It was a difficult day for the NBA’s most valuable player after seeing the Miami Heat get dismantled by the San Antonio Spurs in Game 3 of the NBA Finals. Despite LeBron James struggling out of the gate in the series, he believes that it’s up to him to not let the team repeat another bad performance.
"“I’m putting all the pressure on my chest, on my shoulders to come through for our team,” James said, virtually echoing what he had vowed the previous night. “That’s the way it is.”"
James started off just 2-13 from the field, which set the trend for the rest of the team most of the night. Collectively, the Heat starters hit just 18-53 field goals compared to a substantially better 25-48 by the Spurs.
Danny Green, now playing for the Spurs and former teammate of James with the Cleveland Cavaliers, believes there’s more to James’ problems.
"“I’m just saying, we all know what he’s capable of doing,” Green said. “I don’t know what’s going on, but he’s not playing his best basketball right now. It’s not just us. We’re doing a decent job of making it tough for him, but I don’t know what’s going on. He’s not playing LeBron basketball. … It could be a number of things. It could be stuff going on behind the scenes.”"
Maybe it’s not just James that has problems with the Spurs, who now falls to a 1-6 record against them in the NBA Finals. The Heat are 3-22 all-time in San Antonio, and that will have to change considerably if they want to make it back to Miami for a chance to win their second straight championship.
[Quotes source: Washington Times/AP]