LeBron James delivered perhaps the most disappointing triple-double in NBA Finals history Thursday night. For the first 45 minutes of Game 5, he worked to disprove the narrative he had shrunk from the moment in Game 4.
James scored 17 points and added 10 rebounds and 10 assists, but a pair of missed shots with under three minutes to go undid it all, and the narrative will live another day.
In both instances, James was guilty of playing hero ball, going for the difficult jumper instead of driving to the rim. In two straight possesions with Dallas clinging to a 102-100 lead, James missed a 17-foot fadeaway and a 25-foot three-pointer. They were the type of shots that fell for James in the Celtics and Bulls series earlier in the playoffs, but this time they bit him.
The wheels fell off for the Miami Heat immediately thereafter. Dallas closed on a 10-3 run to put away the Heat, and LeBron's ability to deliver in the clutch will be questioned once again.
James did not score in the fourth quarter until there were 29 seconds left, but he did dish out four assists during the period, which would have been good enough had the Heat held onto the 4-point lead they took with under 5 minutes to go.
Worst of all for James, it was Miami's defense that was most to blame for the loss. After holding Dallas to 41% shooting in the first four games of the Finals, the Heat saw Dallas shoot 57% on Thursday night, including an improbable 13 of 19 from three point range.
Dallas had their way with Miami on offense, and not even the Heat's highest scoring output of the Finals could overcome the Mavs' hot hand.
But none of that matters in the ongoing saga of LeBron James as a playoff choker. His critics will add his performance late in the game to the list of playoff failures which have saddled him with the dreaded "not a winner" badge.
James is running out of ways to disappoint Heat fans, and more importantly, his team is running out of chances to turn the Finals around. Facing elimination on Sunday night, James can either reverse the script (for two days, at least) or find himself with a long summer ahead.
