Do I look tired? I feel great. I'm averaging a triple-double in the Finals. I'm pretty good, I would think. – LeBron James on whether he is playing tired
SALT LAKE CITY — With the NBA Finals hurtling toward completion, the most suspenseful part of the postseason isn’t the outcome. It’s when LeBron James will next decide to get salty.
He doesn’t have a lot of time left.
Game 4 is Friday in Cleveland. James might say something slightly goofy as he did last Sunday night, when he claimed he needed only “food and wine and I’ll be all right.” He might make a reporter look silly for asking a dumb question, which has been happening lately.
But heaven help him if he dares say he’s the best player on Earth. That will bring on a new wave of 'Bron scorn on social media.
James didn’t appear at the podium for the post-game press conference after Sunday’s 19-point loss. That might be a breach of etiquette, but in the big picture, it’s only a jaywalking ticket. Meanwhile, in the locker room he mildly called out someone who asked whether “you feel it’s the case where you have to defend home court at this point?”
The gist of James’ reply: Well, duh.
During the conference finals, James chided a Cleveland radio reporter for asking whether it was Boston’s defense or his own mistakes that caused him to score just 11 points and have six turnovers.
“You always come around when we lose, I swear,” James said.
Asked at Wednesday’s shootaround whether guarding Kevin Durant was tiring him, James told reporters, “Do I look tired? I feel great. I'm averaging a triple-double in the Finals. I'm pretty good, I would think."
Thirty-nine points on Wednesday didn’t hurt his case, although afterward he did allow, “I’m drained right now, mentally and physically.”
James showed little of the feistiness after the Cavaliers fell behind 3-0 in the series with Golden State. Still, throughout the playoffs, he has displayed plenty of attitude. Small wonder. He’s been doing media interviews since he was 15. He has three championship rings, yet is still answering questions about his ability to win.
Last year the Cavs rushed back from a 3-1 deficit against these same Warriors — except it wasn’t the same. That Golden State team didn’t have Durant, who has scored 102 points in three Finals games.
Chippiness or no, James deserves a medal for his handling of media and fans throughout his career. Most nights he is polite and accommodating, as he was on Wednesday. Primarily what has drawn wrath is for saying he’s the best player on the planet, and for declaring his free agency destination via a TV special.
Move over, Caligula.
James has a history of pointing out how good he is, but it hasn’t been something he’s unable to back up. “I feel confident because I’m the best player in the world,” he told media in 2015. Seven straight trips to the NBA Finals say even more.
It’s not like James is alone in believing in himself. Golden State’s Stephen Curry considers himself the best, telling Time magazine, “In my mind, yes.” Boston’s Isaiah Thomas rates himself the best player in the NBA. Durant said in 2015 he felt he was the world’s best player.
Curry once told ESPN he wanted to be known as the greatest player in history, surpassing Michael Jordan.
Yet there’s not nearly as much Durant/Curry/Thomas hate as there is for James.
There was much darker hate recently when vandals spray-painted a racial slur on the gate of James’ Los Angeles area home. Yet he handled it gracefully, pointing out that regardless of money and fame, “being black in America is — it’s tough.”
Some took umbrage at his statement, considering his $31 million salary, but it was heartfelt and rooted in his own experience. His wife and children were home at the time. He felt violated and disrespected.
Meanwhile, back in the pretend world of basketball, people pick at his shortcomings. The same night he scored just 11 points against Boston, a fan in the hallway criticized his performance.
James reportedly said, “What have you done?”
He could have let that one pass, but he gets it right most nights.
Still, he could learn from the master. Following a poor finish during one Finals game in 1997, Jordan was informed by a media member that he had “looked mortal.”
“It makes people like you realize that there's going to be games where I can't live up to the fantasy or the hype that people have built Michael Jordan to be,” he said, “and I'm accustomed to living with that.
“Next game,” Jordan said, “I hope I can please you."
LeBron, the best player on the planet, should memorize that comeback word for word.