LeBron James Wins 3rd MVP Award, Acceptance Speech Shows His Growth
On Saturday afternoon, LeBron James was presented with his third MVP award in four years.
He might not have the championships yet, but he has proven three times over that he is the best player in this league of brilliant players. The championships will almost certainly come eventually, though.
When James was awarded his third Most Valuable Player award in the eighth year of his NBA career, the topic of conversation wasn’t about his body of work; it was about the hardware he can’t stop thinking about. The accomplishment that remains unchecked on his to-do list.
James is thankful for his MVP award, but he’d like a championship, please.
In a departure from the usual confident but reserved responses, James spoke openly about his burning desire to get a ring.
He didn’t mince words, either.
Via the Associated Press, here’s how James wrapped up his speech:
“Heat nation, we have a bigger goal,” James said. “This is very overwhelming to me as an individual award. But this is not the award I want, ultimately. I want that championship. That’s all that matters to me.”
After seven seasons of James being calm and collected, he has let down the barriers and gotten real over the course of this season. Whether it was disappointed tweets after failing to come up in the final moments of a big game or sitting down with Sports Illustrated to talk about the pain and disappointment that came along with being denied the championship by the Mavericks last season, James has stopped trying to pretend he’s so powerful that the criticisms don’t hurt, stopped acting like he’s above the frustrations that come from failing to accomplish your goals.
Since last June, James has started to allow us to see him the way his friends, family and teammates see him: as the best basketball player that this league has, but also as a young man who desperately wants to win and will continue to work and train harder and to play smarter until he has hardware for his hands to match the MVP trophies that he keeps earning.
James also got extremely personal in talking about what drives him each and every day, taking his time to get the words out without letting his emotions get the best of him.
“I see my two sons, I do what I do and I try to perform at the highest level every night, and a big part of the reason is those guys. I don’t want to let them down,” James said, pausing for a brief moment as he looked at fiancée Savannah Brinson and his sons. “Secondly, my teammates, like I said. The reason I’m up here today is because of those guys. If those guys don’t sacrifice what they sacrifice every single night…I wouldn’t be up here.”
With James opening up, acknowledging his shortcomings last season, enduring the pain that came from failing to achieve 12 months ago, speaking to the assembled media about his family and then about his teammates—who truly seem to be another family of his—you see the strength that James has gained by working through the whirlwind that followed his decision to go to Miami.
With a stronger resolve and with his ultimate goal spoken aloud for all to hear, James is putting it all out there. He isn’t trying to be anyone else, nor is he worried about how he will be received. He’s realized none of that matters. He’ll be judged and both loved and loathed whether he wins or loses. It’s as though he’s finally grasped the strength that comes along with accepting that the only people any of us ever really have to answer to are the people that we care about.
James is the league’s MVP for the third time in eight years. Ask every teammate he’s had over those past eight years and they would say he’s been their MVP each of those years.
Read more NBA news on BleacherReport.com
View full post on Bleacher Report – NBA
LeBron James wins 3rd NBA MVP award (Yahoo! Sports)
MIAMI (AP) LeBron James loves telling the story about his first MVP award.
View full post on Yahoo! Sports – NBA News
AP Source: James wins 3rd NBA MVP award (Yahoo! Sports)
MIAMI (AP) Heat forward LeBron James is the NBA’s MVP for a third time, putting him alongside some of the game’s all-time greats.
View full post on Yahoo! Sports – NBA News
Miami Heat’s LeBron James to win his third NBA MVP trophy
Miami Heat forward LeBron James will be named NBA MVP on Saturday, the third time he has won the award, only the eighth to accomplish that.
View full post on USATODAY.com Feed
Thunder’s James Harden to win 6th Man award
There are times when James Harden is the best player on the court for Oklahoma City, and he’s being rewarded for his banner season today.
View full post on USATODAY.com Feed
2012 NBA Sixth Man Award: Thunder Star James Harden Wins Role Player Award
Oklahoma City Thunder guard James Harden has been in the news recently for eating a vicious elbow from Los Angeles Lakers forward Metta World Peace, but he must be much happier to be making headlines for his accomplishments as he’s expected to be named the NBA‘s Sixth Man of the Year, according to a report from The Oklahoman. The report also states that the official announcement from the NBA should come some time late Thursday.
Although Harden had some quality competition in the form of Lou Williams, Jason Terry, Al Harrington and others, there was never really any doubt that OKC’s bearded wonder would take home the hardware. Harden averaged nearly 17 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists in just over 31 minutes per contest in the regular season.
The Thunder lean largely on Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook for offensive production, but it would certainly be unfair to call Harden a third wheel. Without Harden’s dynamic play this season, Oklahoma City wouldn’t be nearly as dangerous of a team. He is shooting over 49 percent from the field and can score the basketball in several ways.
Harden is efficient from beyond the arc (39 percent) and from the charity stripe (85 percent) so it’s basically impossible for opposing defenses to account for every facet of his game. There isn’t a player in the league who is a bigger spark off the bench than Harden, and because of that, he undoubtedly deserves the Sixth Man of the Year Award.
While Harden probably doesn’t get the respect he deserves since he shares a backcourt with Durant and Westbrook, he will be integral to the Thunder’s title hopes this season and in the future. Already one of the most explosive scorers in the league at the age of 22, Harden could have several other awards coming his way over the course of his career.
Harden may be Oklahoma City’s sixth man by definition, but there is no question that he is among the squad’s most important players. There are few teams in the league with the ability to bring a player of Harden’s caliber off the bench, and it is a big reason why many consider the Thunder to be a team that will be contending for many years to come.
Read more NBA news on BleacherReport.com
View full post on Bleacher Report – NBA
10 Reasons LeBron James Won’t Choke in NBA Playoffs This Year
With the Miami Heat advancing to the second round, LeBron James is one step closer to obtaining his first championship ring. So far, so good for the King after successfully leading the charge against a star-studded New York Knicks squad.
However, Round 1 is only the beginning of a long journey and quest for a NBA title.
We have all heard the jokes about how James chokes when the lights shine brightest, yet he has shown no fear and only elevated his game when his services were needed most in this year’s playoffs.
That being said, many people are sitting back and waiting for “Lechoke” to surface once again. Well, I’ve got 10 reasons LeBron will end up with not only the last laugh, but also with his first NBA championship.
View full post on Bleacher Report – NBA
Nothing but respect between James, Anthony
MIAMI – The game time on the box score read 2 hours, 24 minutes. With that in mind, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony were best of friends Wednesday for 21 hours, 36 minutes.
When the ball is thrown up, it all changes.
“Our friendship goes behind basketball, but, during the game, there’s really no friends,” Miami’s James said before he faced off against New York’s Anthony, his counterpart at small forward.
The two went at each other with zest in a spicy duel at American Airlines. In the Heat’s 106-94 win, which closed out a 4-1 win in an East first-round series, Anthony scored 35 points and James had 29. It would figure both finished the series having averaged 27.8 points.
When the final buzzer sounded and the two could go back to being friends, it was fitting the first thing James did was seek out Anthony to give him a big hug. What did he say to him?
“Brotherly love, I guess,” responded James, whose Heat advance to face Indiana in an East semifinal starting Sunday in Miami.
Big-time bust Darko Milicic going No. 2 by Detroit might have messed it up as far as the history books read, but James and Anthony were regarded by most as the two best players taken in the 2003 draft. James went No. 1 to Cleveland and Anthony No. 3 to Denver.
Because they played in different conferences and never met more than twice in a season for seven years, the rivalry never fully blossomed. But after James went to Miami in July 2010 and Anthony joined him in the East with New York in February 2011, it looked as if it finally might really get going.
It has.
James and Anthony met five times in a week and half. It used to take them 2 years to play that much.
“I’ve known LeBron since I was in high school,” Anthony said. “It’s always good to play against him, to play against a guy that’s going to bring the best out of you.”
The two first met at a 2001 summer hoops session in Colorado Springs and first faced each other in high school in February 2002 when Anthony was a senior at Virginia’s Oak Hill and James a junior at St. Vincent-St. Mary in Akron, Ohio. They were teammates in the 2004 and 2008 Olympics and have both played against each other and been teammates in NBA All-Star Games.
“It’s always special any time we are the court together period, the All-Star Game or the Olympics or the first time competing in the postseason,” James said. “He’s one of the best friends that I have. It was great to finally go through a playoff series against him. He’s one of the best players we have in this league and one of the biggest competitors we have in this league.”
Still, Anthony always has been in James’ shadow. He was second behind him in voting for Rookie of the Year, trails him in MVPs 2-0 (soon to be 3-0) and only once has been past the first round of the playoffs while James at least has been to two Finals.
Anthony so much wants to get into James’ territory that he copied him. Many viewed Anthony’s forcing of a trade last year from Denver to New York as a desire to form a northern version of the Big Three.
The Knicks’ trio of Anthony, Amar’e Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler pales in comparison to Miami’s one of James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. But don’t call Anthony the one who’s dragging it down for the Knicks.
“Anthony is exactly what we expected, a top-three tough cover in this league,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. “Now that we can remove ourselves from the series, I don’t know how you can stop that guy He deserves the respect that we gave him, which was the whole kitchen sink.”
In the last two games, the Heat could have thrown a refrigerator at Anthony and had trouble stopping him. He scored 41 points in Game 4 before Wednesday’s effort, which came on 15-of-31 shooting. With nobody else on an injury-ravaged team scoring more than 14 points, the Knicks had no chance.
Meanwhile, James, who had seven assists, got ample help. Bosh and Wade both scored 19 points.
The game wasn’t too close, with Miami never leading by less than eight in the second half. Still, it was a joy watching the two small forwards go back and forth throughout the night.
“It’s fun to see them compete against each other,” said Heat swingman Mike Miller. “It’s a good ticket to have.”
It also was good training for James as the Heat moves on in the playoffs. Just listen to Wade, who also has a lengthy relationship with both James and Anthony, having been the No. 5 pick in 2003 and also playing on the 2004 and 2008 Olympic teams.
“They’ve been running into each other for a long time,” Wade said about the two. “You can see it on both of their faces, they love it, the competitive nature of them both. As a teammate, I enjoy it because I know Melo is going to push LeBron, he’s going to challenge him and you need that. Because you go through these playoffs, you’ll be challenged at different times mentally to see how you can come back from it. So I thought it was a great match-up for (James) for the first round. (Anthony is) one of the toughest one-on-one covers that he’s going to face in the NBA.”
It would have been interesting to see if Anthony still would have been able to drill that key last-minute three-pointer in New York’s 89-87 Game 4 win had James, rather than Shane Battier, been on them. But perhaps there will be some future meetings in the playoffs.
Anthony seems to think so.
“In the future, I feel good about competing with the top teams in the Eastern Conference,” Anthony said. “I do consider our team being up there, top three, top four teams in the East. We just got to get better and go from there.”
For now, even if he did outscore him Wednesday, Anthony remains in the shadow of his good buddy.
Chris Tomasson can be reached at christomasson@hotmail.com or on Twitter @christomasson
View full post on Yardbarker: NBA
James scores 29, Heat oust Knicks 106-94 (Yahoo! Sports)
MIAMI (AP) The final horn sounded, and LeBron James wrapped his arms around Carmelo Anthony in a warm embrace.
View full post on Yahoo! Sports – NBA News
Metta World Peace Talks James Harden and Elbows on Conan
Check it out. Metta World Peace has made use of his suspension-induced free time, going on Conan O’Brien’s show to talk about that very suspension.
Here are the assorted quotes, regarding what happened to James Harden‘s face via Ron-Ron’s elbow:
- “Right now they’re calling me animal.”
- “(Harden) runs into peoples’ elbows.”
- “(Harden) puts his chin right there.”
- “I don’t really want to talk to (Harden), but I did make sure he’s okay.”
- “The Hulk!”
- “I really had no thoughts on the punishment.”
- “On the court I’m very passionate, and I will do anything it takes to win. But don’t try to tarnish my image and everything I’ve tried, the mission that I’m on.”
- “Don’t try to tarnish my image because of how I played.”
- “On the court, there’s no peace on the court.”
- “I deserved the suspension.”
- “Maybe I could get the same amount of games (Kevin Love) got.”
I wish I could summon up any outrage over this, but it’s impossible. Metta is a fun, ebullient interviewee, even when discussing awful things he should perhaps be more remorseful about.
Read more NBA news on BleacherReport.com
View full post on Bleacher Report – NBA
