Basketball: Spurs Have Exposed Flaws in LeBron's Game

By JOHN HOLLINGER - The New York Sun June 14, 2007

CLEVELAND – I am a witness, all right.

I am a witness to San Antonio establishing itself as an NBA dynasty, whether the networks want to admit it or not. I am a witness to the general lousiness of the Eastern Conference and the one-sided Finals that it's created. And I am a witness to the flaws that remain in the game of the player who will go down as the best of this generation.

Let's talk about that last item first, because I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out the first two. LeBron James, for all his brilliance, still has some flaws in his game, and those are flaws that the Spurs' suffocating defense has been able to expose repeatedly in the first three games of the Finals. They'll try to again tonight (9 p.m., ABC) as San Antonio goes for the sweep and its fourth Larry O'Brien trophy in the Duncan-Popovich era.

The first item of business is Le-Bron's catch-and-shoot game. Or rather, the lack of it. Watch James some time when he gets a pass from a teammate. Even if he's wide, wide open coming off a screen, he won't pull the trigger on the outside shot. It's different once he puts the ball on the floor — then he's comfortable shooting long shots, especially going to his left.

But repeatedly in this series, we've seen James catch the ball at the top of the key, or on the wing, while San Antonio's Bruce Bowen plays several feet off of him. It doesn't appear it even occurs to James that he can shoot in this situation — it's as though he's mentally preprogrammed to start dribbling, and only then will he allow himself to think about a shot.

Bowen has been able to give himself a big edge, because he's had the luxury of laying off James and waiting on the drive. And with a defender as good as Bowen, the last thing James wants to do is hand him a free advantage. This also affects the type of plays the Cavs can call for Bowen. Running a curl on either side for James to come off for a jumper is sort of pointless, for instance, if James is never going to catch and fire once he makes the curl.

The second area where we're seeing LeBron's lack of polish is in his low-post game. James is perhaps the most physically imposing small forward to ever play the game — he's 6-foot-8, 240 pounds and built like a tank. You'd think he'd be able to overwhelm opponents on the blocks with his superior physique, but he's never seemed very comfortable operating from the blocks.

Against Bowen, however, James has seen the rock down low more often. This isn't surprising — Bowen is an unbelievable perimeter defender but has a slight build that prevents him from doing as much damage in the post. Unfortunately, James still doesn't have a solid repertoire of moves from that position on the floor.

It's a shame since James is potentially unstoppable from here. Not only can he overwhelm most defenders one-on-one, but because he's such a great passer and has the size to see over defenses, he can burn opponents who double team. However, all of that is irrelevant unless he can master the intricacies of scoring in the low post. That means working on footwork, adding a reliable turnaround bank shot, and picking up a couple of counter moves to keep defenses honest. In other words, it will take at least one more summer of hard work.

At this point, it's important to remind ourselves that King James is 22 years old, which is the age of most college seniors. He's been in the league for four years, so our expectations keep growing, but by any reasonable standard he's still but a pup.

In light of that, it's not surprising that he still has some holes in his game, or that a team with the experience, talent, and cohesiveness of the Spurs could take advantage of it. The scary part is that even with those weaknesses, he's still as good as any player in the league. If he develops in these two areas, he'll be unguardable.

There's another silver lining here for Cavs fans, if they're looking for it. While it's certainly unlikely that Cleveland will put any kind of real scare into the Spurs as far as winning the series is concerned, I can easily see them pulling out a game or two while we're still in Cleveland.

That's because the Cavs, quite honestly, badly outplayed San Antonio in Game 3. They outhustled them, outworked them on the glass, and got higher quality shots on both ends. The reason Cleveland lost was simply that they missed a bunch of wide-open shots. If they get those opportunities again in Game 3, they'll knock them down.

The biggest surprise was Cavs guard Daniel Gibson, who finally got a much-deserved start in favor of the hobbled Larry Hughes, but proceeded to shoot 1-for-10 from the floor, including misses on all five of his 3-point attempts. That accounted for a big chunk of Cleveland's 3-for-19 effort from downtown, which in turn was the biggest reason the Cavs lost the game. But with Gibson shooting 41.9% on triples in the regular season and 41.7% in the playoffs, the Spurs would be ill-advised to give him those looks again tonight.

Yet here I go again, talking about the Cavs. That's all anyone seems to be doing, because once again we're taking San Antonio's excellence for granted. The Spurs are so understated and so calmly efficient that we've become bored with them.

But if we're bored now, one shudders to think how we'll feel when they're here next year … and the year after that … and the year after that. Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, and Tony Parker are showing no signs of slowing down, and meanwhile every other veteran role player in the league knows that this is the place to sign if you want to win a ring (see Finley, Michael, and Vaughn, and Jacque). Thus, one has to think there's a good chance the Popovich-Duncan era could produce a fifth title next year, if not more in the seasons beyond.

So yes, I've been a witness this week, just as the billboards around town are imploring. But it's had nothing to do with LeBron James. I'm witnessing the coronation of these San Antonio Spurs as one of the giants of the game's history. The Spurs are a classy, compelling dynasty worthy of our respect … and, maybe someday, our attention.

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