Daily Madden: The Heat's Team Effort
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - In the end it wasn't even close. The Miami Heat out-shot the Oklahoma City Thunder to win Game 5 of the NBA Finals and the Championship Thursday night. LeBron James had a triple-double and was named the series MVP. But John Madden told the KCBS morning crew that James was just one part of the story.
"There are a lot of other guys that played pretty well," Madden said. "Sometimes we try to do that too much -- we try to simplify a game down to a guy or two... It's still a team game, and it takes a lot of other guys."
In NFL news, Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson has announced his retirement. "He will be a Hall-of-Famer," John said, "He's one of the all-time greats."
New 49ers running back Brandon Jacobs thrilled a young fan with a trip to a bounce house. The boy had sent Jacobs a few dollars in an attempt to keep him from leaving the New York Giants. "I think we need more of those stories in the NFL right now in the off-season," John said. "Between the players and the league, it seems to me to be very contentious. The union is mad at the league, the league is mad at the union... Everything seems to be such a downer that when you hear a story like that it makes you feel good."
Struggling Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum faces the A's in Oakland Friday night, hoping to turn his season around. "If it were simple, it would be simple to fix," Madden said. "It's probably a combination of a lot of things. Usually when something like that happens it's a loss of confidence ... I think that's one of the things, but again that's not the whole thing."
Listen to the John Madden segment live weekday mornings at 8:15 on KCBS All News 740 AM/106.9 FM.
(Copyright 2011 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
