February 6
Akron Beacon Journal
columnist George M. Thomas
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Who is LeBron James most like? Is he another Michael Jordan? Or Magic Johnson? Or Oscar Robertson? Those questions have been around James for nearly 10 years. In the first 36 days of 2010, it's clear that James might be a bit of each of those players. He earned the NBA's Eastern Conference Player of the Month on Wednesday for the third consecutive month. If you go back to the final two months of the 2008-09 season, he has won the award five months in a row. In January, James averaged 30.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and 8.5 assists. Stellar numbers, no doubt, but it's the way he produced those statistics that has some bringing back these comparisons. With the Cavs missing guards Mo Williams and ..."
February 5
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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One day, but certainly not these days, Dwyane Wade will not have to feel like he has to do it all. That's when the Miami Heat guard will stop running all over the court on defense chasing steals (and courting foul trouble) and when he won't continue to try to dribble through double- and triple-teams. But that day won't come with this lineup, not when three fellow starters are combining for two total points in the first half. So, instead, the frustration will grow, as it did with Thursday's 102-86 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers that left the Heat 0-3 against Cleveland and two games below .500. "The competition's been better than us," Wade said. "It's realistic. You've got to be realistic. ..."
January 31
Cleveland Plain Dealer
columnist Bill Livingston
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It was the greatest week in the life of The Greatest. I'm borrowing the nickname from Muhammad Ali and giving it to LeBron James, just as either he or his posse borrowed "King James" from English history and gave it to the fellow they thought was the most deserving. The Cavaliers' forward/guard/king of Cleveland hearts made game-winning plays late in three straight games against teams led by Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant and Dwyane Wade. He stifled Durant and Wade personally with memorable last-second defensive plays -- a block of Durant's drive, then a strong "contest" of Wade's jumper. Of the three rivals, Bryant had the best excuse. He still has a splint on a finger of his shooting hand, ..."
January 30
Akron Beacon Journal
columnist Patrick McManamon
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Mike Brown calls him ''the big fella.'' But Shaquille O'Neal used to call himself ''the Big Aristotle.'' So when O'Neal dispenses wisdom it's smart to listen. Because it comes with impact, and import. About 11 games ago, O'Neal pulled aside the league's reigning and soon-to-be-repeat MVP and offered some advice. ''I said,'' O'Neal recalled Friday, ''You know what? I heard somebody said that Kobe [Bryant] will never let his team lose. He has that will. ''I know you have that, but now it's time for you to show that you have that.'' O'Neal said that little message - ''I'm like that big brother that's been there'' - provided the impetus for an 11-game stretch of LeBron James excellence that ..."
January 27
Akron Beacon Journal
columnist Patrick McManamon
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The folks at Akron's St. Vincent-St. Mary High School might want to start preparing. Have the students ready, make sure the gym is clean, set up the dais and the microphone: LeBron James is well on his way toward winning consecutive Most Valuable Player awards. And the late spring might be just the right time to reprise that touching ceremony from last year. James does not play basketball for the Cavaliers to win awards, mind you. But he plays it so well that he can't help it. And lately, he's been playing as well as he ever has, which is saying something. His end-of-the-game exploits in Miami — two standout defensive plays, two free throws that won the game — were merely the most recent ..."
January 26
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
columnist Dave Hyde
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All you could say was, "Wow." And everyone in the place was saying it most of the night, as if by reflex, like when the doctor taps your knee. The final time came when Dwyane Wade was down on the floor in pain under one side of the basket and LeBron James was down on the other side. For much of Monday night, they pushed and battled and wowed everyone in a series of basketball riffs, right to this strange ending. Every so often you run across a moment in sports that's so fun it has to be shared, even if it's just a January game of an endless NBA season and even when the game-deciding play was the kind of careless, behind-the-back pass Wade never is guilty of. Wade and James even understood ..."
January 25
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James makes his last visit of the regular season to AmericanAirlines Arena on Monday night. The next time he puts on a uniform at that venue it could be as a member of the Miami Heat, and as a teammate of superstar guard Dwyane Wade, depending on what happens in free agency this coming July. In some ways, it would be a kind of 21st-century Jordan and Pippen, and possibly even better. Such a union might be a bigger relief for Wade, whose Miami Heat has struggled to a 23-20 record and is barely holding on to the fifth playoff seed in the Eastern Conference. James' Cavaliers, on the other hand, are 34-11, the second-best record in the NBA. "I know it's ..."
January 24
Cleveland Plain Dealer
columnist Brian Windhorst
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Back in November, LeBron James exhaled and leaned backwards as he faced the media at his locker inside Amway Arena in Orlando. He made an unexpected declaration: Starting then, he wouldn't talk about his free agency any more. And he meant it. "I think I owe it to my teammates and I owe it to myself. It is getting old, I owe it to this season," James said that night. "I don't want to have any more distractions to my teammates or my organization or to my family, so this will be the last time I answer a free-agent question until the end of the year." The Cavaliers organization already gives thanks for their superstar every day of the year, even in the off-season. But on that night, some ..."