LeBron's No Big Shot

When LeBron James bolted Cleveland to "Take his talents to South Beach", he must have left his Tiger Blood behind. Now 61-games into his first season with the Miami Heat, LeBron has become the ultimate numbers guy. On a team that includes Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, he's only 1-point off his career scoring average, and his rebounds and assists are both slightly up. But ask him to hit a shot in the clutch, and LeBron morphs from King James into the Court Jester.

Exhibit A:Feb, 13th at Boston...Trailing 83-81 with 12-seconds remaining, LeBron gets fouled by Paul Pierce. However, he makes just 1 of 2-free throws and the Heat lose 85-82 dropping them to 0-3 against the Celtics this season.

Exhibit B:Feb, 24th at Chicago...Down 92-89 with 11-seconds to go, LeBron's off the mark on a three point attempt. The Heat fall to the Bulls 93-89.

Exhibit C:Feb, 27th vs New York...Trailing 87-86 with 7-seconds left, LeBron's driving lay-up attempt is blocked by Amare Stoudemire. James gets another chance though with 2-seconds remaining and the Heat now behind 89-86. But his three pointer is no good as the Knicks beat Miami 91-86.

Exhibit D:March, 3rd vs Orlando...Down 99-96 with 3-seconds to go, LeBron misses a three pointer and the Magic knock off the Heat.

Exhibit E:March, 6th vs Chicago...LeBron once again has the ball in his hands with the game on the line. Trailing 87-86 with 5-seconds remaining, his driving lay-up comes nowhere close. This time Dwayne Wade pulls down the offensive rebound, but he can't hit a desperation jumper as the clock runs out.

During the post game press conference after Sunday's loss to the Bulls, LeBron said "I told my team I'm not going to continue to fail them late in games." The question is, why does he keep getting the opportunity? Insert whatever line you want here, and there are several that apply. Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it...or how about...The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

In the last month James has missed more shots in the clutch than Michael Jordan did in his entire career. Yet somehow he's still their go to guy at the end of theses game. When Pat Riley put the hard sell on this off-season, he told LeBron he would be Magic, Wade would be Kobe and Chris Bosh would play the role of Kevin Garnett. Under that scenario, it should be Wade who takes the final shot. He is the only one of the unholy trinity with a ring after all, and has been known to deliver in crunch time. Apparently, head coach Erik Spoelstra never got the memo. When the game's on the line, give your championship player the damn ball. Because there's a better chance of Charlie Sheen turning down a suitcase full of cocaine and room full of strippers these days then there is of LeBron knocking down a big shot.