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Message: [QUOTE="champs99and04, post: 2706342, member: 488"] Obviously he wanted to win the game. There have been a lot of players who have wanted to win games and not all of them were willing to play balls to the wall for 48 minutes on both ends at the age of 33, having gone to the finals seven straight years and understanding that realistically he had no shot at winning this season. The wear and tear of this many seasons under the microscope has to be exhausting. They'll tell you to a man that it's mentally and physically draining. Taking care of your body, compartmentalizing the anxiety of being a performer, constantly confronting scrutiny on and off the court...it drains you of every pore in your body. He would have had every right to go out there, play 40 minutes, put up his 30 points, hoard some rebounds and call it a season. He didn't and that's what makes him LeBron. Jeff Van Gundy said himself that Indiana was the better team. They were. They outscored the Cavs by 38 points in the series. You don't have to stretch that hard to come to the conclusion that they would have won with slightly better focus and execution. Everyone saw it. Look, it was a great series, all you can ask for as a fan of the game. But there's a difference between gaining respect and actually having someone's attention. The opportunity was there for that Pacers team and they just came up a little short. [/QUOTE]