LeBron James said he feels for his buddy Carmelo Anthony for the hell he is going through in this Knicks season.
Despite all the sympathy, James added to Anthony's misery Thursday. James made critical plays in the fourth quarter then guarded Anthony into a miss on a potential game-tying 3-pointer at the end.
Some pal.
"I always feel for a friend of mine that goes through losing. You never want to see a friend lose," said James, whose Cavaliers outlasted the Knicks, 90-87, at the Garden. "But at the same time, I've got so much to try to figure out on this side that's it's hard for me to kind of think about what he's going through even though I see it."
So on a night when James admitted to having a sore elbow and a game in which Kyrie Irving shouldered Cleveland's scoring, the Cavs superstar still got the best of Anthony by far. James recalled getting burned by Anthony for a critical baseline jumper in Cleveland's 95-90 home-opening loss to the Knicks on Oct. 30. Wasn't going to happen twice.
It didn't.
"The shot clock was going down, the game clock was going down. I knew he was going to take the shot. I just tried to get him out of rhythm," said James, who handed the scoring duties to Irving (37 points) while he compiled 19 points and 12 assists. "I jabbed at the ball a couple times, not trying to steal but just to get him to get out of rhythm."
And no he wasn't going to foul, even with the Cavs up three.
LeBron James' tight defense forced Carmelo Anthony to miss a game-tying 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the Knicks' 90-87 loss to the Cavaliers Thursdaynight at the Garden.Photo: NBAE via Getty Images
"The last thing I wanted to do was contest his shot even though I'm supposed to contest every shot. I didn't even want to put it in the ref's mind that I got too close," James said. "It's a make-or-miss league. He's made that shot plenty of times. I've watched shots where he's made it — in Cleveland first game of the season he made one on me right on the left baseline across from my bench. And I contested that one, so maybe I need to not contest. It's a make-or-miss league."
So Anthony missed from 26 feet. And James didn't feel the least bit bad.
"I want him to win. Obviously, don't want him to win against us," James said. "Hopefully, things will turn around for him."
But compassion only goes so far. Throughout the night, the planet's best player gave an uneven effort. Oh, the assists were there — double-figures came by the third quarter. But the shooting was off (7-of-17).
Yeah, the elbow was achy.
"A little sore in there, I don't know why," James said. "I'll be fine.
It hasn't been sore for a while, but I'll be all right tomorrow."
And the Cavs could survive because Irving was, well, LeBron-like.
"He was the best player on the court," said Cavs coach David Blatt.
"Spectacular. Any time we needed a bucket he made it. Any time we needed some energy he gave it. I took over the point-guard duties as far as getting guys involved and he took over the scoring," James said, praising Irving, who made the dagger shot as "a great finisher … as far as finishing around the rim he's probably one of the greatest this game has ever seen."
But the finish last night came on the defensive end, James against Anthony. And LeBron didn't feel bad in the least that he added to his friend's misery.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
How LeBron ruined buddy Carmelo’s chance at an upset
Dengan url
https://susuvirus.blogspot.com/2014/12/how-lebron-ruined-buddy-carmeloas.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
How LeBron ruined buddy Carmelo’s chance at an upset
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
How LeBron ruined buddy Carmelo’s chance at an upset
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar