Lebron James a poor sport after Cavaliers loss?
There’s been a lot of talk flying around after last night’s ousting of the Cavaliers by Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic. One of the most common lines has been about Lebron James’ behavior following the game. Refusing to shake hands and subsequently skipping the post-game press conference has put all kinds of opinions out there as to the ups and downs of his reaction to the loss. Coupled with recent comments by Lebron (which you’ll find below) and a congratulatory e-mail he reportedly sent to Howard, blogs have been burning up with comments. Robert Littal from Black Sports Online had this to say:
From NBA.com
“It’s hard for me to congratulate somebody after you just lose to them,” he said. “I’m a winner. It’s not being a poor sport or anything like that. If somebody beats you up, you’re not going to congratulate them. That doesn’t make sense to me. I’m a competitor. That’s what I do. It doesn’t make sense for me to go over and shake somebody’s hand.”
Someone needs to tell Lebron James to grow the hell up. You win like a Champion you lose like a Champion no matter how hard it is. I am very disappointed in him. A competitor and winner respects his opponent regardless of the outcome.
Lebron sounds like a spoiled rich kid who when he lost “took his ball and went home”. He has a long way to go in his maturity to be considered The King of the NBA. Wasn’t even man enough to call Dwight Howard. An email? Seriously Lebron? You would have been more successful on Twitter.
Once again I am very disappointed in his behavior.
Well, I can’t deny that LeBron acted a little bit poorly after the game. As “The King” I guess he should really be able to act like one. However, perhaps this just goes to show that he’s human. Let’s remember that he spent his whole season with his eye on the championship, racked up the NBA’s best record, won the league MVP award, and swept his previous playoff opponents. That’s quite a bit to see go up in smoke in one night.
Besides, I understand his feelings concerning losing. I’m not a world-class athlete, but I don’t like to lose either. When the stakes are as high as they must have been for him, and when you spend all your time focusing on an eventual victory, I can really only imagine the kind of defeat he felt.
Is this all an excuse for his behavior? No, not really. But it may be a forced step into learning some humility. Perhaps next year LeBron won’t have a reason to be so rude. On the other hand, perhaps he’ll show everyone how he has matured through loss.
Follow the Scores Report editors on Twitter @clevelandteams and @bullzeyedotcom.
Good post. I was just about to write something about this after seeing his interview on ESPN.com. I find his reasoning for not shaking hands to be ridiculous. Maybe it doesn’t “make sense” to him, but shaking hands after the game is good sportsmanship and it makes sense to (almost) everyone else in this world.
And it’s not like he has to shake hands after every game of the series. NBA players only congratulate each other after the series is over. Man up, shake a few hands and go on about your business.
There is a guy in my rec bb league who doesn’t want to shake hands after a loss. When my team goes back to the bench, we don’t talk about what a great “competitor” or “winner” he is. We talk about how much of an a-hole he is.
This is B.S.
In order to be a member of the Orlando Magic, you must have class. I guarantee Magic owner Rich DeVos would not let Lebron James on the Magic even if he would play for free. You learned about respecting each other when you were six years old at YMCA basketball. Lebron, you really screwed up this time. The true personality always comes out when you are angry, stressed, and upset. Lebron, you are no exception.
Cannot handle adversity! Poor sportsmanship in my book.
Heretofore, James has been a model citizen. But in my mind, this has taken him down a notch from the other great players in which he is often compared. Who could’ve been more upset than Kobe who lost to Boston while attempting to prove he could win w/o Shaq. Yet, he manned up and congratulated the Celts. Moreover, his behavior sets a poor example for those who look up to him, buy his shoes, etc.
stop being a holes. all of you at one point lost a series in basketball but it hurts even more when you know your team is way better than your apponent.true he should’ve screamed at his teammates for not stepping up(like michael jordan use to do.)anyway ya’ll people coming down on lebron cause everybody has high expectation for him.remember he is only 24yrs.old.stop saying kobe acts better than him.remember kobe his 5th yr in the league.with no clue of what he was doing in organized ball.he learned thru the years.so all yall kobe fans stop talking shit because lebron took his shine.kobe is a snicth and a bitch.
No doubt in my mind that, overall, LeBron has a much more likable personality than Kobe, but he really dropped the ball on this one. I don’t care how much it hurts to lose. You shake a few hands and go on about your business. It’s called sportsmanship.
That coupled with his walking through the Magic Dancers during their routine at an earlier playoff game shows a definite lack of class and respect. Perhaps he should spend some of his millions on an etiquite tutor.
I agree that LeBron should have congragulated the Magic after they won the conference finals. He was cleary being a bad sport, but I’m not going to go overboard. He was just pissed off. Simple as that.
Pissed at his teammates, pissed at seeing his dream season come to an end, pissed that his incredible shot in Game 2 is bound to be forgotten, pissed that his historic series will be forgotten, pissed that his team was perfectly set up to crush any Eastern Conference team except Orlando, pissed that they had no match up for Dwight Howard, pissed that whenever he guarded one of the Magic’s forward the other would go off, pissed that Wally airballed two wide open shots,etc.
Ultimately, it was a mental lapse, but it’s not that big of a deal.
But what NBA Fan said is just absolutely hilarious: “In order to be a member of the Orlando Magic, you must have class. I guarantee Magic owner Rich DeVos would not let Lebron James on the Magic even if he would play for free.’
I just have one question, NBA Fan: are you serious?
And I actually think he did the Cavs organization a tremendous favor by not going to the podium. He was inevitably going to have to answer questions regarding his lack of support, the inability of the Cav’s personnel (players and coaches) to work out a passable defensive scheme against the Magic, his impending free agency, and what it would take for the Cavs to keep him.
While the media would love the answers to these questions, especially when LeBron’s emotions are still raw and somewhat less filtered than they usually are, the Cavs would be put in a very bad position if LeBron’s true feelings became public.
Nadim — Great points, but this was no mental lapse. He apparently did the same thing against the Celtics last year and he defended his decision for not shaking hands after the Orlando series in his first post-series interview. This is the way he deals with losing. He says it’s not that he’s “a bad sport or anything like that,” but that is exactly what it is.
Lebron should go to sportmanship class for not shaking hands with the other teams.What im reaaly upset with is the confidents within the teams.There Mo Williams bragging saying we will win the series. After they lost that second game you should seen his face and heard what he said,”they were knockin three from everywhere, he didn’t even have an answer for anything. The cavs need somoone under rim.Varejah and Illguaskus can only split for twenty eight point.The guard have no confidents. Who is Bobbi Gidson? That team held the winning record by winning game against no good teams.When they played good teams, the Celtics are the only team the beat two- more times.I think the cavs was omly thinking of there offense instead of who going stop howard, turkulou, lewis,petruis, and even austin. I’ll give them 3 more until champonship time cause these three are kobe’s.
John, I’m not sure if he shook the Celtics’ hands on the court, but I know that in his post game press conference he was very kind to Paul Pierce and it was almost like he was honored to be in a scoring battle with Paul Pierce even if it was in a losing effort. He seemed to be resigned to the fact that the Celtics were the better team and he spoke of the ways that his team could improve. The 2007 finals was basically the the same situation, as he recognized that San Antonio was the better team and there is video of him congratulating Tim Duncan.
I think this year presented a different situation for him (they were a 66 win team who were supposed to sweep their way into an epic matchup against the Lakers) , and I completely agree, he was a bad sport and he responded in the worst possible way. That being said I would still consider it a mental lapse and I would think that he would react differently if given another chance (despite his comments defending his actions). Think about it: LeBron was at the top of the basketball world with the MVP, 66 wins in the regular season, two playoff sweeps and talks of fo, fo, fo, Charles Barkley, Jerry West, and many other basketball fans saying he was the best player in the world, comparison to The Greatest Ever became more rampant, and then it all comes to a collapse.
It was a tough loss for LeBron and he did not feel like congratulating the people who made that loss happen. Bad sportsmanship..absolutely. A sign of immaturity..yes. But is it indicative of some larger problem that he can never grow out of..I dont think so.
Im sure the other teams that he swept didn’t want to shake his hand but they did and he should have done the same w/o questions. He’s a sore loser but gets all the glory when he wins. Suck it up Lebron, he’s just like Isaiah Thomas.
This guys so arrogant it makes me sick to my stomach.And to Will LaBron’s not the only player in the league your wrong and you know it. Poor poor sportsman ship, LaBron’s trash. The Cavs deserve to lose after all their show boating and camera posin pregam ritual. It felt so good to watch the Magic blow them out in game six. It felt even better watchin my Spurs give him the broom treatment in 07. Its a damn shame this guy has so much talent… what a jerk.
What happened to Lebron is nothing compared to other players in the past. Remember Malone and Stockton being beaten twice in the finals by the same team? Lebron James is an icon for youngsters, he should have acted as a role model..
“It doesn’t make you less of a winner to congratulate the dude that beat you. It makes you even more of a champion.”
Are you people kidding me. This is a dog eat dog world.He is a young man in a dog eat dog business. If you all want to speak out. Speak out on the lack of faith in god,or the selling out of the government. This is a basketball game and a players reaction gets more notice than the lack of teachers in our childrens classrooms. Are you kidding me. Lebron is also human. He doesn’t have to be happy about losing. And did we forget after the last second about the elbows and the shoves the magic players used in the series. I like sports just like you all,however they don’t desrve our attention as much as people keeping their homes. Please people lets refocus.
He and Howard are supposed to be good friends and olympic teamates…the least he could have done was gone over to shake hands. Even defending champions, the Celtics, who lost in round 2 displayed good sportsmanship and congratulated the Magic. Lebron needs to learn that to be considered the
“king”, you will be judged by your actions on and off the court. True champions know that you cant win them all, and that makes the big wins even more special!
Why are you interjecting poltics and religion into sports? This is a freaking sports column/blog…we’re not here to discuss our lack of faith in God.
And are you kidding me about the MAgic players shoving and elbowing him!!! The Magic players were called for every single touch foul against LeBron.
LeBroom showed his true lack of class the other night. That boy needs to learn some manners.
there is no excuse for lebron acting like this. he should be traded.
DISSAPOINTING, DISRESPECTFUL, IMMATURE AND EMBARRASING ARE ONLY A FEW WORDS THAT DESCRIBE LEBRONES ACTIONS AFTER LOOSING. NO MATTER HOW GOOD YOU ARE THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS FOR NOBODY IN THE NBA TO WALK OUT LIKE HE DID AND STILL EXPECT TO HAVE RESPECT AND TO BE CALLED THE KING. YEAH RIGHT THAT GUY HAS NO RIGHT TO BE COMPARED TO THE GREATS OF THIS GAME KOBE, JORDAN AND OTHERS THESE GUY EARNED THEIR RESPECT. ITS TIME FOR YOU TO MAN UP LEBRONE YOU LOST FAIR AND SQUARE. THIS KID GAVE HIMSELF A REALLY BAD NAME A SOAR LOOSER WOULD BE ONE OF THEM. I OWN A NUMBER 23 LEBRONE JAMES JERSEY AND NOW I WILL ALWAYS FEEL EMBARRASED TO EVEN WEAR IT. THIS BOY LEBRONE IS NOWHERE NEAR KOBE’S LEVEL SO PEOPLE NEED TO STOP COMPARING.
shame is right. loosing the series did not make him a looser his behavior after loosing is whats making that boy a looser. yes I said boy because i do not feel like deserves to be called a man. im sure everybody from cleaveland feel embarrased because of him including his teammates. i bet the memphis grizzleys or the charlotte bobcats would not let him play for them right now even for free i know i wouldnt
Give the guy a break, he made a mistake haven’t we all? This does not distract from all of the good things he has accomplished.
I think everyone would give him a break if he manned up and said he made a mistake. But he didn’t. He defended his actions and said that since he is such a competitor it doesn’t make sense for him to shake his opponents’ hands after a hard-fought series.
lebron is not on the same level ( or will never ever be ) with jordan, magic or bird..he’s a soory loser & will always be. hope he loses again & again & be more frustrated till his career ends.
im not a lebrone james hater i use to really like him but noww his true colors came out it seems like he has no respect and is acting like a real spoiled rich kid, when they dont get what they want they start acting childish he needs to admit he made a mistake so he can get respect back
I LOVE the Lakers and have been a fan since the days of Jerry West and Magic Johnson…etc.I like Labron but his failure to show RESPECT to the winning team, the fans and to himself, was very dissapointing to me.People down Kobe but one thing I see that is different from Kobe and LaBron is experience and skill. Kobe has years of experience while LaBron has
(continued) mad skills. LaBron needs to experience failure in order to enjoy victory. LaBron, when boxers lose (if thier not knocked the hell out) they still touch gloves and sometimes give a hug after a fight. THAT is being a sportsman!
Lebron James really shocked me by his poor etiquette after the loss. I am a huge laker fan and would have loved to see Cavs in the finals; what surprises me is that up until that loss on saturday Lebron seemed to be a very decent & modest guy who always seemed to respect fellow competetors. But he lost it on the biggest stage when everyone was watching him closely; he is going to pay for this dearly.. atleast I hope he does. And all you people who say he is young.. r u kiddinggggg…. 24 is not young. 17 maybe yes.. please stop giving excuses my 7 year old daughter knows better manners.
well that’s really a shame on Lebron’s side for doing that he should’ve just get over it because it’s a fair play nobody cheated or done anything the magic just win fairly so as sports man you should’ve eat up your pride and accept defeat because you’ve really been defeated, and he can’t say it’s because of frustration or being a competitor because this isn’t a war this is a competition so act like a sportsman not a loser.
It is very childish on Lebron’s part. Little kids are taught good sportsmanship and to shake hands when the game is over. The game was over long before the final horn thus losing was not a sudden realization for Lebron.
His explanation is even worse than his failure to shake hands. He is not sorry and sounds like he would do it again.
I just wanted to let any other posters who are planning on posting that Lebron James is a great basketball player.Nobody is denying that. I have recognized that Lebron James is a great player,but you Cavaliers fans that insist that Lebron James was feeling pissed and backing him up on his poor sportsmanship are not seeing the big picture.Their have been worse losses in the NBA which shows that Lebron James is not an exception. But now going off topic here these posts that you people are posting aren’t going to change anyone. I’ve realized that fans of a team are EXTREMELY consistent and are relentless,but also cut Lebron some slack because this shows that he is in fact human and will hopefully mature.(I said hopefully) OHH and please do not hate on Dwight Howard. Dwight Howard has a lot of integrity so please lay off.
Being pissed off and upset over losing a dream is no excuse to not show good sportsmanship. You think Tom Brady felt like shaking Eli’s hand after losing SB 42? I mean he was only going for an undefeated season. Would have gone down as the greatest team in NFL history, so pretty big dream being squashed. So it is no excuse. Lebron is a PROFFESIONAL athlete. He is the face of the NBA and the MVP. The media force feeds us this guys greatness on a daily basis. Is it really too much to ask for him to show good sportsmanship when he loses? He is the leader of that team. It is an embarrassment to leave his teammates holding the bag. And no he did not shake hands after they lost the series to the Celtics last year. Why would he, he is after all a winner as he states and it makes no sense to him to shake an opponents hand. That tells you everything right there. He sure did stand out on the court to except the congratulations of the Hawks and Pistons after winning.
It’s good to see Lebron acting the way he should. Can’t imargine being one of the greatest on the court and can’t take loosing. That’s not being someone that I want my sons to look up too. Now I can say If ever my team the Boston Celtis loose, maybe now I can pull for the king. It was is un-sportsmanship that turned me off. WELL DONE LEBRON. To be a good winner you must first be able to take your losses.
I just wanted to let any other posters who are planning on posting that Lebron James is a great basketball player.