LeBron’s memory is amazing, but maybe selective
Anything that possibly can be written about LeBron James has been written at least 20 times.
At least that’s what you would have thought before ESPN.com’s LeBron correspondent Brian Windhorst filed a column this week.
Apparently, James has a photographic memory. It’s something those closest to him have known about for some time. The story describes James’ memory as a blessing and a curse on the court.
At times, he will find himself in a situation in which he has experienced failure at another point in his career and get haunted by the failure.
He also can remember exactly what adjustments each opposing coach has made in different situations and be one step ahead of their thought processes.
Then, there’s this from Windhorst’s story.
“It’s the middle of February now, in a game against the Golden State Warriors, and James is walking the ball down the floor with the seconds running out. The Heat are down two points, and he’s dribbling the final nine seconds off the clock with ace defender Andre Iguodala guarding him. James fakes a drive, then steps back and to his left in time to fire in a game-winning 3-pointer over Iguodala’s fingers with 0.1 seconds left.
“In the jovial postgame locker room, it’s pointed out to James by a reporter that almost exactly five years earlier, he’d won a game with a jumper at Oracle Arena at the buzzer from virtually the same exact spot at the same basket.
“ ‘Not really,’ James says in response. ‘That one was probably about 6 feet closer to the baseline and inside the 3-point arc. It was over Ronny Turiaf. I stepped back on him, but I crossed him over first and got him on his heels. I’m sure of it. It was down the sideline a few feet. It was a side out-of-bounds play; this one we brought up.’
“Within moments, James is watching that very 2009 highlight on a cellphone while icing his aching feet. And indeed, there it is — the crossover step-back on Turiaf from, oh, about 6 feet to the left of the shot he’d just hit over Iguodala. Right along the sideline inside the 3-point line. A side out-of-bounds play. Just like he said.”
That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t explain the way he forgot the dumb letter Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert wrote and the way Cavs fans treated him when he left Cleveland.
Imagine if the legend of LeBron’s memory is true, though? It must be nauseating to have such a vivid recollection about what happened with Delonte West.
■ FOR THE BIRDS — There is one group angrier about the Minnesota Vikings’ new stadium than the taxpayers who were duped into funding the project.
That would be the bird population of the Twin Cities.
The Audubon Society of Minnesota issued a news release Wednesday stating the stadium’s glass exterior is essentially a death trap for the stupid creatures.
“We’re talking about a billion dollar stadium here, and the cost to save perhaps thousands of migratory birds — and make the Vikings a global leader in green stadium design — is about one-tenth of one percent of that,” said Audubon Minnesota executive director Matthew Anderson.
“Hundreds of millions of dollars of public money is going to build this stadium, and we know the people of Minnesota do not want their money killing birds.”
Gotta tell you, Matt: Don’t be so sure.
COMPILED BY ADAM HILL LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
