Lebron hangs his head in shame after Spurs rout
Heat superstar promises to up his game after San Antonio make a mockery of the defending NBA champions to take a 2-1 series lead
LeBron James looked at the cameras and reporters packed fivedeep around him in a quiet, frustrated post-game locker room and made a simple declaration.
Really, nothing else needed to be said. And whatever hopes the Miami Heat have of extending their reign as NBA champions almost certainly hinges on what James can do in the next few days.
The San Antonio Spurs controlled him again, and kept control of the NBA finals. The final score was 113-77, the biggest margin of defeat for the Heat in the “Big Three” era in Miami, and came on a night where the Heat were outscored by 32 points when James was on the floor – the worst such stat of his entire career. This gave the Spurs a 2-1 series lead.
James scored 15 points, nine of them coming in a 90-second span late in the third quarter with the outcome already essentially decided. He had four points at the half for the second straight match-up, the first time he failed to score at least five in the opening two quarters of consecutive contests since December 2003, his second full month in the league.
And for just the 10th time in his career – 899 games – he failed to attempt a single free throw. The last time that happened was 2009, and comes now as a byproduct of the Spurs packing the lane, taking away the drive and daring the league’s best player to shoot jumpers.