumper as his momentum carried him towards the Knicks bench on plane and away from the hoop on the other. It was a tough shot, Chandler was contesting as well as one could but the ball got up about the rim with a softness and bounced through the net for points 32 and 33. Game over.

Even though he didn't hit 50 points or notch another triple double I'm thoroughly impressed by Lebron James. He is at the point where he still gets 30 when you stick to your defensive gameplan on him, which I think the Knicks actually did tonight. They deserve some credit for that and LBJ deserves even more for being impervious to their efforts. He is one of a kind. Not since Bernard King have the Knicks had such a gifted scorer. And that's not even talking about all of the other superlative facets of Lebron's game.