Lebron is great, but still leaves something to be desired

Let me start by saying that I like Lebron James. He's my favorite player. I consider him second only to Kobe as the best scorer in the League. He handles himself with such class, and such grace, that you would think he's much older than he is. When the man wants to go to the rack, he's going to the rack, period. So you can say I like the guy, both as a player and a person. But watching this second round series against the Celtics, I have had to face a hard reality...Lebron has some shortcomings in the clutch.
Cleveland had a slim lead, five I think, and they were working it down court, trying to eat up some clock. Of course, at this point, everything was running through Lebron. Delonte West was bringing the ball up court, but as soon as he passed the time line, it went straight to Lebron. What he did next left me slightly puzzled and slightly queasy. He drove right, encountered resistance, and launched an off balance 18 footer as he was falling out of bounds at an angle that placed him almost behind the backboard...What? That would suck in the second quarter of a game in December, but you'd easily let it ride. But in the fourth quarter of an elimination game? With the Celtics knocking on the door yet again? Lebron?
After my initial "wtf?" reaction, I started to think back to Michael Jordan's days. What would MJ have done right there? I mean, Lebron is kind of carrying the torch into the next generation, so I think it's a fair comparison. And you know what MJ would have done...He would have gone straight to the rack and drawn the foul, maybe the "and one." Or he would have lost his man and drilled a clean look from inside 15 feet. But he definitely wouldn't have pulled that stunt. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I've seen Lebron doing this crap before. In fact, this entire series he has been less than stellar, except for tonight incidentally. What kind of sign is this?
I know Lebron has it in him to step it up in the clutch. Last season, for instance, when they went to the Finals with what I think was an inferior team to this year's team. I know that would have never happened in a million years without Lebron. But if Lebron is really going to be "King James," I need to see him consistently dragging teams, not coming up with these duds. Maybe he'll come out with some kind of cold blooded, 40-15 game on Sunday in Game 7, complete with an 18 point fourth quarter in which he blocks a potential game tying shot and wins a bare knuckles fight with Paul Pierce. Oh goodness I'm all worked up just thinking about it. But in the meantime, I've got the Lakers on right now, and Kobe just abused half the Jazz with a double-clutch floater in traffic. Even if I can't stomach Kobe as a person, I have to admit, he's the guy you absolutely don't want to have to guard in the fourth quarter. If only he would stop with the happy faces and great teammate act. It's creeping me out.
Another thing that has been bothering me throughtout the playoffs is the awkwardness of the sideline reporters. Seriously. First of all, I haven't heard one thoughtful question asked yet. Why do I need Lisa Salters to ask Popovich if the plan for the second quarter is to get the ball to Tim Duncan? To paraphrase Pop, that's the freaking plan EVERY QUARTER!! Of EVERY GAME!! And then Pop shook his head and walked away. Also, is it just me or are all the guys always giving Pam Oliver that look like they can't wait to run into her in the hotel bar later on. Finally, and I know this is a dead horse, but can someone please tell Craig Sager that he either needs to get a retarded amount of gold jewelry and a pimp cup, or a new tailor. It's one or the other Craig. You can't go around being a middle aged white guy wearing suits that look like a cross between Don "Majic" Juan and Jim Carrey in Dumb and Dumber. It's too distracting. I need to focus all my attention on Phil Jackson's answer when you ask him if he needs a big game from Kobe for the Lakers to win tonight.

Postscript-I just saw that Lebron is averaging 29.3 a game in the last three games of the Boston series. That's cool. Just don't forget that he only averaged 18.8 a game in the first three. C'mon Lebron, take it to the next level.