James (25 points) proves a cool customer vs. the Celtics

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Summer breeze

James (25 points) proves a cool customer vs. the Celtics

By Peter May, Globe Staff, 7/15/2003

e said he had his 'C' game. Twenty-five points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 2
blocked shots, and 1 thunderous dunk in only 29 minutes. His 'C' game? Is this
a curved score? ''You only can get an A,'' LeBron James explained, ''with a
victory.''



This fellow is wise beyond his 18 years. He has game. He has poise. He looks
you in the eye when he speaks to you. He has enough of a pleasant naivete to
wear a Yankees hat to the postgame news conference and enough of a sense of
humor to say he felt uncomfortable sitting in front of a banner festooned with
Reebok signs. (Nike is paying him $90 million to just do it.)

And he understands exactly what last night was all about. ''This is summer
league,'' he said after his Cavaliers went down, 87-84, to the Celtics' summer
league contingent.

Indeed it was. And still is, for the rest of the week. James, the hoopthrob,
will take a hiatus from the grind to attend the ESPY Awards tomorrow night in
Los Angeles, a decision he said was made to honor the fans and, of course, to
pay homage to ESPN, the network that hyped him to the nines. He plans to be
back here for the rest of the competition, maybe as early as Thursday night.

But, about last night . . .

One article of faith is that you never judge a player by what happens in
summer league. See, Eric McArthur, c. 1990. That doesn't mean that you can't
like what a player does -- someone is going to have to restrain Celtics owner
Wyc Grousbeck over Marcus Banks -- but it does mean that you must take it all
with a grain of salt. Still, the arrival of James, the No. 1 pick in last
month's NBA draft and easily the most publicized high school player ever,
generated a buzz last night at the Clark Athletic Center that could not be
ignored.

Paul Pierce was among the approximately 2,500 who showed up, although he
claimed it was to see Banks because, as he put it, ''That other person [James]
can't help me.'' Walter McCarty showed up. Several coaches whose teams played
in the morning and who had every reason to be elsewhere were in attendance.
The Celtics' ownership group, roughly the size of Mexico City, was there. The
Cavaliers were escorted straight to their locker room before the game, a
departure from the usual routine that has the team come through the main doors
and settle into the seats to watch the game at hand.

Couldn't do that with LeBron. But he's used to it by now. He was the
penultimate Cavalier onto the floor for the pregame warmups and I can safely
state that not a single eye in the place was watching the Celtics layup line
at that point. He got a warm ovation when introduced -- last, naturally --
but, once the game began, he played with a cool detachment that belied his
celebrity and his undeniable charisma. If he was really into the game, it was
hard to tell.

''I was just trying to get my teammates into the flow,'' he said. ''As a point
guard, you try to get your teammates into the flow, and once I saw that we
were having trouble scoring, I thought I'd pick it up.''

It was clear, early on, that James was not into the defensive part of the
game, getting back in transition at his own pace and leaving J.R. Bremer alone
to knock down unchallenged treys. That was after Banks blitzed him on a drive
to the hoop for the game's first basket.

James then took Banks baseline, attempting a fallaway that hit nothing but
air. Pierce was standing, egging on Banks, who seemed more than hip to the
task. The Celtics rookie finished with 10 points while Bremer had 28,
including five treys. More than a few of those came on James's watch. We can
presume that Paul Silas, the Cavaliers coach, will mention that to his prized
rookie -- and that should be all that it takes.

For even though it was only the summer, you could tell that James has a
terrific instinct for the game. He usually knows where to be, except, of
course, on those defensive lapses. He made some great passes that unsuspecting
teammates could not handle. He goes to the glass. He does not look
uncomfortable running the offense, which is what he's supposed to be doing.

Asked what satisfied him most about the game, he said, ''The way that me and
my teammates came back under pressure.'' He could have said the fourth
quarter, when he spun around Bremer and slammed it home to an accompaniment of
oohs and aahs that were heard in Braintree. But he didn't, although he said he
sensed the crowd started to turn after that play.

He had 12 points at the half. When it was time for the second half, James was
a no-show. Had he taken off for the ESPYs ahead of schedule? No, he merely had
to make a trip back to the locker room -- nature called. He led the Cavaliers
almost all the way back, but not far enough. He had the Cavs' last hoop, a
banked-in trey in the closing seconds.

This much we know already: he surely has an NBA body. And, as we've been told
for the last three years, he also has an NBA game. He didn't dominate last
night and, for most of the game, he didn't even dazzle. As he put it, it was
his `C' game.

He claims not to be tiring of the summer league grind -- the Cavs were in
Orlando all last week -- but, if he is, who can blame him? But the ironclad
rule remains -- don't judge anyone by how he performs in July -- unless it's
Tiger Woods or Lance Armstrong. LeBron James can just be himself for now and
that should be good enough for everyone.

Thanks,

Steve
sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx

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