NBA Finals 2014: LeBron James has mastered the game, now has to master his emotions

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There's a reason why LeBron James is one of the most controversial players in all of sports, and it's got nothing to do with the talent he displays on the court. There is one way that he'll never match some of the game's best stars unless he grows up.

Despite everything that James can do to win a game for the Miami Heat, not many players handle the spotlight worse. Despite all that James has done to prove all his haters wrong, he stills feels like he has to scream, yell, and holler all over the court when he goes on a hot streak.

Don't act like James doesn't get the respect he deserves. He does, except the voice of idiocy and trollism, Skip Bayless, acts like thousands of people that still criticize his game. People can't figure out that it's just a persona ESPN puts out there. First Take is more of a puppet show than anything Jim Henson has ever created and it draws all the ratings in the world. Over 1.3 million people follow a fake personality and take it seriously.

Even the biggest haters on James have to admit how great his game is. That's not the problem and that's not the argument we have. Don't preach on social media telling people to shut up and watch greatness. Greatness isn't acting like a bitch 24/7.

There's a lot of people that have basketball talent. James can turn it up to the next level and he can play some of the best basketball we've ever seen this generation. The problem is that we can't focus solely on that because he's spending more time flopping all over the place and yelling and screaming all over the court.

One of the most talked about things on Twitter after Game 1 was when everybody played doctor and said that no one's ever had cramps if they expected James to play through it. Of course, we all recognize when we take a step back and process everything, James cramping up was one of the those crappy moments that was a real bummer for the Heat.

But do you know what James could have done when he was cramping up? Not throw tantrums all over the sideline, throwing his towel, and acting like he was actually shot on the court when having a cramp. You want to make a comparison to Michael Jordan's "flu game," just think of how James would have reacted with that. Lobbing up and down the sideline, wincing in pain, drinking all the water in the world with an agonizing look of despair on his face.

James said in a sitdown with Michael Wilbon in an ESPN interview that he is the easiest target in all of sports. That's because he brings it all on himself.

For some reason, James can't handle success with dignity. He always feels like he needs to have the last word or has some self-serving garbage in post-game interviews when he wins. How about you make shots, celebrate with your team, not antagonize the crowd, having a post-game interview without fluff, and do the same thing again the next night.

There's still time for James to grow up, and I have a feeling that he'll meet his moment in life that will force him to grow up. It's happened to all the greats that have played the game. Perhaps that will finally get him to clean up his act, but until then, he's going to receive the same criticism over and over again.

LeBron James is one of the most disliked players in sports and it's nothing to do with the typical fans' jealousy towards greatness. It's that we've seen great players handle the moment so much better than James ever has.

WSD Sports Page: Spurs outlast Heat in heat at Game 1 of NBA Finals

We cover #Crampgate, #Lebroning, where the NFL Draft could be held next year, and the best answer in Family Feud ever in today's sports page.

NBA: Spurs take 1-0 lead in Finals after dominant 4th quarter

San Antonio outscored Miami 31-9 in the final period, outdoing the Heat in the sweltering heat of AT&T Center without the air conditioning. LeBron James was helped off the court in the 4th quarter after cramping, leading to a predictable mess on Twitter that involved discussions of San Antonio fixing the game, everybody getting huffy about how serious cramps are, and everything else that was predictable and stupid that Twitter usually consists of.

What wasn't talked about was the disappearance of Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in the final period. The Spurs committed a boatload of turnovers during the game, but they made a six 3-pointers attempted and missed just two baskets in the fourth compared to Miami's nine. Talk about cramps all you want, all Miami had to do was hold on to the lead and that was the worst attempt ever at doing so.

NBA: President Rod Thorn says conditions were playable, even on both ends

It wasn't that long ago that NBA arenas weren't air conditioned, and Thorn played in those conditions. Temperatures eventually reached 90 degrees inside the arena, but it wasn't enough to deem it unplayable.

NBA: Gatorade trolls James and his sponsor, Powerade

Because Powerade is the sponsor of LeBron James, Gatorade decided to poke the bear in the Twitter meltdown and responded with hilarious quips. In replying to somebody that thought James was their client, Gatorade responded with: "The person cramping wasn't our client. Our athletes can take the heat." That's been retweeted nearly 7.5 thousand times.

That's the right way to use Twitter, not one to tell people how they're so wrong about cramps or coming up with a conspiracy theory.

NFL: League could move draft to Chicago or Los Angeles

Since Radio City Music Hall "will not be available next year" for some reason, the NFL is exploring other places that the draft can be held in. They also plan on extending the number days that the draft will take place, but it will happen earlier than it did this year. I, for one, will miss the New York Jets fans' loud boos.

NBA: Kevin Love has received interest from 16 teams

Quote from new head coach Flip Saunders: “We probably have 16 teams that have called us,” Saunders said, regarding interest in Love around the league. “We haven’t called anybody.”

NFL: Sam Bradford never doubted he was Rams' starter

Despite wide speculation that the Rams may move on in this year's draft, they didn't draft a QB. Bradford told ESPN yesterday that he was actively talking to the staff and they weren't ever looking in a different direction than Bradford as the starter next year. So again, much discussion over nothing happened.

Game Shows: Man gives "myself" as "fully loaded" answer, receives "my willing weiner"

The question: "Name something that might be fully loaded." The answer: "Myself." When asked to clarify, he said "my man region." The answer on the board: "My willing weiner." At least the game show didn't skip around the word! For those that think the show sunk to a new low, it only did when the next person gave an atrocious answer after the events that transpired.

Today's Slate
(Central times listed)

FRENCH OPEN (Men's Semifinals)
Djokovic/Gulbis (Semi 1) - 6:00a ESPN2
Nadal/Murray (Semi 2) - 9:00a ESPN2

CBB - SUPER REGIONALS
-Houston at Texas (Game 1) - 3:00 ESPN2
UC Irvine at Oklahoma St (Game 1) - 8:30 ESPNU

STANLEY CUP FINAL - Game 2 Saturday
Rangers at Kings (LA 1-0)

NBA FINALS - Game 2 Sunday
Heat at Spurs (SA 1-0)

MLL
Cannons at Machine - 7:00 CBSS

MLB (NL West)
Dodgers at Rockies - 7:40 SNLA/RSRM
Braves at D'backs - 8:40 FSS/FSAZ
Nationals at Padres - 9:10 MASN2/FSSD
-Mets at Giants - 9:15 SNY/NBCBA

WSD Sports Page: Jeff Van Gundy's thoughts on LeBron James foul history

Jeff Van Gundy says something we were all thinking, Texas A&M gets more distractions, and Rory McIlroy's ugly details come out in today's sports page.

The Lede: Blackhawks 5, Kings 4 (2OT) instant classic

MLB: Giants 5, Cubs 0

It was a shaky start for Tim Lincecum, be he overcame a 30+ pitch first inning and completed five innings of hitless baseball. San Francisco held Chicago hittless through the first 19 outs of the game. Pablo Sandoval continues another hitting streak, now up to eight, after his 10-game streak ended over a week ago. The Giants held the Cubs scoreless in the last 20 innings of the series.

NL West roundup: The worst two teams in the division had an interesting series finale last night as the Diamondbacks went up 8-0 after the first inning. Even better, the Giants are up 5.5 games in the division after the Rockies lost on a home run walk-off by Ryan Howard of the Phillies and the Reds edged the Dodgers 3-2.

That's a good thing, as the Giants are heading into one of their toughest challenges of the season -- a four-game jaunt in St. Louis this weekend.


NBA: Jeff Van Gundy thought LeBron James' foul history was "interesting"

The Pacers won 93-90 over the Heat last night to force Game 6 in the Eastern Conference Finals, but the best pat of that train wreck of a game was when Mike Breen was listing off the history of how James rarely fouls out of the game, including five straight seasons where he never fouled out. Van Gundy chimed in after clarifying that he heard "five years" that the King was never fouled out, and had a simple one-word thought that every one of us was also thinking.

Interesting.

• GOLF: Tiger Woods confirms he will not be at the US Open -- Hasn't every golf expert expected him to be out for the year? By now Woods announcing he'll miss a tournament is barely news, for now the only time Tiger will be mentioned again if there's significant information on his injury or if he is finally going to appear at a tournament.
• CFB: Top QB prospect headed to Texas A&M -- Johnny Football 2 is coming to rock the Aggies again. Kyler Murray, the 14th-ranked overall prospect according to ESPN will be headed to The House that Johnny Built, except his name can't really be changed properly to match up with "football." I don't know how fans will cope.
• NBA: Lance Stephenson gets told off by Ray Allen -- Stephenson was shown blowing in James' ear during the game last night, Ron Artest Metta World Peace-esque move that actually got a clever response from James after the fact. But Allen called it "buffoonery," which is not as good of a word as "jackassery."
• NFL: Malcolm Glazer dies -- Owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the most popular soccer club in the world, Manchester United, died yesterday at the age of 85.
• MLB: Johnny Damon gets 10-year revenge on Manny Ramirez -- Back in 2004, Ramirez cut off Damon's throw when the Red Sox played the Orioles. Finally, Damon cut off Ramirez on the first pitch of the game when the 2004 championship team was celebrated before the game. Grudges are a hell of a thing.
• WHAT: Former high school wrestler assaults five people with beach cart -- Lukas Iorio of New Jersey is facing 13 charges against him after stealing a bike cart and assaulting people with it at a beach.
• NFL: Johnny Manziel says trip to Las Vegas is a non-story -- You're right, Johnny Football, this is noting. For everyone else that goes to Vegas, but everything you do is a story because you're you. It won't die down until ESPN jumps the shark and celebrates your birthday on the air a la Tim Tebow or everyone finally sees that the NFL isn't for you.
• GOLF: Rory McIlroy apparently ended it with Caroline Wozniacki over the phone -- She apparently thought the phone call was a joke.

Today's Slate

(Central times listed)

TENNIS

French Open - Now on Tennis Channel and online on ESPN3

GOLF

The Memorial (Rd 1) - Now on LIVE@, 1:30 GOLF

Spieth - 12:05, McIlroy - 12:16

STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS - ROUND 3

Canadiens at Rangers (NYR 3-2) - 7:00 NBCS

NBA PLAYOFFS - CONF FINALS

Thunder at Spurs (Tied 2-2) - 8:00 TNT

MLB

-Giants at Cardinals - 7:15 CSBA/FSMW

Reds at D'backs - 8:40 FSOH/FSAZ

Pirates at Dodgers - 9:10 RSPT/SNLA

WSD Sports Page: Pacers beat Heat at free throw line in ECF opener

After cruising through the NBA playoffs winning eight of their first nine games, the Miami Heat take a backseat in Indiana as the Pacers throttle them from the perimeter and at free throw line to take Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

LeBron James and Dwyane Wade combine for 52 of the team's 96 points, and outside of Chris Anderson and Ray Allen hitting the double-digit mark and be efficient from the field, no one else showed up on the Heat. Nobody was able to hit from the perimeter, the team hitting a cold 6-of-23 including Chris Bosh's 0-for-5 and just 4-for-12 from the field overall.

While the Heat were making free throws, they just weren't getting there enough. The Pacers took 22 more attempts. That's an incredibly rare deficit for Miami considering their superstars generally get the bulk of the calls.

If Indiana ends up winning Game 2 of this series, you can bet that there's going to be a definite swing in momentum when it comes to fouls being called in Miami. There is no conspiracy in NBA game fixing -- at least, not that we know of -- but we all know that these foul calls will balance out.

There's simply no way the Pacers are going to waltz into Miami and attempt nearly 40 free throws in a game, and they have to go into the game knowing that.

What they can control is shooting, and three of their starters -- Lance Stephenson, Paul George, and David West -- combined for 23-of-36 on field goals, a whopping 63.8 percent. That and rebounds (+9 from Game 1) are something they can control, which is where they match up the best against Miami and why we all considered Indiana to be the Heat killers from opening tip of the season.

Ever since "Boat Trip," the Pacers seem to have righted the ship. Now we'll just see how far it goes and how they respond to adversity in the following games.

NHL: Blackhawks take Game 1 against the Kings

Chicago's defense tightened up in the third period, allowing just four shots on goal by Los Angeles as they cruise to the series-opening victory. Despite having six more shot attempts, only getting 15.3% of them in the final stretch down a goal isn't acceptable. Tyler Toffoli had his fourth goal in the postseason.

MLB: Giants avoid three-game skid against Marlins

San Francisco's Ryan Vogelsong shut down the all-of-a-sudden hot Miami offense, giving up only five hits and one walk. A 3-run jolt to start the game in the first inning along with Pablo Sandoval's solo shot in the fifth inning (extending his nine-game hitting streak) was all they needed to win, but things got a bit dicey in the eighth inning when the Marlins had runners in the corners.

However, the fish aren't the 2-out scorers like the Giants are, who scored eight of their 15 total runs on two outs and leads MLB with 86 2-out RBIs.

LAX: Johns Hopkins falls to Duke

The Blue Devils began the game with a 6-0 run and finished scoring seven of the last eight goals, holding their lead to head to the NCAA semifinals. They only scored three goals in the first 21 minutes of play in the first half, but the Blue Jays never felt like a threat on offense. Duke dominated ball control with a 37-19 advantage in ground balls and held JHU to just two shots in the final period. JHU going 3-3 in EMOs in the first half were the only thing that kept them in the game.

Today's Slate
(Central times listed)

STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS - ROUND 3
Rangers at Canadiens (NYR 1-0) - 7:00 NBCS

NBA PLAYOFFS - CONF FINALS
Thunder at Spurs (Game 1) - 8:00 TNT

NBA Live 14 release date announced

EA Sports is back in the National Basketball Association, finally releasing an update to their NBA Live franchise.

Polygon reports that the game will be released on November 19th of this year, after the PS4 hits North America and before the Xbox One does.

That means the basketball game won't quite make the PS4's North American launch, which will take place the previous Friday, Nov. 15. However, NBA Live 14 will be available in time for the Xbox One's North American release on Nov. 22, three days after the game comes out.

NBA Live 14 will be the first game that will come out in the series since 2010, when Dwight Howard graced the cover. This year it will be Cleveland Cavaliers star Kyrie Irving, an interesting choice to compete with former Cleveland god and current Miami Heat superstar LeBron James that landed on the NBA 2K14 cover.

As a friendly reminder, the game will only be released on the next-generation consoles. The PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC will not see a release.

EA Sports knows it has a lot of catching up to do in order to win NBA fans again. After multiple attempts at releasing NBA games, we'll see how this one shapes up to what 2K Sports seems to have mastered in the past couple years.

[Image credit: Flickr]