High Stakes Head Games

As a poker player and poker fan, I'm fascinated by high-stakes head games. And so when I noticed Lebron James say something to Gilbert Arenas and then tap his chest in the closing moments of game 6 of the opening round playoff series between the Cavs and the Wizards, I immediately hoped that everyone else noticed it and that I'd get to hear more.

After the game, both players answered questions about the incident, admitting that Lebron was trying to mess with Gilbert's mind. And it worked. Arenas missed the free-throw and basically cost his team the game.

I haven't watched a ton of coverage of that incident, but the little I've seen has focused on whether Lebron's move was unsportsmanlike or just part of the game. And I've agreed with the consensus that head-games are part of playing sports at a high level. This isn't polite tea and scones at the country club, it is war. If the refs let you do it, it is fair game.

But to me, the interesting part of it isn't as much what Lebron did, as how Gilbert reacted. As a modest Wizards fan, my very first reaction when I saw what Lebron was doing was an outraged "he can't do that!" and I wondered if the refs would do anything. They didn't. And that is when Gilbert should have done something.

What should he have done? Well whenever you ask a "what should you do" question about basketball, the best way to solve the problem is the WWJD method: What Would Jordan Do?

Can you imagine anyone trying to pull that stunt on Michael Jordan? There is absolutely no way in hell he would have let anyone get away with talking to him, yet alone touching him while he was at the line. He probably would have refrained from ripping out the trash-talker's throat, but he would have gotten up in his face and unleashed a profane tirade sharp enough to literally sever the testicles of the insolent fool.

MJ wasn't just the greatest basketball player ever, he was also the greatest trash talker ever. Jordan was the supreme alpha dog in a league full of alpha dogs. Everyone has their place in the pecking order, and he took every opportunity to tell everyone that they were below him.

So with the answer to the hypothetical WWJD, we can also look at very recent precedent. I can't find a video of it (lil help anyone?) but in last night's Suns-Clippers game, my boy Sam Cassell tried to run the same trick when Tim Thomas was at the foul line. A career bench player and underachiever, Thomas immediately put his hand in Sam's face and shoved him out of the way while yelling at him. Granted that was probably just a joke between two good friends in the 3rd quarter of a blowout, but still. If you can't be like Mike, you'd expect that an all-star like Arenas could at least be like Tim, right?

But what did Gilbert do?

NOTHING!



Watch Gilbert's face when Lebron talks to him - he's like a terrified child. During the timeout afterwards, he looks like he just wants to crawl into a hole and die. While some are optimistic about future of Gilbert Arenas and the Wizards, I'm not so sure.

How do you come back from that? Gilbert didn't assert himself. He didn't stand up to Lebron. He meekly surrendered to a superior. Game over.