LeBron James fails at MJ’s best trick： Image-cra

LeBron James’ reaction was almost instinctive when Derrick Rose swiped at the ball after James rebounded Rose’s missed shot during the third quarter in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals on May 26.
Though Rose never touched him, James whipped his head back to feign contact. Referee Marc Davis fell for it and called a foul on Rose.
James winked. Rose howled. The United Center crowd, seeing the replay on the video screens, booed. And the game turned. With the Heat down by 13 points at the time, James seem to will the game in his favor, and the Heat stunned the Bulls with a late rally to win 83-80 and clinch the series.
Was it an ingenious bit of gamesmanship by the best in the game? Or a cheap(We offer many cheap things, cheap coach handbags, cheap juicy handbags,cheap coach purses,etc.) ploy unbecoming of a player of James’ stature?
‘‘If you’re on [his] team, you automatically tell yourself, ‘Hey, that’s part of the game,’?’’ said former Bull Will Perdue, now an NBA radio analyst. ‘‘But if you’re on the other team, you’re like, ‘That’s kind of a cheap(We offer many cheap things, cheap coach handbags, cheap juicy handbags,cheap coach purses,etc.) way to get a [call].’’
Perdue played five seasons with Michael Jordan, so he knows it’s not beneath the best player in the game to resort to gamesmanship to help his team win.
‘‘Jordan used to have this thing where he would shoot the ball and as he would follow through on the shot, he would hit his own wrist, so you would hear the slapping noise and the official would blow the whistle,’’ Perdue said.
Did that rankle Jordan’s opponents that the greatest player in the game would stoop to that level to get a break?
‘‘No,’’ Perdue said. ‘‘They started copying it.’’
I don’t know how prevalent the stunt James pulled on Rose is in the NBA. And more than likely, players around the league respect James’ gumption for getting away with it. (‘‘I’m not going to say it’s part of the game,’’ Dallas Mavericks center Tyson Chandler said. ‘‘But to be able to get a foul on a star player at a key moment in the game — that was a good play by him.’’) But the move more likely diminished James’ reputation among NBA fans than enhanced it.
It’s hard not to like James. He’s a tremendous athlete who also is a great basketball player. He’s extremely versatile. He is an outstanding defender. He’s a team player. He has a ton of pride. He’s a professional. And he seems like a nice guy.
What he lacks is Jordan’s uncanny touch in shaping his own image. One common question at the NBA Finals is why James is so reviled by the public. Of course the disdain for James is over-the-top — what isn’t in the age of Twitter? — but is there any doubt why he’s not America’s favorite athlete?
‘Decision’ trumps likability
‘‘The Decision,’’ the televised production where James announced which team he would sign with, was a public relations disaster. When Jordan announced he was returning to the NBA in 1994, he simply faxed the words ‘‘I’m back’’ and got just as much attention as James did for ‘‘The Decision.’’ It was rooted in ‘‘look-at-me’’ ego just as much as James’ TV production, but without the scorn. See the difference?
And the little things matter. Even saying, ‘‘I’m taking my talents to South Beach’’ was a misstep. It gave the impression that the opportunity to party played a key factor in a so-called ‘‘business decision.’’ Whether it did or it didn’t, you don’t say it. Jordan referred to his teammates as ‘‘my supporting cast’’ — a putdown that became accepted, if not beloved. How did he do that?
Even when he means well, things seem to backfire on James. His reactions after big plays and during great moments are tinged with defiance. His celebration of Dwyane Wade’s three-pointer in Game 2 on Thursday shouldn’t have been a big deal. But that it happened in front of the Mavericks’ bench irritated Jason Terry, who claimed it helped spark the Mavericks’ comeback from a 15-point deficit to win. And it put James on the defensive in the postgame news conference.
Nobody could shove his greatness in the face of his opponents better than Jordan. But what is one of the most enduring — and endearing — images of his career? The humble shrug after hitting his sixth three-pointer in Game 1 of the 1992 NBA Finals against the Portland Trail Blazers. Jordan knew he was great. But he played the public and the media like a fiddle — we couldn’t wait to tell him how great he was. That’s a fine touch indeed.
Excuses weren’t in MJ’s formula
I guess that’s something you either have or you don’t. Jordan crafted an image — or had the image crafted for him — of playing through injuries and illnesses, celebrated famously after the ‘‘flu game’’ against the Utah Jazz in the 1997 Finals. He never made excuses.
LeBron needs to work on that. After he scored 15 points on 5-for-15 shooting against the Bulls in Game??1 of the Eastern finals, James said he had been fighting a head cold for three days and was taking medication for it. Had he waited until after he scored 29 points to lead the Heat to victory in Game 2, and let somebody else mention the head-cold thing, he’d have looked like a hero. Instead he looked like a guy complaining about a cold.
And, last but not least, while James has every right to play basketball wherever he wants, we have every right to judge the merits of that decision. Earlier this week, Juwan Howard was asked about the vitriol toward James for joining forces with Wade and Chris Bosh when other championship teams had more than one superstar. ‘‘Why has this been viewed differently?’’ he was asked.
I’ll tell you why: Because Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird didn’t concoct their title opportunities. Maybe it was just good fortune, but they won with the team they were drafted by, with key teammates also acquired through the draft.
LeBron didn’t have the patience for that. So at 26, he created his own opportunity with the Heat. More power to him. But the backlash isn’t unfair. Rather than becoming the next Michael Jordan, he’d rather be the first LeBron James. And for better or worse,fullers earth, that’s exactly what he is.
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