Game one of the 2014 NBA Finals also known as the “cramp game” left the door wide open for Lebron James ridicule. James is often criticized and compared to Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Since he’s won back to back championships there wasn’t much his detractors could say until bad leg cramping left him unable to play in the final critical moments of game one. James is aware that he’s a target and says it’s nothing new.
“I know I’m the easiest target that we have in sports, I’m aware of it,” the 29-year-old told ESPN’s Michael Wilbon on Friday. “I really am. I believe it.”
“For me, all I can control is what I control,” James told Wilbon. “For me, as one of the leaders of our team, one of the biggest competitors of our team, and knowing what it takes to win, for me, I’ll maintain my focus and get ready for Game 2. [There’s] anger in the sense that I wasn’t able to be out there for my teammates to possibly help them win Game 1 of the Finals. But what I can control is what I do to prepare myself mentally going to the next game.
“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,” James added. “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. That’s what makes me happy. What everybody else thinks? That doesn’t really matter to me.”
Despite having to leave the game, James was the Heat’s leading scorer with 25 points in 33 minutes. He shot 9-for-17 from the field with six rebounds, three assists and three steals in the Heat’s 110-95 loss on Thursday. Game 2 is Sunday night.
