Hey LeBron...Ball Don't Lie

I don't hate LeBron James. Well maybe I do a little. Ok, I can't stand him. But I'm glad I can't stand him. It is because of this hatred that I believe that the NBA is currently having one of the greatest regular seasons I can remember. Friends of mine who have lost interest in the NBA are tuning in again because they are fired up about LeBron. It might be the best NBA regular season in the 21st century. Mind as well go out on top, NBA. It was nice knowing you.

LeBron can't get all the credit for a great start to the 2010-2011 NBA season. I, perhaps selfishly, credit the Knicks success for helping in the resurgence of the league. A packed Madison Square Garden is good for basketball. The other reason the NBA is good again, perhaps great (?), is Blake Griffin. Even though he is stuck on the worst franchise in the history of the game, a team whose owner heckles his players during games, the Clippers are must-watch TV (or at least check out the highlights). In just a half-season Griffin has already compiled a list of dunks [capped by the "dunk" (face rape) on Timofey Mozgov] that puts him in the conversation for best dunker of all-time.

Blake already had his run-in with the Knicks, as Mozgov was the Russian center that the Knicks curiously decided to sign to a three-year deal this summer even though he is over seven feet and can't rebound, so it was time for Blake to meet up with LeBron. Their game was scheduled for last night. To build the drama, LeBron decided it was a good idea to use twitter to trash his old team, after they were humiliated by the Lakers on Tuesday by a score of 112-57. During the closing minutes of that game, LeBron decided it was a good idea to tweet: "Crazy. Karma is a b****.. Gets you every time. Its not good to wish bad on anybody. God sees everything!" While he doesn't call out the Cavaliers specifically, every sportswriter and fan in America knows that is what he was talking about. The genius is mad at Cleveland because he was surprised they weren't thrilled with "The Decision" to take his talents to South Beach. While you can't be mad at him for wanting a change of scenery, I deprived Warwick, NY of my talents a long time ago (you're welcome, Aston, PA), the decision to announce his decision on an ESPN special was ill-advised. Barry O', LeBron is not. The thing is though, that once that tweet went out, you knew it was going to come back and bite LeBron. Because, yes, Karma is a b****, and in the basketball world, the Ball Don't Lie.

"Ball Don't Lie" is a phrase I believe coined by coach Flip Saunders, but made famous by Rasheed Wallace. Ball Don't Lie is in reference to a questionable foul call. If a ref makes a borderline call, the answer on whether or not it actually was a foul, is determined by the foul shots. If he makes the foul shots it was a foul. If he misses, it wasn't. In LeBron's case, Ball Don't Lie logic was going to come into play in last night's game against the Clippers. The Heat were rolling, winners of 13 straight road games, which was one more win than the Clippers have had all season. Before the game, LeBron said that his stupid tweet was not in reference to the Cavs. Instead he had this to say about it:

"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." (Article here)

When asked what it was in reference to, LeBron was shut down by the Heat PR staff. So if the tweet was directed to the Cavs, the Heat were going to lose to the miserable Clippers, because the Ball Don't Lie. I predicted that the Clippers would win (Ryan, Vic, and Rey can back this up) and they did. I predicted (and hoped) for Lebron to get "Mozgoved" by Griffin. He did not. But he did sprain an ankle and is now day-to-day. A great team losing to the Clippers is equal to a bad team getting blown out to the Lakers. Ball Don't Lie, LeBron. I hope your ankle gets better soon!