War Of Words To Be Settled On Scoreboard In 2011 NBA Finals
For many NBA defenders, the psychological battle is as important as the physical one in getting a great scorer off his game. With that in mind, Dallas guards Jason Terry and DeShawn Stevenson have had plenty to say to, and about, LeBron James during the NBA Finals.
LeBron himself, however, doesn?t think the Mavs? yapping has gotten into his head. ?Talk is cheap,? he told CBS Sports, adding ?Let the scores and the plays define the game.?
Much as LeBron would like to let his superior athletic ability do the talking for him, the fact is that the scores and the plays have not been made by him often enough in this series. Even if his struggles aren?t a direct result of the Mavericks being in his ear constantly, it?s hard to imagine that he?s not losing the mental game on some level.
James? psychological state has been a topic of discussion already this year, during Miami?s overlapping slumps in close games (1-for-18 as a team on last-second shots at one stretch) and against good teams (3-9 against the top three seeds from either conference). The pressure that might have been getting to him in losing those games has certainly come back with a vengeance in this series.
LeBron?s sub-par performance against Dallas has a lot more to do with Stevenson playing great defense than talking a great game. Even so, it can?t help James to recognize that for at least one game, the people telling him he isn?t as good as he thinks he is turned out to be right.
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