LeBron James: 'I played like sh--'
LeBron James shouldered more responsibility for his poor Game 3 and promised he will be better.
SAN ANTONIO -- LeBron James wasn't holding back Wednesday about his individual performance the previous night in Game 3.
"I played like shit," he said.
James went 7 for 21 for just 15 points in Game 3, and worst of all, his Heat got pummeled by 36 as the Spurs took a 2-1 lead in the NBA Finals. But after such a disappointing performance from the four-time MVP, James promised, adamently, that he would play better in Game 4.
"I will be better," he said. "I will be much better tomorrow night."
He repeated that phrase four different times during his media availability. I don't know if he was just trying to make himself clear, or if he was trying to convince himself, too. But James knows the burden he carries and against a team as lethal as the Spurs, his Game 3 isn't going to cut it.
"I take full responsibility for our team's performance last night," James said. "Me as a leader, I can't afford to perform like I did last night and expect us to win on the road, it's that simple. So I'm putting all the pressure on my chest, on my shoulders to come through for our team. That's the way it is."
James didn't hold back on himself immediately following Game 3 either. He took responsibility then, too.
"If you see my comments and see my interview, it'll let you know it was weighing heaviliy on me, right after getting blown out in a Finals game," he said. "So it was weighing heavily on me. With my performance, I didn't particularly care for myself at that point in time. So obviously it was in my head."
James said he was "better" Wednesday, though, and said mentally he's been refreshed.
"Mentally it's not a problem," he said. "Mentally I'm not out of it, saying my shot is gone. I know what I can do. It's just about going up there and knocking them down. I will do that."
The Spurs are running a simple scheme against James, running his man under every screen in the pick-and-roll and backing off him a couple steps while building a wall behind that in the paint. It's caused James to face an identity crisis. He's a naturally unselfish player who wants to involve teammates, but he does that largely by his ability to drive and collapse defenses. With the Spurs daring him to shoot jumpers -- something James has traditionally resisted -- he's left looking for answers. So much that he even appreciated one suggestion from a reporter on Wednesday.
"First of all, I think [TNT's David Aldridge] said it well, getting the ball on the move," James said. "Get some early offense. Not playing against their set defense as mich. They're doing a good job of when I come off pick-and-rolls, they have a big guy shrink the floor at the elbow and get a big in front of my body and a guy guarding a position where they can crowd me a lot. If I can get the ball in transition where I'm facing my defender or maybe just one other defender, I can break their defense down."
James knows what he needs to do, but the Spurs aren't making it easy to adjust. There may not be a more intelligent player in the game than LeBron James, but sometimes it's hard to overcome a scheme tailored to stop you. And with the Heat not getting the help from others, it's falling on James to get it done. We saw it in Game 5 against the Pacers. The Heat were about to be backed into a corner then, but James exploded in a majestic third quarter takeover.
And that seems to be what's necessary again in this series against the Spurs. Problem is, James just hasn't been able to elevate himself to that absurd level.
Keeping with the company line, though, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra refused to pin any sort of individual blame on James.
"It's not all on him; it's all of us," Spoelstra said. "That's what we talked about in [the film room]. Every single player in that locker room, the guys that played and what they brought to the game and the staff and what we brought to that game. All of us collectively need to do a better job tomorrow night. That's our focus the next 24 hours."
Said Heat teammate Dwyane Wade: "We can't concern ourselves with [the talk about James]. In the books the Miami Heat lost the ballgame. We win together, we lose together as a team. We all played bad and the Spurs played great."
The Heat had a long film session on Wednesday, sitting through the pain of watching Danny Green and Gary Neal rain fire from 3 on them over and over and over again.
"We watched film, and it was worse than a horror film to be honest with you," Heat big man Chris Bosh said. "We didn't give the effort that we needed to give. And it's really embarrassing to be a part of that, honestly."
"We have to redeem ourselves," Bosh continued. "We're looking at a very intense situation and we have to respond accordingly or we're facing a huge problem."
There's no denying that as James goes, so do the Heat. The team originally assembled as a superpower full of overwhelming top-line talent now looks like the best player in the game with some glorified role players. Heck, James seemed to even admit as much.
"I'm the star, I am the leader," he said. "And they look at me to do things on the court, to make plays, and if I'm not doing it, I'm not doing my job."
That's right, the star. Not a star. Not one of the stars. The star. Two years ago, or even last season, that would've been a really big deal. But it's the reality of this Heat team now. It's LeBron James and the gang, not a three-headed beast.
"I'm a positive guy, I love the game, I have fun with the game," James said. "As dark as it was last night, it can't get no darker than that, especially for me."
(Oh, yes it can. Yes it can.)
"So I guarantee I'll be better tomorrow for sure," James said.
Well, with the bar being lowered to "shit," that shouldn't be too difficult.
