Write On Sports LLC - "Sorry, LeBron, this one's on you" by Jake Lloyd

Sorry, LeBron, this one's on you

2007-05-22 12:21:47 | By: Jake Lloyd

LeBron James surged past Tayshaun Prince as if the Pistons defender was a telephone pole and was on his way to two easy points and a tie game...

Until he passed?

To Donyell Marshall, who had made one shot in 10 minutes of action?

Sorry, LeBron, but that was a poor decision.

After Marshall missed the wide-open 3-pointer and Detroit recovered the rebound, the Pistons were on their way to a hard-fought 79-76 victory over Cleveland in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.

Detroit, despite trailing for a good portion of the game and despite playing very poorly, found a way to steal a game on its homecourt. It got the ball to its clutch shooter, Chauncey Billups, who drained a 3-pointer with under two minutes to play to put Detroit ahead 78-76.

James, on the other hand, didn't do what would have given his team the best chance to win. After the loss, he said he went for "the winning play," which in a way is true -- Marshall's shot would have given the Cavaliers the lead. However, what James doesn't seem to realize is that he had a much higher percentage layup in front of him before he dished the ball to Marshall.

Detroit's Rasheed Wallace had left Marshall to double James, but he was late. All he could have done was make a desperate lunge to foul James -- not something I'd reccomend, considering James' strength (think three-point play). Prince -- despite his huge wingspan -- was too far off James to make a block like he did against Reggie Miller in the 2004 Eastern Conference finals.

The opportunity was clearly there for James to tie the game. He should have taken it.

If Marshall was Robert Horry, OK. If Marshall was John Paxson, OK. If Marshall had swapped teams with Billups, OK.

But we're talking about Donyell Marshall!

It is great how much confidence James has in his teammates. It's one of his most admirable traits. It's what influences people to compare him to Magic Johnson. But would Magic -- and his five championship rings -- have made that pass? I highly doubt it.

James needs to figure out that what the "winning play" is for Cleveland a lot of the time involves him shooting the ball, or taking it to the basket or getting to the free throw line (where he didn't go once on Monday).

Sure, it was a great sign for Cleveland that James scored a mere 10 points and the Cavs were still in position to pull off the upset on the road. Sure, the play of big men Zydrunas Ilgauskas (22 points, 13 rebounds) and Anderson Varejao (13 points, 8 rebounds) must have been very encouraging to Cleveland fans.

But James playing tentatively isn't a good sign.

Any superstar believes he is the best player on the court and he can score at any time. On Monday, there were signs that James doesn't believe he is the premier scorer on his team. James attempted just three shots in the final quarter, making one to give him two of his 10 points.

I'm sorry, LeBron, but "Z" isn't going to make all the big shots for your team. He's old. He fatigues. That's probably why his last midrange jumper in the final seconds -- which Larry Hughes rebounded to give Cleveland its final opportunity -- was well short. You're the one, LeBron, with the young legs and the ability to get past one of the NBA's best defenders in Prince. For that reason, you're the one who should have put the ball in the basket in crunch time.

Of course if Marshall makes the shot, I'm not even writing this.

It wasn't a terrible play by any means. The shot was, after all, a perfect look.

But again, James had an easy layup in front of him. And it's not like Detroit had a whole lot of momentum. The game had swayed back and forth all night. Cleveland would have had a legitimate chance to win in overtime.

No one watching would disagree with that.

But was Cleveland's superstar thinking that?

Obviously not.