Historical Contrast

In crunch time of the 2011 NBA Finals games, Dirk (Nowitzky) Daggerheimer stepped up his game while Jester (Lebron) James shrunk from the pressure.

Within the last five minutes of 2011 NBA Finals games when the game was within five points these are the two players stats:

Daggerheimer

26 points

8-13 FG

9-9 FT

+18 (Team)

Jester James

ZERO points

0-7 FG

0-0 FT

-16 (Pawns)

Source: The Disney Sports Network

Heading into the Lakers series, Charles Barkley called it best, stating that Dirk Nowitzky is the best closer in teh game right now.

As for Lebron James (and even Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh), well late in Game 6, coming out of a timeout and the Heat's championship hopes essentially on the line, they came out and executed a play for Mario Chalmers. That pretty much says it all.

Picture: LBJ can't mock nearly as well as he can choke.