Kobe Bryant And Carmelo Anthony Called Out LeBron James After He Twice Passed Up A Po

[RogueBorg]

Interesting story. Not really news though or anything we didn't already know.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba...f6ec7812&ei=12

Kobe Bryant And Carmelo Anthony Called Out LeBron James After He Twice Passed Up A Potential Game-Winner In The 2012 All-Star Game

-With the East trailing 151-149 in the closing stages, LeBron James passed up a potential game-winner twice
-LeBron turned the ball over on the second occasion and the East went on to lose 152-149
-Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony seemed to call him out on the court for not shooting
-LeBron James is one of the greatest players in NBA history, and many would argue he is simply the greatest. LeBron has an incredible resume with four titles, four Finals MVPs, and four MVPs, and he also became the all-time leading scorer in NBA history earlier this year.

James' detractors, though, have always found ways to criticize him, and one of the common ones has been that LeBron shies away from taking the last shot. That was on full display at the 2012 All-Star Game, as James twice passed up a potential game-winner, which led to Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony calling him out.

LeBron revealed afterward that Kobe was indeed telling him to let it fly, "Yeah, he (Bryant) was telling me to shoot it," James said, via Yahoo Sports. "I wish I could have that one back."

Kobe and Carmelo would have no doubt shot it, but that just wasn't how LeBron was built. James has always been a willing passer, but in that situation, he should have shot it, as he himself admitted. Blake Griffin stole the ball when he passed it the second time and the West went on to win 152-149.

[Kblaze8855]

How many playoff game winners do Kobe and Melo have combined compared to Lebron?

7-8 vs….whatever? I don’t feel like doing research right now.

[Wardell Curry]

How many playoff game winners do Kobe and Melo have combined compared to Lebron?

7-8 vs….whatever? I don’t feel like doing research right now.

True. He was a smarter player on the court than maybe both of them combined.

However I don't think there's any arguing that LeBron has displayed timidness, at times, in such situations. These other two were of the "**** I'm shooting no matter what" mentality. All three of them are wrong. You can see the fear on him in body language and it's pretty obvious.

To be optimal, you need Kobe's confidence in such situations with LeBron's making the right play moments. LeBron didn't always make the right play because sometimes the right play was him creating and taking a situation over.

It's a hard line to walk, and have we ever seen such a player? Maybe Jordan.

[Kblaze8855]

Melo made a wild number of big shots I know. I got them all together once along with Kobe’s and some other people for a topic on midrange pull-ups being the “winning time” shot. I know I had to put Melos section across like 3-4 long gifs. The faceup pull-up guys are good at that.

But I’m not sure how many were what people would now call big shots. People kinda throw out the regular season these days. An all star game even more so.

[ShawkFactory]

You didn't need to capitalize every word.

[Full Court]

Personally, I think it was a wise decision by Lebron to pass up those shots. He generally misses them, so why would you want him to take them?

[SouBeachTalents]

True. He was a smarter player on the court than maybe both of them combined.

However I don't think there's any arguing that LeBron has displayed timidness, at times, in such situations. These other two were of the "**** I'm shooting no matter what" mentality. All three of them are wrong. You can see the fear on him in body language and it's pretty obvious.

To be optimal, you need Kobe's confidence in such situations with LeBron's making the right play moments. LeBron didn't always make the right play because sometimes the right play was him creating and taking a situation over.

It's a hard line to walk, and have we ever seen such a player? Maybe Jordan.

Imo it's his biggest flaw as a basketball player. He can be passive to the detriment of the team in end of game situations. The fact he lacks a reliable midrange and can be a liability at the FT line must factor in to his decision making at the end of games.

What I noticed is, when there's very little time left in the game, he often does take and make the GW. Look throughout his career, '09 Magic, '13 Indy, '18 Indy, '18 Raptors etc. He didn't have enough time to overthink his decision and just attacked. When there's enough time to dribble the clock down, that's when you see him become more passive than not.

Jordan played it perfectly. He was assertive on final possessions, but knew when to give it up for the betterment of the team.

[RogueBorg]

What I noticed is, when there's very little time left in the game, he often does take and make the GW. Look throughout his career, '09 Magic, '13 Indy, '18 Indy, '18 Raptors etc. He didn't have enough time to overthink his decision and just attacked. When there's enough time to dribble the clock down, that's when you see him become more passive than not.

That's a great take.

[Wardell Curry]

Jordan played it perfectly. He was assertive on final possessions, but knew when to give it up for the betterment of the team.

Yes, LeBron did better in situations where there he didn't have time to overthink. But he's made game winners in situations where he had a timeout before and had time to overthink as well. But yes his confidence in closing moments is probably his biggest weakness. Look at the end of the 2016 Finals. When he gets that rebound he ditches that ball as quickly as possible in a panic to Kyrie who is like 5 feet away. The rebound with 30 seconds left. I've never seen him do such a thing prior or since. Straight panic.

His confidence fades in and out. It's kind of weird actually.

Is that enough of a separator to make Jordan the greatest player? You know, maybe so. Who is to say. Not me.