Coming out of Miami’s 99-98 loss to Utah on Friday night, the focus is on what Miami Heat’s LeBron James did not do. He did not take the final shot. He did not close the game. He was not “the man.”
That has been the narrative following James for the longest time and certainly after the disappointment of the NBA Finals. Everyone wants him to be the killer that Michael Jordan was late in games and not (apparently) shrink from the moment. Never mind that some of Jordan’s most famous closing moments were passes to John Paxson and Steve Kerr to clinch the NBA Finals in 1993 and 1997.
So when James got the ball with four seconds left and began to drive, drawing the defense in as the lane to the basket closed. He dished the ball quickly to Udonis Haslem at the elbow. On the year, Haslem is shooting 39.0 percent on shots from 16-23 feet, but has been better than 45 percent from that range the last three years. It was not a horrible shot. It was not a horrible play.
It was the result that was horrible. Haslem’s shot missed and the Heat could not complete the 18-point comeback and get the victory on the road in Salt Lake City.
And the narrative after the game was what James didn’t do. Not about how he and Dwyane Wade put on a show just to pull the Heat back into the game and nearly take it on the road. Not about how James scored 35 points on 16-for-24 shooting, adding 10 rebounds and six assists. If we are going to talk about individual statistics and performances, it seems you should stay away from criticizing James.
Yet, there it was after the game. James did not take the last shot. His team lost because of it.
And the perception of James made the loss that much more crushing, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com writes:
The reality of the world LeBron James lives in was almost suffocating him, his voice quieted to a near whisper.
“I can’t win,” James mumbled. “I can’t win for losing.”
Sitting to his left in the locker room were two teammates who had let the Miami Heat down in a one-point loss to the Utah Jazz. Dwyane Wade had committed two fouls that just crushed the Heat’s bid to win their 10th straight game and missed a free throw with 14 seconds left that was a direct reason the Jazz won. Udonis Haslem missed an open 16-foot jump shot at the buzzer. It was offline out of his hands, even though it was in the heart of his offensive comfort zone.
It is hard to imagine what that situation must be like for James. But there was a critical mistake James made that he should be looking at himself and pointing the finger late in the game.
It was not on the offensive end, but on the defensive end.
With the Jazz trailing by two, James drew the assignment on Devin Harris. Harris had the whole floor spaced out in front of him to isolate one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. Harris gave James a pump fake and James bit. It gave the speedy Harris the space to get by James and bring Dwyane Wade into the play. As he lifted the floater over Wade, he drew the foul and made the basket. Jazz led by one setting up whatever way you want to call the final possession for James and the Heat.
The Heat are a team, and if you look at the screen grab below, you can see James already was reading the defense when he got the ball as Al Jefferson was already shading over to cut off James’ penetration. It was a no-win situation for James.
Shots go in or out. And it was pretty clear, James read the defense here and saw Jefferson commit to him, giving it to the open man. What James did wrong in the clutch was put himself out of position forcing Wade to make a desperate (and reckless) attempt to contest Harris’ game-winning shot. These are the kind of defensive lapses that hurt his team late.
So everyone is criticizing James for his late-game lapse. But likely for the wrong one. Miami is a team built on defense. The final possession for the Heat on the defensive end was a major breakdown in all parts from their two biggest stars. If people want to point the finger at James for his failure to deliver in the clutch though, it should be clear that it was not for his decision to pass the ball. It was for his decision to leave his feet and give Harris an open lane to the basket to win the game with four second left.
