Roll Call: LeBron Are You Here?

Riding a three game losing streak coming into tonight’s game against the San Antonio Spurs, the Heat will certainly look to LeBron James to be near perfect with Dwyane Wade out with a multitude of leg injuries.

The problem with putting that much pressure on LeBron, is that he doesn’t play well with pressure at all and that may be an understatement. I’m not here to bash LeBron, just to point out facts and the facts are, come crunch time the Heat are better off putting in a 350 pound Charles Barkley.

I will be the first person to say it; LeBron James is the best player stat wise through the first 3 quarters without a doubt in anybody’s minds. It is no coincidence LeBron plays the least amount of time in the 4^th quarter between the “Big Three”. Bosh averages 9:50 time played, Wade with 9:29 and James at an astoundingly low 6:40. Does Spoelstra do this on purpose? Does LeBron ask to sit out? That is a staggeringly low number to me, that the supposed best player in the NBA is only getting a little over 6 minutes in the 4^th quarter. He hasn’t played a full twelve minutes in the 4^th this entire season. Bosh has done that 6 times and Wade 5 times and Wade is supposed to be the hurt one who needs the most rest.

You might say, once he gets in, he starts to go to work though. Not exactly, his 5.5 points and 69 percent foul shooting might be acceptable if it was his co-worker Joel Anthony, but not the assumed best player in the game. In overtime he gets even better or worse depending on whom you’re asking (Kobe fans or LeBron fans). With that you can take the following stats for what they’re worth, which isn’t much. In two overtime games this season, the “Chosen One” turns into the “Frozen One” shooting .166 percent from the field and scoring a total of 2 points. Naturally, the Heat lost both of those games.

Like I said before, this is the NBA’s most talented player. The most talented player isn’t always the one I want on my team when I need wins and shutdown performances. I need someone who is going to step up and say give me the ball, the game is going to be won or lost on my account. I want someone who is mentally tough enough to handle missing a game winning shot, missing clutch free throws or turning the ball over at the most important time of the game. Because those same players, are going to succeed more times than they fail. They have the utmost confidence in themselves to get the job done. LeBron James standing in a corner, not screwing the game up and shying away from pressure tells you about him as a player and a man, but also that he is not in a stable place mentally. In the 4^th quarter and overtime this year he is shooting .463 percent from the field, compared to his season average of .578 percent. My hands are getting sweaty just thinking about what is spinning through his mind after the 3^rd quarter. He could probably check-in to an insane asylum during crunch time with no problem.

            It’s Wade’s 30^th birthday today too and all of those injuries are a scary thought as to what lies ahead for the Heat. Wade is a proven performer in the clutch. He’s hit both of the Heat’s game winners this year along with a string of other dominating 4^th performances in his career. He is no spring chicken anymore though and the threat of him going down for a lengthy period of time has to be a real possibility considering his physical style of play. The Heat’s window for winning a championship might be smaller than people think, unless LeBron learns how to carry a team, which through 9 years he has proven incapable of such a task. 

5 Reasons You Hate Tim Tebow, 5 Reasons You Love Tim Tebow

5 Reasons You Hate Tim Tebow

1. You were Miami, Oakland, Kansas City (Week 10), New York (AFC), San Diego, Minnesota or Chicago and got TEBOWED.

2. You’re name is Brian Urlacher. I wouldn’t want to admit my team lost to a “Running Back” when your mantra on defense is all about stopping the run.  And what does he call the quarterback on his own team, Caleb Hanie, who only had 115 passing yards to Tebow’s 236 passing yards.

3. You’re a critic that refuses to admit your wrong. First it was he couldn’t pass; now its he can’t be consistent. You have to stay up late thinking of different ways to bash him after he just beat another team in an unthinkable way.

4. You’re an Atheist and your faith in nothing looks more and more incorrect every week. Those John 3:16 references are a scary coincidence after Tebow threw for 316 yards, averaged 31.6 yards per attempt Sunday against the Steelers. One more coincidental number, the final quarter-hour television rating for the Steelers-Broncos game Sunday was 31.6.

5. You’re  Merril Hoge of ESPN and you are finally getting called out for your ridiculous and terrible predictions about Rex Grossman and Tim Tebow. He said Grossman would be a top 10 quarterback this year and Tebow would only get through a few games until the Broncos could bench him. Merril Hoge, you my friend are an absolute idiot and deserve to be taken off the air. Grossman got benched in the middle of the year and replaced by John Beck….ewww. Tebow, is still a starter in case you were stuck a third world country the last few months. Even then, you may have still known about Tebow Mania. I apologize for getting a bit off topic, but people need to be aware of Merril’s terrible predictions and lack of admittance to being more wrong about Tebow than the Chargers were about Ryan Leaf or the Washington Wizards about Kwame Brown.

 5 Reasons You Love Tim Tebow

1. Most obvious, you’re a Broncos fan and Kyle Orton isn’t quarterbacking you’re previously 1-4 team anymore. Instead, you had a gamer come in and take his team on an 8-4 run to the playoffs along with one playoff win so far.

2. You have supported him throughout his entire career. Week after week, you look a little bit smarter. He continues to defy all odds even when common sense may tell you differently. All he does is win and he’s even starting to make the case he can throw too.

3. He provides you with pure entertainment every single week. In a year of forgettable football, pros and college (thanks LSU-Alabama), you know that he will give you that spark on Sundays that will awaken you from your slumber after watching just another Saints or Packers blowout.

4. In a time where athletes seem to only do bad things like kill dogs, shoot themselves in the leg and commit vehicle manslaughter and shoot themselves up with steroids, its nice to see the good guy rewarded with some praise. Yet, some find a way to bash him for being too “Christian” or too nice.

5. You fully appreciate the story for what it is. An underdog story that is real life and didn’t happen in a movie. We have never seen anything like this in the NFL before and maybe in sports. Its refreshing to know he’s not wasting his God given talent and working as hard as any player can work to get better each and every day.