Spartans

CLEVELAND (AP) &mdash; Julius Randle joked about being out of shape and Josh Hart walked into the postgame news conference wearing&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/KnicksMSGN/status/1647411361801027584?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a T-shirt with a photo of teammate Jalen Brunson</a>&nbsp;on the front.
The Knicks could finally relax.
Finally at full strength, and following a worrisome few weeks, New York&rsquo;s season looks much brighter.
Brunson shook off foul trouble and scored 21 of his 27 points in the second half, Randle returned from an ankle injury to add 19 &mdash; and a critical final rebound &mdash; and the Knicks welcomed Cleveland back to the NBA playoffs by holding off the Cavaliers 101-97 on Saturday night in Game 1.
Brunson was limited to nine minutes in the first half, but hit several big shots down the stretch as the Knicks turned back Cleveland&rsquo;s late rally led by All-Star Donovan Mitchell, who finished with 38 points.
With the Knicks clinging to a 99-97 lead, Brunson missed a pullup with nine seconds left and Randle bailed out New York with his 10th rebound &mdash; and the team&rsquo;s 17th offensive board &mdash; that led to Quentin Grimes making two free throws to seal the win.
"You can&rsquo;t say enough about the monster rebound Julius made at the end,&rdquo; Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. &ldquo;That rebound was huge. Huge.&rdquo;
Randle hadn&rsquo;t played since March 29 because of a sprained left ankle, and said he was thankful he had enough energy for one last jump.
&ldquo;You see me breathing out there today?&rdquo; said Randle, who played 34 minutes. &ldquo;I was tired as hell. But it was just about winning at that point.&rdquo;
Randle was reminded that the Knicks had a similar play in Game 1 against Atlanta in 2021 but didn&rsquo;t come up with the ball.
&ldquo;Funny how things turn, right,&rdquo; he said.
Game 2 is Tuesday at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.
Mitchell scored 14 points in the fourth, but it wasn&rsquo;t enough for the young Cavs, who disappointed a raucous, towel-waving Cleveland crowd that hadn&rsquo;t seen a playoff game since the 2018 NBA Finals.
It&rsquo;s been a long road back for Cleveland, which wasn&rsquo;t as hurt by its inexperience as lack of production from the bench.
&ldquo;First off, this isn&rsquo;t the end of the world. We got to go get one right back,&rdquo; Mitchell said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no room to sit here and feel sorry or feel upset and get down. It&rsquo;s one game. We will respond.&rdquo;
Hart added 17 points &mdash; and hit a big 3-pointer down the stretch &mdash; and 10 rebounds in his playoff debut for New York, whose reserves outscored the Cavs 37-14.
Darius Garland scored 17 points and Jarrett Allen had 14 points and 14 rebounds for Cleveland. Evan Mobley had eight points of 4-of-13 shooting.
Randle missed New York&rsquo;s final five games after rolling his ankle on March 29, and the injury threatened to thwart New York&rsquo;s playoff hopes. However, he improved this week despite not taking much contact in practice and looked like himself from the outset.
His presence lifted the Knicks.
&ldquo;Seeing No. 30 out there was just a great sight,&rdquo; said Obi Toppin, who scored nine points in the third quarter.
Brunson picked up his second foul with 7:52 left in the first quarter, and Thibodeau had no choice but to replace the guard, who scored a career-high 48 points against the Cavs on March 31 &mdash; the first game Randle missed.
Brunson&rsquo;s foul trouble had Hart concerned he made a poor fashion choice.
&ldquo;I told him I was going to wear it at some point,&rdquo; Hart said. &ldquo;Then he gets into foul trouble the day I wear it, so I&rsquo;m going to go burn it and never wear it again.&rdquo;
The Cavs didn&rsquo;t take advantage with Brunson out as New York reeled off 10 straight points and led 30-24 after one.
Brunson was back on the bench with his third foul midway through the second. Again, Cleveland failed to capitalize and the Knicks led 50-45 at half.
SCARY MOMENT
Mitchell landed hard on his lower back after vaulting off a courtside table and landing several rows into the stands while saving a loose ball in the second quarter.
He winced in pain while behind helped up and returning to the floor. Mitchell then thanked fans who cushioned his fall during a subsequent timeout.
&ldquo;I jumped at them intentionally, but they moved,&rdquo; said Mitchell, who sustained a small cut on his arm. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t blame them. I probably would have done the same thing. It&rsquo;s all love.&rdquo;
NEW YORK STATE OF MIND
The Knicks have dominated the Cavs in the postseason, winning all three previous playoff series.
New York swept a three-game series in 1978 at the Coliseum in Richfield, won 3-1 in 1995 at Gund Arena and swept a best-of-5 series in 1996.
TIP-INS
Knicks: Impossible to miss while wearing New York&rsquo;s bright orange, super fan Spike Lee sat courtside. ... Recorded seven offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter.
Cavaliers: Mitchell is the fourth Cleveland to score at least 38 in a playoff game, joining LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Brad Daugherty. ... Cleveland hosted its 81st playoff game in the building, which was previously known as Gund Arena and Quicken Loans Arena. ... Four teams have winning postseason records in the arena &mdash; the Knicks (5-0), the Spurs (2-0), the Warriors (6-4) and Cavs (57-24). ... Browns star Myles Garrett and coach Kevin Stefanski sat near Cleveland&rsquo;s bench along with Cavs owner Dan Gilbert.

The Knicks welcomed Cleveland back to the NBA playoffs by holding off the Cavaliers 101-97 on Saturday night in Game 1.

Brunson, Randle push Knicks past Cavaliers 101-97 in Game 1

Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal and Charles Barkley have been two of the biggest critics of Ben Simmons since the start of the season.&nbsp;
&ldquo;One, he&rsquo;s not showing up. As a player, you have to be able to be real with yourself,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Neal <a href="https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/shaquille-oneal-calls-out-ben-simmons-amid-holdout-from-76ers-hes-going-about-it-all-wrong/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said on CBS Sports Network's Tiki and Tierney</a>. &ldquo;You need to be aggressive and he definitely got exposed last year in the playoffs, he didn&rsquo;t want to shoot.
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&ldquo;You have to look in the mirror and say, &lsquo;Am I as good as I can be?&rsquo; He&rsquo;s going about it all wrong. He could have gone into the office, say &lsquo;Hey, my feelings are hurt. You guys didn&rsquo;t stick up for me. I&rsquo;d like to professionally ask for a trade.&rsquo; The question is, does anyone want him? I&rsquo;m not paying $200 million for a guy who will not be aggressive and will not shoot in playoff time.&rdquo;
Tuesday night on Inside the NBA, Shaq and Barkley continued their public criticism of Ben Simmons before the Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers tipped off. Barkley has sided with the 76ers and upper management, and feels they are doing everything possible to resolve the standoff. In Barkley&rsquo;s words:&nbsp;
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"This dude has done everything he can not to be re-recruited." Chuck talks about Ben Simmons and how the Sixers should move going forward. <a href="https://t.co/hVvxHDDRJZ">pic.twitter.com/hVvxHDDRJZ</a>
&mdash; NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBAonTNT/status/1458229191632044032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 10, 2021</a></blockquote>

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&ldquo;This dude has done everything he can not to be re-recruited," Barkley said. "Thеy started off the season begging him to come back. They have maѕѕaged him, Shaq. They&rsquo;ve bеnt over backward to kiѕѕ this dudе&rsquo;ѕ ass. Now, it&rsquo;s timе thеy start kicking his ass. There&rsquo;s only two: You kiѕѕ ѕomebody&rsquo;s aѕѕ, or yоu kick their ass.&rdquo;
I sat down with Gilbert Arenas for "The Rematch," and he didn&rsquo;t mince words regarding Shaq and Barkley&rsquo;s consistent criticism of Ben Simmons.
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Here is an excerpt from our discussion:
Etan Thomas: I want to ask you about this Ben Simmons situation. Now, there's a lot. It's interesting. I <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/an-open-letter-to-ben-simmons-from-etan-thomas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote an open letter to Ben Simmons</a>. And a lot of the feedback from people was that I was being too nice to Ben Simmons. And although I pointed out all of his missteps through this whole process, I didn't go just on full attack bashing him. And that's what a lot of people wanted. They wanted to have other people bash him. "He's terrible, he's weak, he's soft." And I didn't do any of that. I did the opposite of encouraging him that. "I hope that when you come out of this, that you come out with a Mamba Mentality and don't let nothing affect you," and everything like that, "But these were your missteps here all along this way." But it's interesting that so many people don't understand or can't sympathize, or even imagine how he feels.
Gilbert Arenas: Because they're looking at the basketball player, Ben Simmons. So I don't think people separate the basketball player from the human. Right? And once a Shaq or Charles Barkley say it, it becomes law. In fact, they were the same. If they want to call him a prima donna, you were the same prima donna when you were the man. It's crazy because [Simmons] is a quiet kid. He's not this rah-rah type of guy. He's a quiet kid who just wants to just play, and then if you don't [want] him, just trade me. If you want me just... He just goes with the flow.
I was with Ben a lot this summer, so I saw the work he put in. He was doing everything to get himself ready. I saw the work ethic and I'm like, "Man, you can actually shoot. You actually can shoot. You actually have form. You don't have this wicked form that's like released high. You actually have a great form. Your feet planted." So alright, what's going on here?
Etan Thomas: Let's talk about when he came back and addressed the team and said that he wasn't mentally ready to play. And I know what you're thinking, but I felt that honestly, and this was my opinion. I felt that was him being honest with them and saying not that he had mental health issues, but he basically said: Mentally, I'm not ready to come back and mess with y'all. And I thought that was a very smart move on his part because of a lot of reasons; because he could have came back and you don't know what he would've done. If he would've came back, and I'm really still beefing with you, like I'm still thinking in my mind that you threw me under the bus over here after the game and I'm looking at you &mdash; I might just crack you across your head with a chair.&nbsp;
So he's telling you, Listen, I'm telling y'all right now I'm not mentally ready to come back here with y'all. You know what I mean? And now, everybody else jumped to, "Oh, he is using mental health issues and excuse." ...But he didn't say mental health. He said he's not mentally ready to come back. And the part that I do have to say &mdash; because I'm critical of the media a lot &mdash; I did see where Shaq was on a few nights ago, and he said he had to backtrack some of the criticism that he had and educate himself on mental health issues. Even though that's not what Ben Simmons said [or meant]. But [Shaq] said, "I had to backtrack, and I am not going to bash him or anybody else that are dealing with different things and getting their mental health issues correct on the same line."
And that's what Shaq said, "So I'm backing all the way off." I got to respect that, you know what I mean? Because it means that he's going back and saying, "Okay, I was wrong for what I said earlier." I wish Stephen A. Smith would do that because when he got on &mdash; everybody remembers right after it happened &mdash; it was reported that that Ben Simmons said that he couldn't come back because he wasn't mentally ready to come back. Stephen A. Smith went right on, and he <a href="https://youtu.be/7lWvdizPXr4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">went on this big rant</a> like he always does. [Smith] said, "Why didn't he say anything about mental health before? Why didn't he say this before? Why all now?"
And so he's questioning publicly, on the biggest platform in the basketball world, the validity of what Ben Simmons was saying. So that, in turn, made a lot of people then start repeating what Stephen A. Smith said. And they were literally quoting him. And I think that's where the media has a responsibility to not attempt to sway the public against players. And that, again, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/kwame-brown-stephen-a-smith-stephen-jackson-matt-barnes-charlemagne-etan-thomas-washington-wizards-media" target="_blank" rel="noopener">going back to what Kwame Brown's point was and his issue was</a>. It was not just Stephen A. Smith, but <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/former-nba-gm-confirms-false-narratives-hurt-kwame-brown-others" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the media in general</a>, when they do that. So what was your take on when [Simmons] said he was mentally not ready to play?
Gilbert Arenas: Okay, so you got to understand where the ESPNs and all these guys stand. That's their job to sway the public. You got to remember: They don't need the athlete. They don't need us to report about us.
Etan Thomas: Oh, that's true.
Gilbert Arenas: Right? So they don't need us. So it's like, "I can say you're good. I can say you're bad. But I don't need to have a conversation with you to do that." So these guys in the media don't need the athletes. So they don't need to talk to Kyrie [Irving] and Kevin Durant, but they get to report on them all the time. Half of these reporters couldn't even get a sit-down with these players at this point in their careers. You have bashed these guys for so long that they don't want nothing to do with you, but it's still going to make your point against them. Charles Barkley go up there and Shaq and talk about prima donnas: "Y'all are too soft on these guys."
Etan Thomas: Yeah, I hate that.
Gilbert Arenas: First of all, Shaquille, didn't you push to get a trade from Orlando because a guy got more popular than you? That's prima donna. I want to move because he got a Penny [Hardaway] doll? I've seen your commercials back in the day where the Penny doll was on the couch and you slapped it off. Now, you guys are bickering. I was a Penny fan. That is bickering. That is babying. So the things that some of the older guys go at the young guys, I'm like, you did the same exact thing, so you know how he feels. So since you know how he feels, you should be able to help him through this process because you know what's going to actually happen at the end of this.

Gilbert Arenas discussed the hypocrisy of Shaquille O'Neal and Charles Barkley regarding their criticisms of Ben Simmons.

Arenas: Shaq, Barkley are hypocrites for calling Ben Simmons a diva

Etan Thomas has a direct message for Ben Simmons, who hopefully will have an opportunity to shut up his critics.

An open letter to Ben Simmons from Etan Thomas

With the team facing elimination, the Los Angeles Lakers' team doctors cleared Anthony Davis last night to return for their critical Game 6 matchup with the Phoenix Suns.
After five-and-a-half minutes of grimacing, limping and straining up and down the court, he fell to the ground writhing in pain. As soon as he stepped on the court, anybody with eyes could see that he wasn&rsquo;t healthy.
During that stretch, Turner Sports journalist and broadcaster Taylor Rooks tweeted, "Y&rsquo;all gotta take AD out." To which <a href="https://twitter.com/etanthomas36/status/1400659703957438465?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I responded</a>, "They should&rsquo;ve never put AD in."
NBA fans across the world witnessed what would have been a story of triumph. One for the archives of NBA history. It's easy to imagine the storyline that could've been.
Facing elimination in the NBA playoffs and down 3-2 in the series to Chris Paul, Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns, Anthony Davis had the dedication and passion, summoning his inner Mamba Mentality to exhibit superhuman perseverance -- and in heroic fashion, Davis saved the Los Angeles Lakers' season, propelling them to victory and solidifying this as one of the greatest displays of resilience in the history of the NBA on the way to another championship. 
Graphic designers for the media companies probably would&rsquo;ve drawn a picture of AD with a Superman emblem on his chest and a cape under his Lakers uniform.
People love stories of heroics. Isiah Thomas hobbling around on one foot in Game 6 of the 1988 NBA Finals against the Lakers and scoring 25 points in the third quarter, or Willis Reed walking out of the tunnel for the New York Knicks on his bum ankle in Game 7 of the 1970 Finals.
Everything was set up for Kevin Durant to be added to that list in 2019... until it didn't happen.
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High school, college and professional coaches across the country were just salivating to be able to use this as an example to their players, to enforce the philosophy that &ldquo;pain is weakness leaving your body." They would&rsquo;ve used AD as an example to young athletes that the game, not your health, is what matters most. And a real &ldquo;team player&rdquo; would sacrifice a &ldquo;little discomfort&rdquo; for the good of the team.
(Editor's Note: Etan, David West, Chamique Holdsclaw, James Posey, Rushia Brown, Mo Evans, Jahidi White, Cody Toppert and the BBN staff approached the subject of injuries, team doctors, getting a second opinion and more in a roundtable discussion. <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-rumors-veterans-discuss-injuries-team-doctors-second-opinion-etan-thomas-james-posey-maurice-evans-chamique-holdsclaw-kevin-durant-greg-oden-danny-granger" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read that conversation in its entirety</a>.)
I have seen this all before.
During my tenure with the Washington Wizards, I witnessed team trainer Eric Waters misdiagnose player after player, because what was best for the Wizards organization was for those players to play.
I saw the team tell Jarvis Hayes that he simply had a case of tendinitis in his knee, and had him playing through the pain; it turned out he had a broken knee cap, which ruined his entire career.
I saw him tell Kwame Brown that Kwame was just experiencing a &ldquo;little discomfort&rdquo; in his leg, and that he needed to play through the pain to show everyone that he was worthy of being the No. 1 pick; later, it turned out that Kwame actually had a torn hamstring.
I saw Eric Waters tell Gilbert Arenas that nothing was &ldquo;structurally wrong&rdquo; with his knee and he needed to show toughness and be a leader; it turned out Gilbert needed surgery and injured his knee worse by playing on it.
I saw him tell DeShawn Stevenson there was nothing seriously wrong with his back, and had him getting ice and stim and playing through the pain. After the season, upon further review by an outside doctor, it was discovered that DeShawn actually had an Inflamed L5 Nerve that was stuck underneath a disc that required not one, but two back surgeries to repair.
My point in saying all of this is not to simply blast Eric Waters, but to show that this happens all the time in professional sports. With team doctors and trainers, there is a conflict of interest, and the sworn medical oath becomes blurred and affects their diagnoses. They are hired by the teams, and are in essence employees of the organization -- not employees of the players. So they don&rsquo;t have the players' best interests in mind, typically; they only have the organizations'.
The Los Angeles Lakers medical staff basically RG3&rsquo;d Anthony Davis. They &ldquo;Any Given Sunday'd" him. They Eric Waters&rsquo;d him.
He shouldn&rsquo;t have been playing, period.
The risks outweighed the rewards. Even from a team standpoint, this is one of your franchise players. This is a player who has the capability of single-handedly turning an entire NBA Finals series around en route to a championship. This is a player that you should do everything in your power to convince him how important he is long term.
However, what the Lakers showed was the exact opposite. I don&rsquo;t care if Davis insisted on playing; they should&rsquo;ve have the medical integrity to tell him no. On Inside The NBA on TNT, Charles Barkley said, &ldquo;The doctors cleared him to play? They&rsquo;re gonna need some better doctors."
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But the Lakers aren&rsquo;t the only ones. This happens all the time. I hope all young players see this and learn that no matter what the circumstance is or how big the game is, your health always comes first, and you ALWAYS get a second opinion from your own doctors that have nothing to do with the organization, as Kawhi Leonard wisely did in San Antonio in the 2017-18 season.
Interestingly enough, a few nights ago on the same platform, the same Charles Barkley <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVobMhM0nSk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">made fun of Anthony Davis for frequently being injured</a> and coined the phrase, "Anthony 'Street Clothes' Davis.&rdquo; Kendrick Perkins, a former player-turned-media member at ESPN, tweeted that Charles needs to "pick a damn side" regarding the situation.
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Somebody tell Charles Barkley to pick a damn side. He&rsquo;s &ldquo;Street Clothes&rdquo; Davis when he sits out and he&rsquo;s ridiculing the medical team for letting him play when he tries to play through it! Damn if you do, damn if you don&rsquo;t!
&mdash; Kendrick Perkins (@KendrickPerkins) <a href="https://twitter.com/KendrickPerkins/status/1400664393910784002?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 4, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Interesting that the media will ridicule a player for being injured, and then act surprised when he succumbs to the pressure of playing in a key game and risking injuring himself worse.
I remember watching Grant Hill. He was about to literally take over the league.
People were calling him out for not playing hurt. Said he was soft, etc. etc., just like they were saying about AD in this playoff series. The Orlando medical staff derailed Grant&rsquo;s entire career.
Another example is the young Isaiah Thomas. He shouldn&rsquo;t have been playing in Boston in the 2017 playoffs, but he played, ended up hurting himself more, ended up needing surgery, cost himself $100 million, came back and played after losing his sister in a tragic accident. What did the Celtics do after all of that? They traded him that summer because they knew about his injury and knew that he needed surgery.
Kyrie Irving, while playing for Boston, went and got a second opinion and said he needed surgery on his left knee just one year after the Thomas situation; the Celtics' doctors didn&rsquo;t tell Kyrie that he needed surgery, so he had surgery on his own and came back the next year strong.
There is a reccurring theme here.
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I saw many responses on social media of people (usually non-athletes) saying that Anthony Davis made the decision himself to go into the game, so anything that happens is his fault and not the organization&rsquo;s -- but it&rsquo;s not that simple.&nbsp;The onus shouldn&rsquo;t be placed on the athlete&rsquo;s shoulders. Of course athletes are going to want to play, but it shouldn&rsquo;t be up to them.
A solution to this league-wide issue was suggested to me by a lawyer by the name of Marlon Amprey. He explained that the Players Association should assemble a group of outside doctors/specialists (or specific doctors/specialists the player suggests) that have no connection to the team whatsoever, and will provide second &amp; third opinions and give players detailed reports on their health and risk of injury. All doctors&rsquo; reports given by teams that drastically differ should go under review, and there should be repercussions for team doctors and trainers who medically clear players who shouldn&rsquo;t be medically cleared to play.
The bottom line is, if you're injured, any organization will throw you out there in a heartbeat if they feel it is best for the organization. They will publicly criticize you if you don&rsquo;t play, and if you play and re-injure yourself worse -- or just don&rsquo;t play up to their expectations (as if they don&rsquo;t know your playing injured) -- they will get rid of you in a New York minute.
Just like The Washington Football team did with Robert Griffin III and just like the Washington Wizards did with Jarvis Hayes.

Etan Thomas goes in-depth on the Lakers' reckless decision to clear Anthony Davis to play in Game 6 and utilizes firsthand examples to show why.

Irresponsible Lakers medical team could have RG3'd Anthony Davis

Recently, I interviewed Mark Cuban for my podcast, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-dallas-mavericks-mark-cuban-podcast-the-rematch-steve-nash-etan-thomas-luka-doncic-dirk-nowitzki-donald-trump-president" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&ldquo;The Rematch&rdquo;</a> (which is part of <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/podcasts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the BasketballNews.com Podcast Network</a>) and one of the many topics we discussed was when his Dallas Mavericks defeated LeBron James and the Miami Heat in the 2011 NBA Finals - a series that has haunted James for a decade.&nbsp;
Back then, James was trying to win his first-ever championship. Now, he is on the verge of winning his fourth title. When asked to compare present-day LeBron to 2011 LeBron, Cuban said he&rsquo;s drastically changed.&nbsp;
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s night and day,&rdquo; Cuban said. &ldquo;He has the basketball-IQ level now; he&rsquo;s just a basketball savant. The way he sees and reads what&rsquo;s happening on the court in real time and stays three steps ahead is incredible. And that&rsquo;s what makes him special - in addition to his athleticism. He didn&rsquo;t have that [back in 2011]. We would run a zone against him and he would hesitate and not know what to do. He&rsquo;s not going to hesitate now. He knows exactly what&rsquo;s coming and what to do and anticipates it.
&ldquo;He can talk to you about a basketball game and every single play that&rsquo;s happened like some of us would talk about a book that we just read. Those two things are enormous differences. He can now beat you in so many different ways. He&rsquo;s still athletic enough. His skill-set has improved. His passing. But those all tie back to his basketball IQ and that&rsquo;s something that wasn&rsquo;t as developed as it is now.&rdquo;
In 2011, LeBron was in the midst of his first season with the Heat and mainstream America was upset with the superstar. Many sports fans across the country turned on James after &ldquo;The Decision,&rdquo; which was watched by 10 million viewers (according to Nielsen).&nbsp;
(I personally had no problem with &ldquo;The Decision&rdquo; in any way, shape or form; I actually applauded him for taking control of the narrative and not feeling like he owed Cleveland or Cavaliers governor Dan Gilbert anything, but I digress.).
LeBron also received myriad criticism for forming a &ldquo;super-team&rdquo; in Miami with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.&nbsp;
(I also didn&rsquo;t have an issue with this and I found it ironic that one of his loudest critics, Charles Barkley, was guilty of doing something similar, joining the Houston Rockets to play with Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler in 1996; it just didn&rsquo;t result in a championship for him).
After LeBron&rsquo;s guaranteed that the Heat would win &ldquo;not one, not two, not three championships&hellip;&rdquo; it hurt his reputation and he was perceived as an arrogant, conceited, pompous a$$#&amp;@&euro;. He was now despised and cast as the villain. As <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/lebron-james-hated-man-basketball/story?id=13832164">ABC News labeled him in this 2011 article</a>, he was &ldquo;The Most Hated Man in Basketball.&rdquo;
So when they lost to Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 NBA Finals and LeBron had a series that wasn&rsquo;t very Chosen-One-esque, people lined up, rocks in hand, ready to stone his reputation to death.&nbsp;
Now, statistically, he didn&rsquo;t have a terrible series. But by LeBron&rsquo;s standards, it was disappointing. Here were his stat lines for that series:
Game 1: 24 points, 9 boards, 5 assists, 4 threes, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 56.3 FG%
Game 2: 20 points, 8 boards, 4 assists, 4 steals, 1 block, 5 turnovers 53.3 FG%&nbsp;
Game 3: 17 points, 9 assists, 3 boards, 2 steals, 4 turnovers, 42.9 FG%
Game 4: 8 points, 9 boards, 7 assists, 2 steals, 4 turnovers, 27.3 FG%
Game 5: 17 points, 10 boards, 10 assists, 1 block, 4 turnovers, 42.1 FG%
Game 6: 21 points, 6 assists, 4 boards, 2 threes, 1 block, 1 steal, 6 turnovers, 60 FG%
Even though, on paper, these performances don&rsquo;t seem too bad, his plus/minus was -24 in Game 6. He was tentative and completely off-course at times, and over-aggressive and almost clumsy at others. It was shocking to see LeBron, who was so dominant at that time, looking human.&nbsp;
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He was taking too many jump shots and was as hesitant and passive as ever with the ball in his hands. He passed when he should have shot; he shot when he should have passed. He looked like he didn&rsquo;t know the offensive plays at times and he was consistently looking to the refs to bail him out. 
To make matters worse, LeBron seemed to be a liability on defense - he appeared utterly lost on his coverage, rotations and defensive assignments. Again, it appeared as though he wasn&rsquo;t even on the same page as his teammates and didn&rsquo;t know the defensive game-plan.&nbsp;
As a result, the multitude of newly formulated LeBron haters took tremendous pleasure in this, rejoicing as he struggled. Not because they were Dallas Mavericks fans or had an issue with the Miami Heat, but because LeBron James, in particular, had failed.&nbsp;
&ldquo;He was the number two guy with the Heat and you could tell on the court. That was Dwyane&rsquo;s team,&rdquo; Cuban added. &ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t like Dwyane came to his team. Now, LeBron&rsquo;s that guy. Period. End of story. [Now], he says who comes on that team, how it&rsquo;s gonna work, what they&rsquo;re doing.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Interesting point.&nbsp;
Many will argue that Anthony Davis is &ldquo;the best player in the world&rdquo; (as Markieff Morris <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/nba-finals-game-1-overreactions-starring-anthony-davis-as-the-los-angeles-lakers-mvp-195544997.html">declared</a> after Game 1 of the Finals). Now, for the record, he also said the same thing about LeBron in response to another question. But the point is, despite LeBron&rsquo;s impressive numbers, many have crowned Anthony Davis as the team&rsquo;s MVP.&nbsp;
However, this is still LeBron&rsquo;s team.&nbsp;
Anthony Davis may, in fact, be replacing Kyrie Irving as the most productive teammate that LeBron has played with during his career. This postseason, Davis is averaging 28.2 points, 9.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.3 blocks, 1.2 steals and 1.1 threes (on 57.8/40.4/82.9 shooting splits).&nbsp;
Previously, the most points that one of LeBron&rsquo;s teammates averaged in the playoffs was Irving&rsquo;s 25.9 points per game in 2017, followed by Irving&rsquo;s 25.2 PPG average in 2016 and Wade&rsquo;s 24.5 PPG average in 2011. Wade was actually the Heat&rsquo;s leading scorer during the 2011 postseason (averaging 24.5 points to James' 23.7). Now, scoring isn&rsquo;t everything. But Cuban is right: that was still D-Wade&rsquo;s team. Just like this is still LeBron&rsquo;s team, even with Davis dropping a whopping 29.1 points a night.
Davis may be the Lakers&rsquo; MVP of the postseason (or even the bubble). He may be the Lakers&rsquo; most dominant player on both ends of the floor. But, make no mistake, this is LeBron&rsquo;s team.&nbsp;
Here are the facts: LeBron is on the verge of winning his fourth championship and bringing at least one title to three different teams. He has four NBA MVP awards, three NBA Finals MVP awards and two Olympic gold medals. He also holds the all-time record for playoff points, and he has recorded the third-most points in NBA history and the eighth-most assists of all-time.&nbsp;
Still, LeBron haters will probably always be LeBron haters (and it&rsquo;s not just Paul Pierce).
But, overall, I would have to agree with Mark Cuban. Without a doubt, this is a very different LeBron James than the one we saw in the 2011 NBA Finals.

Mark Cuban's Mavericks beat LeBron James in the 2011 NBA Finals. Present-day LeBron is very different from 2011 LeBron, says Cuban.

Mark Cuban: This isn't the same LeBron James we beat in 2011 

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