LeBron James has been cussed out by hostile crowds before.
“It was just the first time it’s been in unison. Everybody at the same time said it,” James said with a smile yesterday.
Welcome to the Garden, LeBron. An intimate gathering of 19,763 getting together to serenade James lovingly with “A–hole, A–hole,” chants is part of what the Heat superstar will take away from his first Garden playoff appearance Thursday night.
Part, not all. He will remember most that the Heat won Game 3 of their Eastern Conference series, 87-70, to thrust the Knicks into a near-impossible to recover from 3-0 disadvantage. James already was stinging because he was in foul trouble. Face it, NBA superstars rarely get serious foul trouble. He was stinging because his play was uncharacteristic, with turnovers mounting. And he was stinging because the Knicks were hanging with the Heat. So the chants didn’t help.
“It was a little bit of everything. It was because of the fans, how the game was going,” James said about what inspired him to grab the game by the throat early in the fourth quarter (when he scored 17 of his 32 points) and never let go. “We felt we were right there to break the game wide open and we couldn’t make a couple shots.
“We kind of felt if we could get enough stops, we could kind of break the game open if we made a couple shots. That was my intention coming into the fourth and I just fed off the crowd, fed off my teammates and I was able to knock a few down to start the fourth and we kind of broke it open from there.”
They also broke the Knicks’ backs and spirit in the process. That was what matter most to James, not responding to some rude treatment. Getting a win and helping in other areas, such as on defense, where he was again superb.
“I played well enough to help our team win. That’s what it’s about,” James said. “I had some unforced turnovers, that was careless on my part. But I stayed in tune with the game. I was still able to get to the free throw line, make my free throws. Even defensively, I was able to stay in tune as well even when I was having foul trouble and turning the ball over. That’s what it’s about, trying to do other things even when you’re not playing as well as you know you can.”