$20 Chinese Food!

Is there anything better in this world than LeBron James?

I am not an athlete idolizer by any means, but it seems as if anything LeBron touches right now is pure gold. The Olympics. The NBA regular season. Announcing he will be in next year's dunk contest. That State Farm commercial where he dances like Kid N' Play. And now the puppet commercial. Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtzQ0eXVoJo

And then the ridiculousness of LeBron got a little more ridiculous tonight. With one second remaining, LeBron hit a fadeaway three to snatch victory away from the Magic.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4200792

Simply insane.

And it made me wonder a little more what I already debated and thought about in terms of LeBron and the Black Mamba. Not necessarily who is better, but who would you rather have at the end of a game?

I always made the argument that LeBron is now a better player than Kobe, but when it comes down to needing someone to hit a game winner I would choose Kobe. Is that the right choice?

After looking at the fantastic website http://www.82games.com/, I learned some interesting stats. They break down game winning shots for the following seasons: Regular Seasons: '03-04, '04-05, '05-06, '06-07, '07-08, '08-09 (thru 2/4) and playoffs: '03-04, '04-05, '05-06, '06-07, '07-08. Game Winning Shot Opportunity = 24 seconds or less left in the game, team with the ball is either tied or down by 1 to 2 points.

Under this definition, the league leader is LeBron James. He is 17-50 (34%) while Vince Carter is second with 16 (31.4%), Ray Allen with 15 (38.5%), and Kobe Bryant with 14. Here is the shocker! Kobe is 14-56 for a shooting percentage of 25%. He has the most missed game winners in the league!

82 games also looks at clutch players. For these stats "Clutch" is defined as: 4th quarter or overtime, less than 5 minutes left, neither team ahead by more than 5 points.

The top 3 at the end of the 08-09 regular season? Kobe at 56.7 points/48 minutes, LeBron at 55.9 points/48 minutes, and Carmelo Anthony at 54.4 points/48 minutes. No suprise that these three are still playing. Yet how about these other numbers for LeBron per 48 minutes in clutch time? 14.3 rebounds, 12.6 assists, and 3.5 steals. He just takes over the game in all aspects.

So who do you take? Hard to argue with this: