Boston as they lost the next game in the series and while LeBron did have a triple-double he also shot 8 of 21 from the field and had 9 turnovers.
Something that made LeBron ' s departure worse than other players leaving other teams was that he was the only chance Cleveland had of being a winner and it was taken from them. The Cleveland Indians are never in contention while Cleveland actually lost their NFL team, before getting the Browns back as a new expansion team. Another problem fans had was how the Miami team was formed, supposedly the plan was implemented by the players involved when they were under contract with other NBA teams. The Miami Heat have been mixed up in some odd transactions before, like signing free agent Juwan Howard in 1996 but having his contract disallowed by the NBA and also how they managed to get Pat Riley away from the Knicks, so some fans question how James, Wade and Bosh came together in Miami.
While " The Decision " turned LeBron James jerseys from clothing to something for the fireplace in Cleveland, the show the Heat put on to brag about signing James and Bosh wasn ' t far behind it for causing acrimony among NBA fans. They had a victory celebration before playing a game and that was when James decided they would win a lot of NBA titles. The target set was eight, as he started off with " not one, not two " and finished with " not seven ". If James does get to eight then it would not have been bragging because he did back it up with his actions. It actually is possible for a basketball player from Ohio to win eight NBA championships as that is how many John Havlicek won.
There are some things that LeBron does that do cause fans to wonder if he is a good guy to cheer for a bad guy. When James changed jersey numbers, for some fans he also disrespected a lot of their players. James said that no player should be allowed to wear number 23, in honor of Michael Jordan, but when James picked number 6 fans of teams with superstars who wore that number were perplexed. The thinking was that if Jordan deserves to have his number retired by the NBA then the number 6 of Bill Russell, with his eleven NBA championships, would be just as deserving of the recognition. While LeBron certainly knows that The Doctor, Julius Erving, wore number 6 there were some fans who thought he didn ' t appreciate other legends of the game like Russell, Neil Johnston, Tom Gola and Willie Naulls. Maybe James didn ' t intend to offend fans of the Celtics, Warriors, Knicks and 76ers but he did go after the Lakers and Jerry West when he wondered why Jordan wasn ' t replacing West as the NBA logo.
While James could have four or five NBA titles if a few things had gone his way, there are some who will say that James is lucky to have the NBA titles he did win. In 2013, it took a missed free throw from Kawhi Leonard, a bad coaching decision from the Spurs and a lucky shot from Ray Allen. If Coach Popovich had left his superstar Tim Duncan on the floor for the final seconds of regulation in Game 6 the Spurs might have another trophy. The year before, while the Heat easily beat the Thunder they barely got by the Pacers and Celtics. The Heat needed James to put on an amazing performance away in Game 6 against the Celtics to avoid elimination and to go home to win that series. James scored 45 points, shot 73 % from the field and added 15 rebounds. That one game silenced a lot of James’ critics.
LeBron still has a lot to prove and winning more NBA titles is the way to do it. When LeBron was growing up in Akron he didn ' t want to emulate the feats of Mark Price, Brad Daugherty and other Cleveland Cavs because he wanted to be Michael Jordan. James ' boss at the Heat, if he really has one, is Pat Riley and he came up with the word " Three-Peat ". If James wants to
Sports Passion The Magazine | 14 August 2013 | Issue No. 1