LeBron James Criticized For Not Being Clutch After Heat Loss To Bulls (TWEETS)

There he is, with the ball in his hands. The Miami Heat lead the Chicago Bulls, 83-81, with just 11.4 seconds remaining on the clock. LeBron James stands at the free throw line after drawing a whistle against Luol Deng. The two-time NBA MVP has two shots coming his way. If the 75% career free throw shooter hits both freebies then the Bulls would need an LJ-esque four-point play just to force overtime. If he drains both then the Heat very likely celebrate shortly thereafter, pulling even closer to the Bulls for the No. 1 spot in the Eastern Conference standings.

James shoots the first free throw. The effort is off target and the ball bounces back toward him off the back iron. The second attempt is true. But the three-point deficit is small enough for Bulls reserve guard C.J. Watson to close with one shot. Tie game. Free basketball. Overtime.

Soon enough #PlayersMoreClutchThanLeBron is climbing up the list of trending terms on Twitter. Perhaps speaking to the ages of the early adopters of this hashtag, the initial responses include a surprising number of references to the 1996 movie Space Jam.

After notching 30 points in regulation, James would be held scoreless in the extra session while the two other members of Miami's Big 3 would only muster one point each. The Bulls overran the Heat in OT with a 12-2 flurry to take the win.

"It's one of the first feelings that I've had in the regular season this year," James told reporters at his locker after the game.

Despite the fact that LBJ is assembling one of the most impressive statistical seasons in basketball history, he can't seem to shake his reputation for wilting in the key moments. Even after dominating his superstar peers late in the 2012 NBA All-Star Game, James managed to make himself the goat by frittering away the game's most important possession with an errant pass. Last night agains the Bulls, it had been James' teammate Dwyane Wade who had been dominating down stretch, scoring 10 straight Miami points during the fourth quarter. Of James' 30 points scored, just 4 occurred in the last four minutes of the final 7:30 of regulation. He was scoreless in overtime.

According to the stats assembled by 82games.com, there are 16 players in the NBA (through 4/1/2012) who are more prolific clutch scorers than James. Interestingly, James' free-throw percentage drops to 68% in late-and-close situations this season. While there may not be any player as gifted and skilled as LeBron, there certainly seems to be several ballers considered more clutch. Of course, the Twitterverse also seems to think that several cartoon characters are also more clutch...

Here are some of the funniest #PlayersMoreClutchThanLeBron tweets:

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Comments

[Gadgetman]

12:55 AM on 04/19/2012

Whoever approved the Miami Heat logo should be fired. It looks like a scrotum on fire!

[kurr]

12:19 PM on 04/16/2012

I thought we learned this in the Finals last year when Dirk showed the world what clutch meant.

[Dewts]

08:45 PM on 04/15/2012

lebron is not an alpha dog, wade is. give the ball to wade in the final seconds.

[hippiedad]

09:59 PM on 04/14/2012

#PlayersMoreClutchThanLebron: Jose Mesa in the World Series.

[sdobrinich]

11:41 PM on 04/16/2012

Haha, you must be from Cleveland

[hippiedad]

02:46 PM on 04/17/2012

Sadly, yes...

[blackjacki2]

02:48 PM on 04/14/2012

Love that the article omits that James hit the 3 pointer when the Heat were down by 1 with less than a minute to go that gave them a 2 point lead in the first place. It also omits the fact that he played the entire 2nd half without a rest.

[chevyliddle]

09:35 PM on 04/27/2012

"James hit the 3 pointer when the Heat were down by 1 with less than a minute to go"

That proves the "monkey at the piano" theory. If you let him pound on it long enough.....someday he'll actually play something. :-)

[beverlyamy1]

12:54 PM on 04/14/2012

and the sad part is,90 % of those talking have never played the game...go figure.

[SheikArbusto]

08:57 AM on 04/14/2012

LECHOKE!!!

[Matt Owens]

12:37 AM on 04/14/2012

Wes Welker at the Super Bowl was the only funny one.

[Matt Owens]

12:36 AM on 04/14/2012

Hahaha why is Tim Tebow trash talking Lebron? I hate LeFraud James just as much as the next guy, but sorry Tebow, you suck worse than he does. What have you done besides make some last-minute comeback wins? Oh, that's right... nothing. Go hug Jesus.

[djn2012]

12:21 AM on 04/15/2012

TheTimmyTebow is just a twitter account. it isn't actually Tim Tebow.

[raging cynic]

11:20 PM on 04/13/2012

In 3 more years, the Heat can be called the Buffalo Bills of the NBA.
This is gonna be fun to watch.

[gixxerman]

10:32 PM on 04/13/2012

This post is emblematic of our follower society. It took Dan Gilbert and Skip Bayless to point this out and now people talk about it like they knew it all along. The media can make you think and follow any narrative they decide to form. Two years ago I guarantee almost every critic was screaming King James. Tim Tebow plays the fake bible thumper and is praised for going to the playoffs and losing, but a guy takes his team of bums to the Finals his sophomore year and it counts for nothing.

[LogicalMathMan]

06:41 PM on 04/13/2012

Funny tweets. I've never been a LeBron fan, but, basketball is a team sport and the end is defined by previously-practiced key set plays. If we must deride LeBron, then we should hold the same contempt for his team and for Spoelstra. I do know this however.....Kobe would've made those free throws. Gooooooooooo Lakersssssssss!

[PirateJohn]

06:07 PM on 04/13/2012

Maybe he should try hockey. They don't have a fourth quarter.

[nikki717]

05:08 PM on 04/13/2012

James is one of the best, but not neccessarily clutch when it matters.

[smcmike]

04:08 PM on 04/13/2012

LeBron missed the free throw, but it was Bosh and Wade that really stunk up the joint at the very end there. Wade was jacking up ridiculous hero-ball fadeaways, and Bosh just looked lost.

[thomasdaddy1]

04:27 PM on 04/13/2012

James is the anti-clutch! He only plays in the regular season, and 3 1/2 quarters of every game! He has always disappeard at clutch time with the exception of the playoff series against the pistons years ago. His legacy will be "He was a great regular season player". He hates the pressure that real men live for!

[smcmike]

07:02 PM on 04/13/2012

His disappearances in the playoffs the last few years certainly was bizarre, and backs your narrative, but he has had plenty of good "clutch" moments at other points in his career. I find the whole thing fascinating.