Skip Bayless Gives LeBron James C+ For Game Two Triple-Double

Both Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith have said some controversial things over the years, but Bayless’ claim that LeBron James’ triple-double performance in game two of the NBA Finals was only worthy of a C+ grade has the Internet in an uproar.

Skip Bayless Gives Lebron James C+

“I set my bar high for the man who is the best basketball player on this planet. And I’m here to tell you that occasionally LeBron’s overall numbers — which look sensational, once again, because they add up to a triple-double — can camouflage what really happened,” Bayless stated.

Skip, who has criticized James’s clutch nature in the past, commented on how James missed the end of regulation lay-up to win the game. If the Cavs would have lost, this would have been back-to-back games where LeBron missed game-winning shots before overtime.

Now, the big question about this whole controversy, is Skip Bayless right? Well, somewhat because James, even with the triple-double, has not been putting up the greatest shooting numbers. After Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving’s injuries, LeBron has had to take a large majority of the team’s shots. And while his field goal percentage is decently at .443, his three-point percentage is an abysmal .207.

As for last night’s game, Skip pointed out he missed two important lay-ups. However, he still managed a triple-double in 50 minutes, while only shooting .314 from the field. Very few players could have that abysmal of a percentage and still score 39 points.

And as Smith pointed out at the end, his presence on the court made him deserving of a higher grade; Matthew Dellavedova, James Jones and even Timofey Mozgov would not enjoy any success without the inclusion of the world’s greatest basketball player.

So though Bayless has a point that LeBron could be playing better, he needs to relax with the sensationalized headline. James has put this team on his shoulders and, even with a bad shooting game, was able to tie the series and almost won two away games against the Golden State Warriors.

Game three is tonight at 9 pm EST on ABC.