LeBron James: Miami Heat Star's 4th Quarter Disappearances a Mystery to NBA Fans

LeBron James' image appears everywhere—gracing magazine covers, touting sports drinks on television and now serving as a Dunkin' Donuts brand ambassador in Asia.

He dominates basketball coverage nearly every time we tune into ESPN's SportsCenter. 

Ubiquitous off the hardwood, he’s omnipresent on the basketball court, too. He can play point guard on offense, match up on the wing against the opposition’s best perimeter player and, when necessary, defend seven-footers in the paint. 

However, his presence never seems to surface in the place fans most expect an NBA superstar to be seen: the fourth quarter of basketball games. 

Inexplicably, the NBA’s biggest star has made the smallest impact on the grandest of NBA stages during the final 12 minutes of marquee games.

LeBron James was not out of rhythm, as some surmised, during last year’s NBA Finals against the 2011 NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks.

However, when needed most, he’s mysteriously been out of sight, as basketball fans have clearly seen.

Invisible. Absent. Checked out. M.I.A. Nowhere to be found.

From his NBA Finals appearance with the Cavs in 2007, to a disappointing showing in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2009, to June 2011’s NBA Finals fiasco in South Beach to last month’s unwillingness to take the final shot with the ball in his hand in the closing seconds of the NBA All-Star Game in Orlando, LeBron James continues to perpetuate his fourth-quarter disappearing act.

It seems as if search and rescue teams need to be deployed, trained investigators dispatched and NBA insiders involved to locate LeBron during crunch time. 

I wonder what NBA Commissioner David Stern thinks about where his league’s king without a ring goes once the horn sounds at the end of the third quarter of a key NBA game.

Theories abound on the Missing One’s enigmatic behavior and perplexing disappearances. Scribes have speculated that LeBron James shrinks away from the immense pressure of stardom. Competitors claim he voluntarily disappears, knowing he can’t compare to Kobe or MJ.

Exasperated fans have fumed because James’ fourth-quarter performances belie the NBA MVP’s brawn, bravado and basketball brilliance. Yes, fans have waited and watched for his excellence, but he continues to wilt when his skills are desperately desired. 

So, the obvious question begs for an answer. Where will King James be in the waning moments of the approaching 2012 NBA Playoffs when the Heat eventually square off against the Chicago Bulls, and then probably against the Western Conference Champs? 

Will the Witness withdraw, wallow away and leave us wanting…again? 

Or, will this Prince of Akron rise triumphantly in regal basketball splendor and become the fabulous finisher and fourth-quarter warrior we’ve all waited for him to become?

Basketball fans around the globe are watching, earnestly hoping that the Miami Heat superstar does not disappear again. And the king without a ring will finally get his bling.

Straight talk. No static.

MIKE – thee ultimate talking head on sports!

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