4th Hour: LeBron James

We recently took a trip to the Quicken Loan Arena to see the Cleveland Cavs take on the Denver Nuggets. I must say that now I am a witness.

While watching the game I thought about analyzing the effect the crowd had on the players. But as the game progressed I noticed that the players had more of an affect on the crowd.

I found this particularly interesting. Every action that some player did on the court either made the crowd cheer, boo, or aww. If LeBron James would make a spectacular play the crowd would go absolutely nuts. And when Chauncey Billups would shoot a 3 the crowd would boo relentlessly.

So what I found was that, an audience really has no affect on a player's emotions or how they play at all.

Let's take the first quarter. The Cavs had all their starters in. This included LeBron. Whenever a big play happened for the Cavs, whether it was a steal or a downtown shot, the crowd would roar and jump. But when the Nuggets would score or do something good, the crowd would sit down or boo. This proved my first theory wrong. The players have a much greater affect on the crowd rather than the crowd on the players.

This was further proved in the second quarter. LeBron was out and a whole myriad of players were in, including Varejao. Varejao is a very interesting player. I do not consider him to be good at all, in fact I think he needs to go back down to college ball to work on some skills. But nonetheless he was in.

For almost the whole second quarter the crowd was quiet. The Nuggets were able to jump all over the Cavs and take the lead at the half. Having the "second string" players in for the Cavs quieted down the crowd, sometimes to a hush.

This showed me that 1) The players control the crowd, and that 2) LeBron James carries this team.

To further these two points whenever the crowd got too silent, the media guys would flash a picture of the Steelers' or Wolverines' logo on the scoreboard to rile the crowd up. The crowd would get back into the game, but the players would not play any better or worse. Also in this respect James never changed what he was doing.

James would basically go to the same spot on the court whenever he was offense. This spot was court left outside the 3 point line. The crowds reactions to what was happening to the game did not affect what LeBron was supposed to do. LeBron knows that if he is not at that exact spot, his team will fall.

In fact I believe the only reason that the Cavs win is because of LeBron. Having him on the team causes the opposing team to be worried. If you do not have a player that is ready to defend LeBron, the game goes to the Cavs.

A team that showed this was false was the Celtics. Last year the Celtics Paul Pierce stepped up and took on LeBron. This meant that everyone else on teh Celtics could worry about their own man. In the end, when LeBron was "taken out of the game" by Pierce, the Celtics ended up winning.

So this 4th hour taught me a lot. Cleveland needs to step up its sports teams. Hanging off of one player can only work for so long. I have not seen a team like the Cavs. LeBron is such a good player that he could be his own team. Without him the Cavs would most likely fall. If a team has a player that can take on LeBron toe to toe, the Cavs are toast. Chauncey almost did that is this game. I know that Pierce could do it, Kobe could do it, and so could Dwayne Wade. Cleveland sports need to get away from this one player approach and start playing as a team. This also goes for the Indians. First it was Sabathia, this year it was Lee.

I also learned that crowds do not affect the players at all. Those players are there for work. They get paid to play their butts off, and they do. No matter what the crowd says the players are on that court because they like to play. It is their life. They do not play for the crowd. They play because basketball is their life. It runs in their veins.

Lastly LeBron is the best. There is no one like him. He is so unique. Watching him is like watching magic. He is always thinking, how can I get my team in the lead, or how can we score some points. He is a genius at what he does. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that is the best right now.

I am a witness,
Ian