By 
LeBron James had already taken the torch as “best player in the NBA” long ago. Yet he continues to find ways to amaze, and despite coming off another MVP regular season that was capped off by his first NBA Championship, LeBron somehow managed to get even better this offseason. Now even more records are starting to fall at the hands of the 28-year-old superstar. Last night James once again scored 30 points and he did it on 11 of 15 shooting. While that may not seem like much, that marks the sixth straight game where LeBron has scored 30 or more points while hitting at least 60 percent of shots, a new NBA record.
It’s gotten to the point where it is surprising to see LeBron miss shots. King James has become so good that people, including his coach are at a loss for words when it comes to trying to explain his brilliance. Erik Spoelstra joined WQAM in Miami on the Joe Rose Show to talk about LeBron’s current run, the appearance that the Heat get along extremely well, making sure the team’s issues stay internal, what it means to be the coach of the Eastern Conference All-Star team and whether he believes any one else has sacrificed more to be in Miami than Chris Bosh.
On the play of LeBron James recently:
“He’s a once-in-a-generational player. We’re searching for superlatives every single game, new ones to describe what he is doing, but he’s the best player in the game and it’s a special time in South Florida for basketball. Not only LeBron, but Dwyane (Wade), Chris (Bosh) and this team. You don’t have these opportunities to play for a title very often but also to be an entertaining team like this, and a good group of guys that have bought into the team concept –it’s a great time for basketball right now.”
On the appearance that the team gets along so well:
“First of all, we don’t always get along and that’s a point of team sports. You go through a long, competitive season with type A personalities, egos and instincts, and competition brings out the best and worst of you, every single one of us. We have guys that are mature enough and professional enough, that have the perspective enough (to realize) we have all sacrificed to be a part of this, the players in particular. We are here for one reason and that’s to play for an NBA title. For us to do it we have to work to all be on the same page and you have to experience everything during one of these seasons — the good, the bad and everything in between. You have to survive all those things and when you do you become stronger as a group. We always say that we’re a family and that’s not just talk, because when you’re part of a family it’s not all good and you have to go through those moments sometimes to get stronger, to have breakthroughs and really get to know each other on a deeper level.”
On keeping any issues internal:
“Yeah, like a family is what we try to do. That’s always been the philosophy here starting with Pat (Riley) when he took over is to keep everything in house. We will have our family disputes all the time and we have great times. (Host: Things never leak out though.) Yeah and we talk about it. There’s going to be things that happen, that’s human nature, but keep it in house. That’s all it is, and then it becomes something that happens within the family and then you’re able the next day to just concentrate on basketball and you get over it. Those relationships become stronger because there’s a lot of trust that ends up getting built through those types of things.”
What it means to be the head coach of the Eastern Conference All-Star team:
“This has been a special year for the entire organization. The title last year, overcoming everything we had to do from the year before, the White House visit, All-Star weekend where we have so many people from the organization going and attending, Pat will be there, Micky (Arison) will be there, obviously the three players and a lot of the staff. We’re honored to do it and it’s going to be a pretty cool weekend. Hopefully when we get back we can concentrate on the stretch run.”
Whether anyone has sacrificed more than Chris Bosh for the Miami Heat:
“Right, and that’s why we’ve always said he’s our most important player because he’s so steady every day and you know you can count on him. Consistent but also mentally and emotionally he’s consistent through all the waves that we have to go through, but that is part of it. There’s such a perception out there about our team. Everything has to be a story line but our guys are mature enough and knew when they sacrificed there would be a lot of criticism because of that. Chris is having a career-high efficiency year in terms of the way he is shooting the basketball. If he had more touches, more shots, he would be scoring bigger than he did in Toronto because he’s playing more efficiently. Same thing with Dwyane. Dwyane is criticized relentlessly until about three weeks ago and yet he is still shooting a career high, so if he had the same amount of shots he would average over 30 per game,
if he was getting the same looks he got four years ago. LeBron is shooting outstanding but it goes down the line. Guys have sacrificed knowing that they will probably be criticized. Guys on our bench, Ray Allen is playing 12 less minutes as a Hall-Of-Famer, starter last year, than his whole career. They’re different roles, but our guys don’t get caught up in all the noise out there. They’re just trying to contribute and be a part of something historic and hopefully we can build a legacy here.”
Comments