Miami Heat forward Chris Bosh stands on the court during the second against the Chicago Bulls quarter at the United Center in Chicago on January 15, 2011. The Bulls win 99-96. UPI/Brian Kersey
Chris Bosh missed 17 of his 18 shot attempts last night in the Heat’s 93-89 loss in Chicago. His shooting performance was so bad that it got me wondering — historically speaking, just how bad was it?
Basketball-Reference has a ‘play finder’ that allows users to look up individual games or seasons based on a series of criteria. It only goes back to the 1986-87 season, but for our purposes, that’s probably far enough. I asked the site to generate a list of players that attempted 15 or more shots but had two or fewer makes, and list those results in order of ascending field goal percentage. The resulting list shows the very worst shooting nights over the last 25 years.
Kevin Durant had something to say about Chris Bosh after the Thunder’s 108-103 loss to the Heat yesterday. He was none too pleased about Bosh barking after fouling James Harden on a fast break early in the first quarter. There’s video over at DailyThunder, but it’s hard to see what the two are saying to each other.
The two were hit with double-technical fouls in the first quarter after Bosh fouled Harden on a fast break. KD said something to Harden and Bosh jumped in. The two had words and it was over. Until Durant was asked about it in the locker room.
Durant said, “I was talking to my teammate and [Bosh] decided he wanted to put his two cents into it. I am quiet guy, laid back guy, but I’m not going to let nobody talk trash to me. He’s on a good team now so he thinks he can talk a little bit. There are a lot of fake tough guys in this league and he’s one of them.”
And more: “I’m no punk. I wasn’t even talking to him first off. He decided to butt in and I’m not going to just let that slide. Especially in our house. Like I said, he’s not one of those guys I look at and say he has a rap for talking back to guys or getting into it. He’s a nice guy. I’m not going to let that type of person say something to me like that.”
It’s not like Durant to get into a war of words with anyone. He’s one of the most affable players in the league. In fact, in another three or four years, if Durant doesn’t break through and win a championship, people are going to start to say that he’s “too nice,” a la David Robinson.
I don’t know why Bosh is picking fights with Durant and Harden. He clearly doesn’t have much of a rep around the league for being a tough guy, so maybe he should be quiet and let his game to the talking.
Miami Heat forward LeBron James looks to the referee as he points towards the other side of the court after a foul against the Boston Celtics in the second half of the opening night game at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts on October 26, 2010. UPI/Matthew Healey
“It’s just how I was feeling at the time,” James said. “It wasn’t even a comment from me, it was someone who sent it to me and I sent it out. It wasn’t toward that team. It definitely wasn’t a good showing by that team last night, I know they wish they would’ve played better.”
The entry on James’ Twitter account did not indicate it was a re-tweet from another user. James also did not fully explain the meaning behind the statement, though he did say that karma is a word and concept “I’ve kinda always used my whole life.”
“I don’t think there was intent at all,” James said.
“I think everyone looks into everything I say. Everybody looks too far into it. No hit toward that organization. I’ve moved on and hopefully that organization is continuing to move on. But I’m happy where I am as a Miami Heat player.”
To recap: It wasn’t from him, but it was how he was feeling at the time, though it wasn’t about the Cavs. There wasn’t any intent, people look too much into what he says. Everyone should move on.
Here’s what I wrote yesterday about LeBron’s possible response to the inevitable criticism.
I foresee a sh*tstorm of criticism today at which point LeBron will release a statement/tweet that either a) refers to all critics as “haters,” b) claims that the tweet was not about the Cavs, or c) all of the above.
I didn’t foresee that LeBron would claim it was someone else’s tweet, even though nothing about the tweet indicates that it was written by someone else. (Twitter shows when something is retweeted, so LeBron would have had to copy and paste the text into a new tweet for it to show up the way it did.) LeBron did claim, however, that the tweet wasn’t about the Cavs.
This is all nonsense. LeBron should own up to his comments and take the consequences like a man. Instead, he’s claiming the tweet isn’t his, that it isn’t aimed at the Cavs and that people read “too far into” what he says. Always the victim.
Since LeBron James sent out an ill-advised tweet about how karma and/or God were punishing the Cavs, his team lost to the Clippers (111-105) and he twisted his ankle. He was able to finish the game, but is listed as questionable tonight against the Nuggets.
So is this just a random injury or is God/karma firing a shot across LeBron’s bow?