Let me start off by saying Lebron did have an incredible game last night. It was one of those nights where you could use his name as a verb. He was "Lebronning." He opened the game 11-11 for 27 points which was easily the best start of his career. He went on to hit a lot more tough shots on his way to 51 points. But the point of this post is not to praise Lebron. I'm actually going the other way on this one.
You always hear Doc Rivers stress the type of movement that he wants offensively. He wants a lot of ball movement, good flow, and to find the best scoring opportunity. He always warns the C's to stay away from "hero shots." In other words, he wants to make sure they are succeeding as a team, and not through one individual alone.
When Lebron or D-Wade get it going there is a massive increase in the amount of these "hero shots" and heat checks. Ball movement, set plays, it all goes out the window. It turns into one of them dribbling the air out of the basketball, running the shot clock down, and either forcing their way to the bucket or taking a long jumper (often off-balanced, especially if it's Lebron).
This completely contrasts the way the Celtics play. They believe in sharing the ball and finding the best option to score. They have so many different threats to score at all times. They're versatile. Dump it down to KG on the post for 2. Rondo can blow past any point guard in the league. That opens up shots for Ray and Paul. Paul can be our closer late in games but he always does it within the flow of the offense.
Even when Lebron does share the ball it feels forced. About half way through the fourth quarter it appeared that he suddenly became aware of how few assists he had, and called plays to set up his teammates on 4 or 5 consecutive possessions.
When he first signed with Miami I tried to imagine how it would work. The only way I saw that they could thrive is if Lebron dropped his ego and transformed himself into a sort of Magic Johnson 2.0, which he has the ability to do. I thought they were best off with him playing point forward, and creating for everyone else, taking over the game scoring wise for just short spurts when it was needed. While they have improved since their struggles earlier in the year, I'm still seeing far too much of D-Wade and Lebron just taking turns.
That's why they can't beat the Celtics in a playoff series. Our superior execution could take their Hero ball any day of the week.
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