Salty LeBron James Gets Snippy Over Reasonable Postgame Question

By Matt Dolloff, CBS Boston

BOSTON (CBS) -- LeBron James is happy to talk about himself and the Cavs when they win. Just don't ask him questions when they lose.

LeBron had a shockingly poor effort in Game 3 as the Celtics pulled a stunning upset win over the Cavs on Sunday night. He finished with just 11 points on 4-for-13 shooting, including 0-for-4 from three-point range. LeBron was especially bad at the end of the game, shooting 0-for-4 with one rebound, one assist, and two turnovers in the final 16:31, according to ESPN.

To be fair, LeBron was reasonably accountable for his abysmal performance after the game, repeating "I didn't have it" while giving his teammates credit for lifting him up.

But the bad look came when LeBron fielded a question from Cleveland radio host Kenny Roda, who basically asked him to get into more detail of why he and the Cavs struggled as the Celtics game back from a 21-point deficit. After a loss like that and a game like he had, Roda's question should have been the bare minimum of expectations. But LeBron didn't like it:

"I was just pretty poor. What do you want me to say?" said LeBron. "Seems like you only ask questions when we lose. It's a weird thing with you Kenny. You always come around when we lose. I swear."

I admit I'm not the world's foremost Kenny Roda expert, but it appears that LeBron is basically accusing him of being the Dan Shaughnessy of Cleveland sports media. He only slithers out of the darkness when the local team loses. He thrives on attacking negative angles. He feeds off your blood, tears, and disappointment.

If Roda really is Cleveland's resident troll, then perhaps it's hard to control your emotions when you see him step to the microphone. Roda hosts an afternoon drive show on Cleveland sports radio, so LeBron is probably sick of his hot takes.

Still, this is an inexcusable reaction by LeBron to this question. He's probably going to go off in Games 4 and 5 and the Cavs are probably still going to end up rolling to the NBA Finals, so there's just no need for him to get so snippy over one tough question - which actually wasn't even that tough in the first place.

Roda defended himself on Twitter shortly after the presser, dispelling the notion that he only shows up when the Cavs lose:

Still, Roda has to have said some inflammatory things about LeBron on the radio to garner that kind of a reaction over such a benign question. But if there were any night that LeBron should expect to get hard questions about a bad night on the court, it would have been Sunday night.

It's OK LeBron, you're still the best in the world.

LeBron must have thought everyone would pat him on the head and tell him everything is going to be OK. But he didn't need that. Everyone still knows that it probably is going to be OK for him and the Cavs. He didn't owe the press anything after the game, but all he had to do was not act like a petulant child and he wouldn't still be getting ripped today. Just own it, leave it at "I was just pretty poor" and move on, because you're going to win the series anyway.

LeBron is still the greatest basketball player alive and the Cavs are still eventually going to the NBA Finals. That only makes Sunday's postgame reaction worse.

Matt Dolloff is a writer/producer for CBSBostonSports.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect that of CBS or 98.5 The Sports Hub. Have a news tip or comment for Matt? Follow him on Twitter @mattdolloff and email him at mdolloff@985thesportshub.com.

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