# OT: Adam Morrison Shuts Down LeBron James



## Xericx (Oct 29, 2004)

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=261104030



> But James, who scored 35 against the Spurs, never got into a rhythm. He shot just 3-of-13 from the floor as rookie Adam Morrison kept him off balance, forcing James to get his points at the free-throw line, where he made nine of his 10 attempts.


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## wastro (Dec 19, 2004)

We should either get a stickied Adam Morrison thread going or give him an entire sub-forum, in addition toe the OT sub-forum.


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## Xericx (Oct 29, 2004)

ah...i forgot about that thread...mods, feel free to move!

:biggrin:


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## wastro (Dec 19, 2004)

Xericx said:


> ah...i forgot about that thread...mods, feel free to move!
> 
> :biggrin:


haha sorry I didn't mean to rain on your parade or anything. I didn't even know there WAS an Ammo thread until you mentioned it. But thanks for the update, just the same.


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## Xericx (Oct 29, 2004)

yeah, he just got ragged on here so bad about his Defense...just giving a friendly headsup! i will eat crow about choosing LaMarcus/Roy over him being the wrong direction though....i hope he does well in Charlotte and I am now happy with my blazers team once again after cursing at the TV on draft day. 

:banana:


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## ehizzy3 (Jun 12, 2006)

morrison didnt shut down anybody. he was guarding damon jones, eric snow and wesley.


EDIT: well i guess he technically "shut" those 3 down but defintally not lebron james. i watched the game with nba league pass...


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## zagsfan20 (Dec 24, 2004)

> "You've just got to play your best and crowd him and know your teammates are going to be there," Morrison said. "There's going to be some nights that he's going to just do what he does. So you just make him work on his end, and just play as tough as you can because a guy like that can just flip it on."


Morrison just shut down the most dominant player in the NBA. Can we stop the griping that he's a bad defender.


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## Dan (Dec 30, 2002)

ignore the man behind the curtain.


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## zagsfan20 (Dec 24, 2004)

rose garden pimp said:


> morrison didnt shut down anybody. he was guarding damon jones, eric snow and wesley.
> 
> 
> EDIT: well i guess he technically "shut" those 3 down but defintally not lebron james. i watched the game with nba league pass...


I watched the game too, he was shutting Lebron down.


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## wastro (Dec 19, 2004)

zagsfan20 said:


> Morrison just shut down the most dominant player in the NBA. Can we stop the griping that he's a bad defender.


One game doesn't make anyone a good or bad defender.


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## zagsfan20 (Dec 24, 2004)

Hap said:


> me are confused.
> 
> LeBron scored 35, on 3-13 shooting, and made 9.
> 
> even if he made 3 three pointers, that's at most 18 points. Did they mean he shot that % during the time Morrison was guarding him?


He only scored 16 points.


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## zagsfan20 (Dec 24, 2004)

wastro said:


> One game doesn't make anyone a good or bad defender.


When you supposedly have no defense and you hold the most explosive offensive player in the NBA to a bad night, your not a bad defender.


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## Coatesvillain (Jul 17, 2002)

zagsfan20 said:


> I watched the game too, he was shutting Lebron down.


Man, I was watching the game too and Morrison did not shut down Lebron James. Lebron was off of his game from the jump.


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## zagsfan20 (Dec 24, 2004)

Coatesvillain said:


> Man, I was watching the game too and Morrison did not shut down Lebron James. Lebron was off of his game from the jump.


Good defense usually takes players off their game.


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## Coatesvillain (Jul 17, 2002)

zagsfan20 said:


> Good defense usually takes players off their game.


Morrison didn't start, Lebron wasn't really aggressive offensively from the jump. Morrison didn't get into the game no earlier until halfway through the first quarter (it was closer to the end of it).


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## LameR (Jan 4, 2004)

zagsfan20 said:


> When you supposedly have no defense and you hold the most explosive offensive player in the NBA to a bad night, your not a bad defender.


I'd call Kobe the most explosive offensive player, but I do agree with your point.


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## bryyan11 (May 24, 2006)

I watched the game and feel compelled to contribute to this argument. 

Morrison did indeed guard LeBron, BUT LeBron never made an aggressive move to score on Morrison. It seemed like he was trying to involve his teammates(which he did: 7 ast.) more than take over the game. He just waited for the double team, then dished to a teammate. 

Morrison and LeBron are two of my favorite players to watch, so I am not biased either way. That said, LeBron is in a completely different league than Morrison is, and if LeBron wanted to, he could have embarrased the rookie.


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## sabas4mvp (Sep 23, 2002)

bryyan11 said:


> I watched the game and feel compelled to contribute to this argument.
> 
> Morrison did indeed guard LeBron, BUT LeBron never made an aggressive move to score on Morrison. It seemed like he was trying to involve his teammates(which he did: 7 ast.) more than take over the game. He just waited for the double team, then dished to a teammate.
> 
> Morrison and LeBron are two of my favorite players to watch, so I am not biased either way. That said, LeBron is in a completely different league than Morrison is, and if LeBron wanted to, he could have embarrased the rookie.


excellent post... **Deleted, You know better then to post things like this.*


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## dudleysghost (Mar 24, 2006)

If Morrison really was primarily responsible for James low scoring output, than that is a pretty good showing. In the league today, making someone make FTs instead of jumpers isn't really holding them in check, but 16 pts from LBJ is a low number. I'm pretty skeptical though. How could Ammo have made LeBron earn his points from the line when LeBron shot 10 fts and Morrison only committed one foul? Why wouldn't Charlotte put guard LeBron with Gerald Wallace (who fouled out of the game guarding someone...)? Can anyone who saw the game and isn't a Zags homer testify that Morrison was the primary defender on LeBron?


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## zagsfan20 (Dec 24, 2004)

dudleysghost said:


> If Morrison really was primarily responsible for James low scoring output, than that is a pretty good showing. In the league today, making someone make FTs instead of jumpers isn't really holding them in check, but 16 pts from LBJ is a low number. I'm pretty skeptical though. How could Ammo have made LeBron earn his points from the line when LeBron shot 10 fts and Morrison only committed one foul? Why wouldn't Charlotte put guard LeBron with Gerald Wallace (who fouled out of the game guarding someone...)? *Can anyone who saw the game and isn't a Zags homer testify that Morrison was the primary defender on LeBron?*


ESPN.com already has confirmed it for you. Click on the earlier link.


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## mediocre man (Feb 24, 2004)

Difference between having an off shooting night and being shut down. I watched it too, and Morrison had nothing todo with LeBron's shooting night. He missed a lot of wide open jumpers and still had 9 rebounds and 7 assists which I believe are more than Morrison's totals for the year.


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## Oil Can (May 25, 2006)

Morrison is off to a fine start, and more of his shots will start to drop. The kid can flat out play.


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## Diable (Apr 26, 2005)

I wonder why the Bobcats took thier defensive stopper out of the game every time they were on defense at the end of the game.


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## Blazed (May 24, 2006)

zagsfan20 said:


> Morrison just shut down the most dominant player in the NBA. Can we stop the griping that he's a bad defender.


Morrison didn't shut anyone down and he's a terrible defender. *deleted*


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## Public Defender (May 5, 2003)

bryyan11 said:


> I watched the game and feel compelled to contribute to this argument.
> 
> Morrison did indeed guard LeBron, BUT LeBron never made an aggressive move to score on Morrison. It seemed like he was trying to involve his teammates(which he did: 7 ast.) more than take over the game. He just waited for the double team, then dished to a teammate.
> 
> Morrison and LeBron are two of my favorite players to watch, so I am not biased either way. That said, LeBron is in a completely different league than Morrison is, and if LeBron wanted to, he could have embarrased the rookie.


Thanks for this balanced assessment. I didn't watch the game - and the highlights I saw didn't really give much sense of what was behind James' relatively low-scoring game. It may be that the Bobcats are on to a good way to play Lebron - play him physically and double-team him, and force someone else to make plays. 

On balance, I'm happy that Morrison is finding a rhythm with the Bobcats. I enjoyed watching him play for Gonzaga. But I'm really encouraged by how Roy is fitting in with the Blazers. We'll know by mid-season if Portland feels like it's missing shooting range (which Morrison could provide), or if the team is better served having a multi-faceted guy like B-Roy and an inside presence like Aldridge.


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## dudleysghost (Mar 24, 2006)

zagsfan20 said:


> ESPN.com already has confirmed it for you. Click on the earlier link.


Like I just pointed out, ESPNs statement on the matter is internally inconsistent, and doesn't sound plausible. They said Ammo made LeBron earn it from the line, which is pretty much impossible since Morrison only committed one foul. Does Zags allegiance not allow you to see the inconsistency? I said it before, and you just chose to ignore it. And does it even make sense to put Morrison on LeBron instead of Gerald Wallace and Bernard Robinson? And do you notice the fact that you are the only one in here saying that Morrison should be credited with good defense, despite others having seen the game? Sorry if I don't take one anonymous AP writer's word over common sense, but I don't. I also at this point don't take the word of any Zags fans on Morrison, because you guys seem to sound more like Morrison's lawyer than an unbiased observer.

And speaking of observers, I looked up the game writeup in the Charlotte Observer. It seems like the local paper might take note if their much criticized small forward did a good job defending LeBron, but they make no mention of it.


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## Oil Can (May 25, 2006)

Remember-

ESPN
CNNSI
The Oregonian
KFXX
Portland Tribune
Martians


These organizations don't tell the truth! fans in here with witty nicknames are much better observers than former players, professional writers and martians!


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## Dan (Dec 30, 2002)

Oil Can said:


> Remember-
> 
> ESPN
> CNNSI
> ...


remember, espn, cnnsi, the oregonian, kfxx and the trib have also said that his defense is sub-par.


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## Blazed (May 24, 2006)

Hap said:


> remember, espn, cnnsi, the oregonian, kfxx and the trib have also said that his defense is sub-par.


Or downright sucks.


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## dudleysghost (Mar 24, 2006)

Oil Can said:


> Remember-
> 
> ESPN
> CNNSI
> ...


Again, you ignore the internal inconsistency of the AP (not ESPN) story. I'm not saying the AP writer is a liar, but just that his story isn't internally consistent, and despite your best efforts, no amount of sarcasm can hide that fact. Nobody besides you seems to be willing to confirm the fact that Morrison was supposedly the primary defender on LeBron, which suggests to me that the AP writer either didn't really intend to imply that or wasn't paying close enough attention to the game.


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## dudleysghost (Mar 24, 2006)

I looked up some photos from last nights game on Yahoo, actually trying to find evidence that Morrison was the primary defender on LeBron. I found this page:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/3704/photos

showing 1 photo of LeBron shooting against Gerald Wallace, 1 of him trying to shoot over Sean May, one two of him being guarded by Bernard Robinson, 1 more of him being guarded by Robinson with May coming to help, and one of him in the lane in the middle of four Bobcats, and none of them have Morrison in sight. I also looked in Google images for Morrison+LeBron (Morrison+James gives you pictures of Jim Morrison) and could find none there either. I really tried to find one...


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## Oil Can (May 25, 2006)

dudleysghost said:


> Again, you ignore the internal inconsistency of the AP (not ESPN) story. I'm not saying the AP writer is a liar, but just that his story isn't internally consistent, and despite your best efforts, no amount of sarcasm can hide that fact. Nobody besides you seems to be willing to confirm the fact that Morrison was supposedly the primary defender on LeBron, which suggests to me that the AP writer either didn't really intend to imply that or wasn't paying close enough attention to the game.



I don't have a link, but yesterday's Oregonian stated that Morrison frustrated LeBron. Sorry, I will take that word over a "Dudley's Ghost". I ignore nothing. 

Besides, I have posted twice in this thread, you guys keep it alive. Morrison will have a dandy rookie campaign, and his defense will improve. That is all I care about.


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## Oil Can (May 25, 2006)

BTW: 

From SI.Com

_He shot just 3-of-13 from the floor as rookie Adam Morrison kept him off balance, forcing James to get his points at the free-throw line, where he made nine of his 10 attempts._

From USAToday:

_``You've just got to play your best and crowd him and know your teammates are going to be there,'' Morrison said. ``There's going to be some nights that he's going to just do what he does. So you just make him work on his end, and just play as tough as you can because a guy like that can just flip it on.''_


From Cleveland Plain Dealer:

_"He's fun to watch," Cavs coach Mike Brown said of Morrison. "He has a chance to be a special player. He's tough. He's long. 

"What he has is a confidence within himself, a cockiness. He knows he's going to be good. He's not afraid. With his shooting range, he has a chance to be dangerous." _


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## Diable (Apr 26, 2005)

I watched that game and anyone who thinks that Adam Morrison shut down anyone is completely off their feed.Lebron James simply made no effort to score until the final minutes of that game when the Bobcats were taking Morrison out of the game every time they were on defense.He guarded Lebron for probably six minutes during the second quarter and not at all the rest of the game.Lebron was completely passive then and for the rest of the game,he shut himself down.

Christ stop trying to act as though people are stupid enough to believe any crap you or some idiot with an AP byline tries to feed them.


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## Oil Can (May 25, 2006)

Diable said:


> I watched that game and anyone who thinks that Adam Morrison shut down anyone is completely off their feed.Lebron James simply made no effort to score until the final minutes of that game when the Bobcats were taking Morrison out of the game every time they were on defense.He guarded Lebron for probably six minutes during the second quarter and not at all the rest of the game.Lebron was completely passive then and for the rest of the game,he shut himself down.
> 
> Christ stop trying to act as though people are stupid enough to believe any crap you or some idiot with an AP byline tries to feed them.


Again, I will take the Cleveland Plain Dealer, USA Today, and SI. over "Diable"


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## BlazerCaravan (Aug 12, 2004)

Don't be so hard on Oil Can Henry... he has to take them when he can get them.


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## Oil Can (May 25, 2006)

BlazerCaravan said:


> Don't be so hard on Oil Can Henry... he has to take them when he can get them.



Thanks Dodge Caravan!


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## zagsfan20 (Dec 24, 2004)

Oil Can said:


> Again, I will take the Cleveland Plain Dealer, USA Today, and SI. over "Diable"


Agreed.


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## BlazerCaravan (Aug 12, 2004)

zagsfan20 said:


> Agreed.


Shocking.


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