Well, that didn’t exactly go as planned.
After much was made of Brooklyn veteran [Paul Pierce requesting Miami überstar LeBron James as his defensive assignment][1], the four-time NBA MVP torched the nets and the Nets in Game 4 Monday night for 49 points on 16-for-24 shooting.
As you would imagine, Pierce became a popular Twitter target in the aftermath of Miami’s 102-96 win, which put Brooklyn in a 3-1 hole in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
http://twitter.com/SportsNation/status/466248766790840320
Pierce, who scored 16 points in the loss, wasn’t the only Net who couldn’t as much as slow down the unstoppable James. [NBA.com/stats][2] showed LeBron scored 11 while being guarded one-on-one by the Kansas University product. James made 3 of 5 shots, 1 of 2 3-pointers, drew four fouls and drove to the paint twice versus The Truth.
Still, Pierce, a longtime rival of James at this point, had to be disappointed that he couldn’t lead the charge in containing the force that is LeBron.
[Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated][3] noted a few reasons why Pierce never would buddy up with The King:
> James’s constant complaining irks
> Pierce, as does his belief, league
> sources say, that James once tried to
> recruit Doc Rivers to Cleveland when
> Rivers was coaching the Celtics.
Publicly at least, [James claimed all the hoopla over Pierce wanting to guard him didn’t inspire the huge night][4].
> “I really don’t care what Paul has to
> say. We don’t really get involved in
> that.”
Game 4 was a difficult, potentially back-breaking loss for Brooklyn.
Rare postgame sight: Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett sitting at their lockers in full uniform when media was let in. Loss stung them. #Nets
— Rod Boone (@rodboone) May 13, 2014
But Pierce, as quoted by [Andrew Keh of The New York Times][5], hasn’t lost all hope.
> “We’ve just got to get one game.
> That’s the mind-set. The series is far
> from over. We’ve got to go down there,
> try to get one game and force the
> series back home.”
The Nets are on the brink of elimination, in part, due to a timely pass from KU product Mario Chalmers, who dished one of his seven assists in the final minute to Chris Bosh for a 3-pointer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp8pYP4LhRQ
Chalmers, who had made 2 of 3 bombs of his own and scored 8 points, passed up a shot for an even better look.
Chalmers thought about launching after getting pass from LeBron. “Decided to make the extra pass.” Saw Bosh out of corner of his eye.
— Ethan J. Skolnick, 5 Reasons Sports (@EthanJSkolnick) May 13, 2014
The Heat will try to close out the series in Game 5 Wednesday night at Miami (6 p.m., TNT).
Paul Pierce on Game 5: “We’ve got to play aggressive, we’ve got to play smart. The season’s on the line. … Desperation mode.”
— Andy Vasquez (@andy_vasquez) May 14, 2014
—
*- Keep up with the production of all the ‘Hawks in the NBA [daily at KUsports.com][6].*
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[1]: http://www2.kusports.com/weblogs/hawks_nba/2014/may/12/pierce-wants-to-guard-lebron/
[2]: http://stats.nba.com/featured/sportvu_matchup_data_no_stopp_2014_05_13.html
[3]: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nba/news/20140513/lebron-james-49-points-miami-heat-brooklyn-nets/index.html
[4]: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/hockey/rangers/lawrence-long-live-king-nets-article-1.1789898
[5]: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/13/sports/basketball/after-big-game-for-james-heat-escape-in-final-minute.html?ref=basketball
[6]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/mens_basketball/hawks_nba/
[7]: https://twitter.com/BentonASmith
