“I’m know I’m the easiest target that we have in Sports.
The Miami Heat had the opportunity to win Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night, but after LeBron James’ body gave out, the San Antonio Spurs commanded the final stretch with multiple 3’s, all while LBJ sat on the bench and watched it slip away.
According to LeBron, he noticed the arena was hotter than usual during warm-ups and even asked to be taken out of the game three or four times, until the 4th quarter when he cramped up on a play against Boris Diaw. He’s not quite sure how effective he would have been if he would have made it back to the court, but coach Eric Spoelstra made the game time decision to keep him out and he adhered to it. His only anger for what happened came from not being able to help his team win the game.
Oh, and the #Lebroning bashing on Twitter? He doesn’t care about it.
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Interesting enough, ‘Bron talked about Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli and how much respect he has for them, especially Duncan, who has been a pinnacle of basketball for decades. He emphasized he has no animosity towards the Spurs and actually mentioned the fact that the Miami and San Antonio franchises are an example and model for kids of how to play the game the right way.
“I can’t play the game of basketball and live my life on what other people expect me to do or what they think I should do, that doesn’t make me happy. What makes me happy is being able to make plays for my teammates, to be able to represent the name on the back of my jersey.“
He also explained some lessons he learned from his first NBA Finals appearance and how he’s different now, as well as what he’s picked up from some of the all-time greats like Isiah Thomas and Jerry West throughout the course of his career.
Game 2 of the NBA Finals is Sunday at 8pm EST on ABC.