Weekly Chat; Game 4 NBA Finals

Bilbo is a party animal

Cam looks A LOT like Mark Cuban

Maaatt decides to start off the Weekly chat with a question posed to fellow Nextians Bilbo and Cam: I don't get what Lebron is doing. His lack of hustle last game was so obvious in clips. That last drive he was one foot away from Dirk's drive and didn't even move a muscle to help out, WTF? Is it his ego? Is Wade tearing it up, so he get his feelings hurt that he's not the best player on the team? Or is is just super tired from the reg season and playing all playoffs? Is it a possibility he has totally gassed? Is Eddie House secretly screwing his mom AND Bibby's sister???

Cam: When LeBron scores 15 points or less in a playoff game, his teams are 0-7. Fascinating.

What’s even more fascinating is that LeBron has scored less than 15 points in a playoff game 7 times. 7 TIMES. He is the best player in this league, hands down, but he’s got some sort of mental problem.

Jordan never did this, was a complete killer, and has never been passive his entire life. During Jordan’s rookie season he bought a PacMan machine for his house because he was determined to be the best PacMan player on the Bulls. LeBron’s more about being a global icon and illegally recruiting college players to sign to his stupid agency. Hey LeBron, why don’t you develop a post game this summer instead, mmmkay? Either that or at least try to become a killer like you were in the Bulls series. Which brings up the point:

Wade and LeBron currently can’t both be awesome at the same time. It’s one guys’ stage or the others’. Chicago Series = LeBron dominate and Wade plays like crap. Finals = Wade plays incredible and LeBron is passive. Do you think they talk about this before a series starts or do they just figure it out after game 1 and go from there?

They’ll probably still win the ‘ship this way but it is quite strange.

Bilbo: What if LeBron is playing bad on purpose so he can explode in the last couple of games? Yeah right! The Jordan comparisons need to stop. They are different players completely. A better comparison is Magic, except that even fun time Magic had a switch that turned him into a beast. Maybe LeBron didn’t come with that switch, ya dig? Maybe he isn’t the player we want him to be and never will be. He wants to focus on his brand, fine. Global icon? Sure, why not. But he needs to know that craving the spotlight comes with a cost, namely, that anything less than incredible on the way to a title is a failure. Anything less than superhuman plays night in and night out on this stage is unacceptable. Maybe the best comparison should be Wilt Chamberlain. He too had all the physical tools but could never take that next step to greatness. I think he ended up with one title when he prolly should have had 4-5.

That being said, it would not surprise me to see he take over game 5. That is, if D-Wade will let him.

I’m still sticking to Dallas in 6.

Cam: It's hard to stop the Jordan comparisons. Especially when Scotty Pippen just said that LBJ was better than Jordan.  Aside from Scotty being a dick, check out LBJ's downward trending usage rate:

Dwyane Wade vs LeBron James
Usage Rate, 2010-11 Season

	Wade	James
Reg. Season	28.8	29.6
First 3 Rds	26.8	25.6
NBA Finals	26.5	19.4