I think I speak for most fans who don’t want to hear players who are struggling talking trash.

Both Miami’s LeBron James and Vancouver’s Roberto Luongo were taking shots at players who were outplaying them.

At least Luongo is ahead in the series, but he’s also gave up 12 goals in two losses to Boston, while his counterpart, the Bruin’s Tim Thomas had given up six total goals in five games.

Luongo started complaining to the media before heading to Boston claiming he had been complimenting Thomas, while Thomas was not returning the favor.

“I have been pumping his tires ever since the series started,” Luongo said. “I haven’t heard one nice thing he had to say about me. That’s the way it is.”

Luongo was also critical of Thomas’ aggressive style, suggesting his more conservative style would not have led to the lone goal in the Canucks’ 1-0 game-five win over the Bruins.

“It’s not hard if you’re playing in the paint,” Luongo said. “It’s an easy save for me, but if you’re wandering out and aggressive like he does, that’s going to happen. He might make some saves that I won’t, but in a case like that, we want to take advantage of a bounce like that and make sure we’re in good position to bury those.” (more…)

By Brad Allis

Somewhere M.J. is shaking his head. Somewhere Kobe is chuckling. Somewhere Russell is counting his rings and looking confused at the screen.

Three of the greatest winners in NBA history know LeBron is not one of them. Not yet, and if he does not make some fundamental changes to his game, he never will be.

Never mind that Dirk Nowitzki has outscored him 52-11 in the fourth quarter, including an 8-2 advantage in game five. That is an issue, a huge issue, but not the worst part of it.

The issue is that James lacks a killer instinct, especially when it comes to exploiting a weakness. (more…)