Defending the Cavaliers and the Alleged "King James"

Okay, let me preface all this by saying:

I think the notion that Lebron stalked off the court against the Magic and was a no show at the press conference because he's "just so unbelievably competitive" is just ridiculous. Not funny, not inspiring. It was childish, it was classless and it's clear Lebron is not quite ready to unify the hordes of NBA fans in an organized uprising against our NFL overlords.

But put a little bit of this in perspective.

All season, the Cavaliers acted too entitled, too arrogant for a team that’s won nothing. They ran out demanding that Mo Williams(notes) be made an All-Star, when the truth bore itself out in the playoffs: Cleveland has one All-Star. Nevertheless, Williams still embarrassed the Cavs with foolish proclamations and guarantees his middling talent couldn’t deliver.

“If you believe in karma with that nonsense,” one Western Conference executive said, “then Cleveland got what was coming to them.”

Oh yeah? Well they won 66 games this regular season. They cruised through the first two rounds of the playoffs 8-0.

They finished the season 76-10, with the Magic responsible for six of those losses. The Cleveland Cavaliers did NOT get beaten by hubris. They got beaten by a team that upon reflection, clearly had their number, when almost no other NBA team did. That's not something to be ashamed of, even Napoleon had a Waterloo.

The notion that the Cleveland Cavaliers had too much swagger or were too cocky isn't outlandish, but its also not really legitimate. Lebron James made a mistake in a season where he seemed to effortlessly carry 40+ years of Cleveland misery on his freakishly strong shoulders. This kid is the most special athlete I've ever seen, and he's going to continue to redefine what being a superstar is. Sure leaving the court without saying good game is a tradition I've been doing and seeing in every single sport (and I played rugby. Try shaking a guy's hand when he purposefully stepped on your head then laughed at you) I've ever played, and I think to deny that excellent tradition is just stupid. But it happened once and was a mistake.

However, to flatly state that nobody will tell him he made a mistake, or to kind of intimate that Cleveland or Lebron "got what was coming to them" because of some kind of arrogance or lack of respect they gave the rest of the nba is equally ridiculous. You know who got what was coming to them? Every team besides the Lakers and the Magic. They got what they deserved because they weren't good enough to win.



Yes that includes us but we didn't have KG. Its best not to talk about it.