SALT LAKE CITY -- The reality of the world LeBron James lives in was almost suffocating him, his voice quieted to a near whisper.
“I can’t win,” James mumbled. “I can’t win for losing.”
...
So why was the entire room like a funeral parlor? Why did James go to his Twitter account 90 minutes after the game to talk about the sick feeling in his stomach when he might have had his two best games of the season the past two nights? Why were Wade and Haslem’s letdowns barely a topic of conversation?
Because this is just James’ reality. He passed to Haslem and did not attempt the final shot. Just like he didn’t attempt the final shot in last Sunday’s All-Star Game. Just like he’s passed on the final shot dozens of times dating back to his high school days.
It’s not just about a loss, it is about the perception of a loss. And the rewind to last year’s NBA Finals and the fast forward to this year’s playoffs.
“It’s just the way I’ve always played the game,” James said. “It always come to light when teammates don’t make the shot. When the teammates doesn’t make the shot it doesn’t matter much from a media perspective.”
Moments after James was as concerned about what was being said outside those locker room walls as he was about the loss. It was not a unique situation, his coach had the same feeling.
Over what would be written on this website. Over what Skip Bayless or Stephen A. Smith might say. Over what would be trending on Twitter. Over what would be the topic for the ABC pregame show before the Heat play the Lakers on Sunday afternoon.
...
But it didn’t go it in and the eyes and the opinions magnetically zapped to James. He knew it within seconds. The Heat knew it within seconds. That is why they were so down and why James was the last man out of his uniform and why he was so devastated after the loss.
...
Sitting at his locker, James reluctantly turned on his cellphone and text messages starting flying in. He started returning some, later tweeting that Maverick Carter, his business manager, and Brandon Weems, an assistant on John Calipari’s staff at Kentucky, were there to talk him through it.
“I fell short again!” James tweeted from the bus as it rolled to the airport, with the exclamation point for emphasis.
Exactly what everyone else was thinking.