Gregg Doyel

Reason No. 673 why people dislike the sports media: The LeBron James Incident.

You've heard about it. After Cleveland lost Saturday to Orlando, James left the court without shaking the Magic's hands. Then he left the locker room without speaking to the media.

Tsk, tsk, LeBron!

Gag me.

It's not just that story in the L.A. Times. It's everywhere. When the players are too chummy with the opposition, hugging before basketball games or hanging out around the batting cage before baseball games, it suggests "no competitive fire." But when James is so passionately upset that his team didn't win, and he immediately leaves the floor and then the arena, he has "no class."

What a bunch of crap. Orlando had just advanced to the NBA Finals on its own floor. Confetti and fireworks and whatever else were going off. Leaving the court as quickly as possible doesn't mean James is a poor sport. It means he's hurting.

Blowing off the media ... I can live with that, too. There is no on/off switch on passion and disappointment. There is no established time frame. James was stinging, and after dealing with the media all season, he didn't want to deal with it -- with us -- on this night. Big deal.

 

CLEVELAND -- Well, it sure sounds that way.

Don't take it from me. Take it from the man himself, LeBron James, who has made several curious comments since Cleveland lost Game 4 to Orlando to fall down 3-1 in this series.

"We are looking forward to the challenge," he said after Game 4. "I know I am. So I will be ready, and I think our guys will be ready, too."

He thinks?

And then this is what James said Thursday night, before Game 5:

"Hopefully they accept the challenge," he said. "I am."

And he said this:

"Hopefully the guys are ready," he said. "I think they are."

Hopefully? He thinks they are? Not exactly confidence-inspiring, is it? Sounds to me like James isn't sure how much help, if any, he's going to get from his teammates. And who could blame him? To a man, every one of his teammates -- every stinkin' one of them -- has shrunk from the challenge of the Eastern Conference finals. Replace LeBron James with anyone in the NBA, including Kobe Bryant or Dwyane Wade, and this was an Orlando sweep.

CLEVELAND -- I got to Quicken Loans Arena shortly after 5 p.m. for tonight's 8:30 p.m. tipoff, because I'm professional like that, and who was out there on the floor shooting jumpers? LeBron James. More importantly, who was out there with him?

Nobody.

No Mo Williams. No Delonte West. No, dare I say it, Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

The one guy who doesn't need to practice, was. The three guys who do need to practice? Weren't.

No, I didn't forget Anderson Varejao. He doesn't need to practice shooting. He needs to practice not shooting, which means he was right where he needed to be at 5 p.m. Wherever that was.

More blogging to follow. Because I'm professional like that.

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