Ignoring the 800-pound big-market franchise in the room
The media crush surrounding LeBron James‘ first trip to New York City this season already began in the early-morning hours around Manhattan, and will only get more crazy as the today turns into this evening, which turns into the Cavs/Knicks game that tips off at 7:30 p.m. EST.
Yes, there is still a game to be played, and as sorry as the Knicks look on paper right now after trading away their two best players and banishing their third-best talent into exile, LeBron and the rest of the Cavs have to do their best to ignore distractions if they want to avoid being an upset victim.
The pre-game media session will be 95% questions about LeBron’s 2010 free agency, and those questions won’t just be reserved for ‘Bron. Everybody in the Cavs’ locker room, from Mike Brown to J.J. Hickson, will have to face at least a few. That was the subject in today’s Cleveland Plain-Dealer:
“Obviously, he is the star,” Zydrunas Ilgauskas said. “So when he comes into Madison Square Garden, the spotlight is going to be on him.”
With reporters crawling over the Cavs and each other to get to James, does it ever become a distraction?
“No, not to us and obviously not to him,” Ilgauskas said. “It’s not as bad as in China last year. They think he’s a god over there. [LeBron] is handling it well so far. He always plays his best, especially in the Garden. So we’ve just got to make sure we do our own stuff.”
Source: Cleveland Plain-Dealer
November 25th, 2008 at 11:10 am
JCARR says:
Here we go again… NYC should have an F’ing holiday and festivity every time LBJ comes through.
November 25th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Sweet English says:
Yeah JCARR, but it should be a two day holiday so Knicks fans have a day to get over the severe beating that Lebron is going to dish out tonight. Maybe….
November 25th, 2008 at 11:21 am
JCARR says:
haha @ sweet english
November 25th, 2008 at 11:33 am
JBFC says:
Please ignore anything Dime writes about LeBron James. This site has a well-documented institutional bias against LeBron, and its editors have done everything in their power to insult and diminish him. Again, I ask — why, Dime? Why have you established this hurtful institutional bias against this young man?
November 25th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
fallinup says:
The street cleaners in NYC are gonna have a crisis on their hands after the city shoots it’s collective load from the NYC Lebron Circle Jerk.
November 25th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
eddy says:
this is starting to show that hes the best player in the nba… believe it or not he has more fans in new york than ne where you cant go nowhere without somebody having a pair of lebrons on… when i play ball thats all everyone talks about “lebron”….nike’s been doing this on purpose, i knew he was going to n.y from day 1….when i was in highschool and playin outside nike reps used to come and show us the new lebron shoe and give us lebron stuff…and he was in his second year in he league when everyone though carmelo was better….
November 25th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Reed Ewing Frazier says:
He is not the best player in the NBA but he is in the top five. But This shit is old we still have this season and next season before this would be possible Knicks fans should just concern ourselves with the present so for now fuck Lebron he is the enemy!!
KNICKS UP!! all the rest down!!!
November 25th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Austin Burton says:
@JBFC — You know, I think you’re right:
http://dimemag.com/2008/08/olympics-team-usa-lebron-james-feature/