Whether it's fair or not, you have to feel for King James at the moment. He passed out of a double team to a shooter with a ridiculously wide open look at a three pointer, the epitome of playing team-oriented basketball. Then that teammate missed the shot, and Cleveland's down 1-0 to the Detroit Pistons, having lost 79-76. And Donyell Marshall, the shooter in question, is still only feeling a fraction of the backlash around that play. The rest is going to the guy who made a pretty assist that, had the shot gone in, would have netted his team a very likely win on the opponent's court and a triple double to make the folks on Sportcenter giddy.

But it is fair, and I now am starting to wonder if maybe those saying James doesn't have the necessary killer instinct to reach his potential haven't stumbled upon something. James in general was far too timid all night, and his stat line, as close to a triple double as it might be, shows it. 10 points, 10 rebounds, and 9 assists. And only three shots taken in the fourth quarter. It's not a suggestion to go Tracy McGrady on us and chuck up just about everything. But if Cleveland wants any chance in this series, James is going to have to stop shying away from taking the basketball in his hands and doing something with it that will directly translate to offensive points.

Dishing off to teammates is great and should be encouraged throughout the game. But when it's crunch time, there's a reason why LeBron is the superstar and Donyell Marshall is not. It's hard to criticize LeBron, since passing out of a double team to an open shooter is good basketball smarts. But Marshall had made one shot all night. LeBron gets all the attention he gets because he's better than his Cavalier cohorts. Double team be damned, in that position LeBron needs to attack the rim and try for that layup, just like he should have been doing all night long with that football player-like build he has.

The chances of success in either the form of a whistle or a made basket are better than relying on a reserve who has in a split second been asked to take the hardest shot of the game, as open as he was. Perhaps LeBron is too humble to even himself realize that he's better than everyone on his team and possibly everyone on the floor.