#6 LeBron James

[King Taharqa]

LeBron James will either be missing some time or playing through some pain.

ESPN.com reports that the Miami Heat All-Star forward and leading MVP candidate suffered a finger injury during a Monday night game against the Indiana Pacers that could be somewhat serious.

LeBron James injured the ring finger on his left hand during Miami's 105-90 loss at Indiana on Monday, according to league sources.

The severity of the injury is not known point, but sources indicated the finger might be dislocated. The Heat did not practice Tuesday and had no comment on James' injury.

On Wednesday, ESPN.com reported that James told reporters following practice that he dislocated his finger against the Pacers. "But I popped it back in," James said. The site also reported that James was wearing a "splint" in his finger.

Obviously, the injury is on James' non-shooting hand. James' injury occurred during the first quarter and that he played through the injury after the finger was wrapped with tape. James shook his hand and grimacing in pain after trying to swipe the ball away from Pacers center Roy Hibbert.

ames played 41 minutes on Monday night, finishing with 24 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 6 turnovers. He shot 9-for-21 from the field.

James had missed just one game so far this season, sitting out a January 5 game at the Atlanta Hawks because of a sprained left ankle. He has also complained of discomfort in his right elbow this week, according to FoxSportsFlorida.com.

During a 9-year NBA career, James has been one of the NBA's most durable superstars. He has played in 674 of a possible 704 regular season games, has missed more than three games in a season just twice and has never missed more than 7 games in a season.

James, 27, is averaging 26.7 points, 8.3 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 2.0 steals in 37.7 minutes per game this season.

It won't be a disaster if James needs to sit for a bit. The Heat are currently the Eastern Conference's No. 2 seed with a record of 35-13. They're fairly well locked into that spot barring catastrophic injuries down the stretch, as they sit 3.5 games behind the No. 1 seed Chicago Bulls and 4 games in front of the No. 3 seed Orlando Magic with 18 games remaining on their schedule.

http://www.cbssports...slocated-finger

[CarolinaPride5]

LMAO, Of course it's his ring finger.

[King Taharqa]

MIAMI (AP)—No fourth-quarter collapse this time against Dallas. These days, everything seems to be going right at home for the Miami Heat.

LeBron James and Chris Bosh each finished with 19 points and nine rebounds, Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem scored 16 apiece and the Heat extended the league’s longest home winning streak this season to 15 games with a 106-85 win over the Mavericks in an NBA finals rematch on Thursday night.

Mario Chalmers scored 12 points and Norris Cole added 10 for Miami, which swept its two games with Dallas this season and snapped a two-game losing streak.

“We just worked our habits,” James said. “The best thing about tonight, we didn’t take another step backwards like we did the last two games. And it was good to see.”

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap?gid=2012032914

[Kakarot]

Bos vs Mia, damn I hate both of these teams, but I really despise Boston, so go Heat. Let's see what Pierce can do vs Lebron and vica versa.

[HeatCheck]

Shocked LBJ didn't have a single assist tonight. Part of that could be because Bosh couldn't hit a shot but still thought we could have seen one assists out of LBJ.

[Kevin Greene]

Boston showed they still have what it takes to compete. The Celtics will be even better come Playoff time when this veteran group gets more rest. Wisely, Doc Rivers plays his aging star Kevin Garnett just 31 minutes per game. They'll have plenty left in the tank come the real basketball season.

Bad week for the Heat.

Blowout double digit losses to the Thunder, the Pacers and now the Celtics.

Ouch.

[King Taharqa]

Bron's assist numbers have been down lately for some reason. Heat have looked slow, tired, and disinterested the past week or so and arent defending up to their standard. I expect them to turn it around by playoff time tho.

[HeatCheck]

LeBron scored a season high 41 points in a rematch of last year's first round matchup. He also added 4 assists (coming off a 0 asist game vs BOS ) and 6 rebounds without Wade.

[SuperMan]

Bron's assist numbers have been down lately for some reason. Heat have looked slow, tired, and disinterested the past week or so and arent defending up to their standard. I expect them to turn it around by playoff time tho.

Your right his choking will be at full effectiveness by then.

[King Taharqa]

LeBron gets the best of Durant tonight as the Heat defeat Thunder. 34 points, 10 assists, 7 rebounds, and 4 steals for the soon to be MVP LeBron James. Durant had 30 in the loss, but with LeBron checking him he had 9 TOs tonight. Heat have won 17 straight at home. Thunder have loss two in a row.

[HeatCheck]

Don't think the turnovers had much to do with LBJ, it was just sloppy play and poor decisions. And several of his turnovers were passes that were intercepted where he just made poor decisions.

LBJ passing is what put him above KD tonight, great passes. That's not to say KD played poorly. The 2nd quarter was what did OKC in when they stopped attacking the rim and settling for outside shots. Plus Westbrook wasn't on tonight.

[King Taharqa]

LBJ also defended much better than Durant tonight, forcing him into a tough shot at the end of the game that couldve tied it. Most of LeBron's steals came courtesy of KD as well. KD is a great scorer, but he hasnt gotten to that level yet where he can control a game defensively. Thats why I give Bron an edge over him.

[HeatCheck]

You referring to that turnaround on that baseline? That was really good defense.

Yeah I think LBJ is a better all around player as well. He defends better, he passes better, he has a better post game (neither really do though), he is a better finisher, and is just as good a rebounder. KD is the better scorer. You have to give the edge to LBJ.

But still don't think LBJ was that big of a factor for KD's turnovers tonight, just a lot stupid passes. Sometimes turnovers are just because there is sloppy play, poor thinking, and/or rushing attempts. Not saying LBJ played defense poorly, he always brings defense.

[King Taharqa]

The shot Im talking about is KDs missed 3 under a minute left. OKC tried to free him up with a screen but Bron recovered enough to contest the shot and force a miss that the Heat rebounded.