LIKE IT IS : James needs help from teammates, not mom
Posted on Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Last summer, before the NBA season started, the Boston Celtics were 85-1 to win the overall championship.
In February of this year, the Celtics were 5-2 to win it.
The famed Celtics are now tied with LeBron James at two games apiece in the seven-game series.
Yes, James has teammates, but who really notices them ?
In fact, right now, the Cleveland Cavaliers are reminiscent of the Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan before they drafted Scottie Pippen.
James has admitted on many occasions he patterned his game after Jordan, and they are indeed very similar.
Jordan developed into a better outside shooter, but James literally owns the lane unless you tackle him, which is pretty close to what Paul Pierce did in Monday night’s playoff game to keep James from having another of his majestic dunks.
What happened in the moments after Pierce, 6-7, 201 pounds, threw his arms around James, 6-8, 240, was almost amusing.
Pierce and James stumbled out of bounds under the goal, and as they did a small lady in a white top started yelling at Pierce.
Once again, Gloria James, mother of one of the most amazing basketball players in history, was trying to defend her 24-yearold son in the way she knows best — with her mouth.
Only James, commonly referred to as King James, told her to sit her butt down.
The video is already all over the Internet.
In the five years since James skipped college to play in the NBA, his mom’s temper has become well-known.
In January, when she was pulled over for driving under the influence, she fought with the police so hard they had to sedate her. And when they finally got her in the back seat of the cruiser she still kicked out a back window.
Eventually, they maced her.
Yet, for all her shenanigans, mom and son remain very close, close enough he can tell her to sit down without her going ballistic.
James’ childhood and their trials and tribulations have been well-documented.
His mom was 16 when he was born, and his father was an ex-con who had zero desire to be a dad. James’ early days were nomadic, moving from apartment complex to apartment complex.
In the fourth grade, he was missing so much school that his peewee football coach, Frankie Walker, and his wife and three children took him in. After the fifth grade, James won an attendance award.
Walker worked on James ’ obvious basketball skills and forced the youngster to use his left hand.
Mom came and got her son after living apart for 18 months, and while things were never that easy, the Walkers helped her with rent the next few years so James would not constantly be on the move.
When James hit high school, he was well-known locally. The summer after his freshman season, he hit a strong growth cycle, shot up to 6-7 and was on the cusp of national fame.
During his junior season, it wasn’t uncommon for his high school team, Saint Vincent-Saint Mary High in Akron, to play in front of crowds of 5, 000.
Word spread that year he might declare for the NBA and forego his senior year of high school.
It was just a rumor, and he returned to lead his team to its second consecutive Ohio state championship.
By then, King James’ reputation was nationwide. After his sophomore season, he dominated not only the USA Basketball Developmental Festival in Colorado Springs, but the ABCD Camp.
A few colleges were extremely interested in James, but the majority knew he was going to be doing million-dollar math and not algebra 101.
He played the game, though, and Duke, North Carolina, Ohio State, Michigan, Florida and Cal were his finalists, and he was academically eligible.
Yet, one of the most talented players to ever bounce a basketball made the right choice, and he and his mom are financially set for life.
All he needs to do now is find a way to beat the Celtics all by himself — with mom planted in a chair.
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