LeBron James stood at the foul line with America waiting. He had missed his first free throw with 16.2 seconds left. Didn’t matter he’d lugged the Heat this far. Didn’t matter he led them in points and rebounds yet another night. America’s storyline involves the floating statistics on LeBron’s ends. He’s missed all three shots [...]
Closing charge puts Heat up 2-1 in Finals with 91-85 win
June 18, 2012 Leave a Comment
MIAMI— The dream of a first-ever Miami Heat homecourt championship celebration remains alive. The question is whether the hometown crowd at AmericanAirlines Arena has the heart to stand two more games like this. In yet another compelling, pulsating bill of fare in these NBA Finals, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade powered the Heat to a [...]
Charge! Should NBA ban the tactic?
June 4, 2012 Leave a Comment
MIAMI— The game was scintillating. But yet it also was offensive. So perhaps inspection should go beyond the flop. Yes, Commissioner David Stern is making a move in the right direction in at least opening the dialogue when it comes to some sort of NBA penalty for flopping. But what if such players couldn’t even [...]
NBA PLAYOFFS: Pacers at Heat, 3:30 p.m., Sunday (TV-ABC) Erik Spoelstra on Vogel’s flopping charge: ‘I could care less’
May 11, 2012 Leave a Comment
MIAMI— The flop flap ended Friday. At least if Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has his way. A day after Indiana Pacers coach Frank Vogel said this best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal playoff series could come down to whether the referees call charging violations when Heat defenders going flailing in the lane, Spoelstra fired [...]