LeBron James fumes at a mere mention of an asterisk with this year’s NBA Championship
When the San Antonio Spurs won the NBA title in the first lockout affected season in the history of NBA, back in 1998-99, long time Los Angeles Lakers coach branded it as a championship attached an asterisk, taking away the hard
work put in by Spurs to win the shortened NBA campaign.
Before the game-4 of the first round Eastern Conference series against the New York Knicks, Miami Heat superstar was asked whether this year’s champions will also be remembered with the same stigma. The response was terse and aggressive;
"I don't think that's right to say," James said. "I'm not going to get involved in it. Every team works hard no matter if it's a lockout year or not. There's not much of a difference between 82 games and 66 games."
"I don't discredit the effort San Antonio had when they won it in '99 after the lockout," James added. "We all know Gregg Popovich is an unbelievable coach and Tim Duncan is an unbelievable player. It shouldn't matter. They won
multiple (titles) after that so are we going to say that first one wasn't good enough? I don't think that's true at all."
LeBron was of the view that the shortened season, in contrast to a regular 82 game season, really tests the fitness and mental agility of the players, and only the best are able to keep up;
"This is a tough season; this is a difficult season for everyone," James said. "This is the toughest season since my rookie year. This is very challenging to us mentally and physically."
This regular season only had 66 games crammed in about three and half months which resulted in many star players suffering from injures. Dwight Howard’s season ending back surgery really gave fuel to the debate and it reached its
climax when Derrick rose tore his ACL in the game-1 against the Philadelphia 76ers.
The injuries to the two superstars from Orlando Magic and Chicago Bulls respectively have pretty much cleared the way for the Miami heat to reach the NBA Finals. The other team which can trouble Heat in their run to the Finals
are Boston Celtics, but the Greens are themselves suffering from injury issues. Ray Allen returned to the lineup just tonight after a long injury layoffs and a left knee injury to Paul Pierce has made his status unclear for the Game-5 against the Atlanta Hawks.
LeBron himself had his share of niggles during the regular season as did his running partner Dwyane Wade. The Heat however have maintained a level of consistency and now look set to mount another stiff challenge for the Larry O’
Brien trophy.
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