Lebron James

SORRY, IT'S hard for me to shed any tears over the recent exile from high school basketball of LeBron James, a senior at St. Vincent-St. Mary's in Akron, Ohio, and the best scholastic basketball player in the nation. The Ohio High School Athletic Association not only had the right to strip him of his amateur status, but an obligation to do so for the thousands of other high school athletes in this country. When James accepted $845 worth of retro jerseys from a clothing store, he should have known that he was forfeiting the rest of his high school career.

LeBron James scored 24 points, and the Miami Heat had a rebounding edge for a change on Sunday to beat the woeful Washington Wizards, 99-71. The host Heat, beaten on the boards by a total of 38 rebounds over the previous three games, this time enjoyed a 50-39 advantage. Udonis Haslem led them with 12 rebounds, and Chris Bosh had nine. James extended his streaks of scoring at least 20 points to 32 consecutive games this season, and 53 in a row including last year's playoff run. Elsewhere: Kemba Walker had 20 points and Ben Gordon added 18 points as the Charlotte Bobcats beat the Detroit Pistons 108-101 in overtime in Auburn Hills, Mich., for just their second win in 21 games.

High school basketball star Le-Bron James selected Aaron Goodwin as his agent. The decision comes a week before 13 NBA teams hope to land James in the draft lottery. Goodwin, who represents Milwaukee Bucks guard Gary Payton, was expected to be the choice. Still, the announcement ended a nearly 2-year courtship by sports agents trying to sign an 18-year-old client who soon will be worth millions. James, who starred at St. Vincent-St. Mary in Akron, Ohio, will forgo college in order to enter the NBA. Goodwin first saw James play in an AAU game 2 years ago and has been part of his inner circle for some time.

He leaves basketball fans gasping in awe. But will he have the same effect on moviegoers? That's the question on Hollywood execs' minds now that NBA superstar LeBron James is about to star in his first feature film. E! News says the Miami Heat megastar will play a basketball superstar (natch) in producer Brian Grazer 's Ballers . (Could there be a more awful title?) E! says it's about "a group of guys who attend adult basketball camp," whatever that means. Tyson, movie star . . . In other sports-superstar-turned-thesp news, Maxim mag says Mike Tyson 's film career is flourishing.

TATTLE HAS always thought there was a problem with basketball players in movies - basketball players are vertical; movie screens are horizontal. Oh, yeah, and they can't act. Yet the legends of the NBA keep trying. Remember Shaquille O'Neal in "Kazaam" or Julius Erving in "The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh"? We thought not. Aside from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in "Airplane," can anyone recall a good movie performance by a pro hoopster? LeBron James hopes to change that. LeBron will make his feature- film debut by playing himself in the comedy "Fantasy Basketball Camp.

DALLAS - Dwyane Wade refused to look back. No, he said, before practice Monday, he doesn't consider that the Miami Heat should have a three-games-to-none lead in the best-of-seven NBA Finals. The margin is 2-1, close on the scoreboard even though it doesn't feel that way on the floor. The Heat have repeatedly built double-digit cushions against the Dallas Mavericks, and a late collapse in Game 2 is all that's keeping them from the lead that's never been blown in an NBA series.

LEBRON JAMES has endorsed McDonald's, Nike and State Farm, but there's one product right now on the streets of Philadelphia carrying his name that he most certainly did not endorse - heroin. Upper Darby police said that they busted a major heroin dealer from Philadelphia on Thursday who had 140 packets of the deadly drug - all of which were stamped with the silhouette of a basketball player and the name "LeBron James. " "I don't think LeBron James would be too happy with this drug-dealer dude using his name on these street bags," said Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood.

OK, LET ME get this straight. The Phillies pull off a heart-stopper of a win in the 12th inning. Meanwhile, LeBron James gets the most disgusting ego massage I've seen in years, getting a one-hour special on ESPN to make a 10-second announcement. ("Oh, but it raised money for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. " Write a check, LeBron!) And you put the egomaniac on your back cover? The one who doesn't live here, doesn't play here, who likely has few to no fans here? Putting James on your back cover is a slap in the face to the Phillies and their fans.

Two days before the Miami Heat won an NBA championship, with LeBron James forging a triple-double to complete one of the greatest performances in league playoff history, I was sitting in a chair getting a haircut. Just to make idle chatter, my stylist, perhaps recognizing the dearth of substantive sports conversation in the summer months when the Phillies are slogging along in last place, asked me what I was going to talk about that day on my radio show. "Well," I replied, "there's always LeBron.

LeBron James needs 18 points to become the 38th NBA player to score 20,000 in his career. If it happens Wednesday when the Miami Heat visit the Golden State Warriors, James (28 years, 17 days) will be more than a year younger than Kobe Bryant was when he got there at 29 years, 122 days. James would be the seventh-fastest to the 20,000 club, in his 726th regular-season game. Wilt Chamberlain needed 499 games, followed by Michael Jordan (620), Oscar Robertson (671), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (684)

SAN ANTONIO - LeBron James was better as promised. Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh were the best they've been since the playoffs started. Riding big performances from their Big Three, the Miami Heat tied the NBA Finals with a 109-93 victory over the San Antonio Spurs last night in Game 4. James had 33 points and 11 rebounds after failing to break 20 points in any of the first three games of the series, and Wade scored 32 points, 11 more than...

A DAY later, LeBron James didn't back down. When the Miami Heat was embarrassed by 36 points in Game 3 of the NBA Finals, James took all the blame and even lauded his teammates for playing great. Shortly after that 113-77 debacle of a Spurs' victory ended Tuesday night, James insisted that he would do enough to change the way the Heat competes in Game 4. And yesterday, James' tune was the same. "I'm putting all the pressure on my chest, on my shoulders to come through for our team," James said, virtually echoing what he had vowed the previous night.

Somehow, some way, the San Antonio Spurs seem to have discovered a secret that every team in the league desperately searched for all season long. They have figured out a way to slow down LeBron James. Whether it's Kawhi Leonard's incredible wingspan, Danny Green's dogged determination, or a stash of kryptonite that Tim Duncan happened upon while taking a walk along the banks of the San Antonio River, it's working. And yet the Spurs return home for Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Tuesday night perhaps feeling lucky to have earned a split in Miami.

MIAMI - If LeBron James played for the San Antonio Spurs, Gregg Popovich might have a message for him. It's the same one he's occasionally delivered to Tim Duncan. Selfless play is great. Moving the ball to open teammates is usually the right idea. That belief has carried the Spurs to four NBA titles. Sometimes, though, it's best if the superstar takes on more himself. "I've talked to players before about being more aggressive," Popovich said Friday, after the Spurs practiced following their 92-88 victory over the Miami Heat in Game 1. "Opportunities might be there that they didn't take advantage of. That happens with Timmy now and then.

MIAMI - Before reaching the top of basketball, LeBron James was run over by the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs swept James' Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2007 NBA Finals, so long ago that the winning game plan focused on exploiting James' weaknesses. Those are nearly impossible to find now, and James essentially warned the Spurs that they shouldn't bother looking. The Spurs already know. "He'll be a lot more of a problem than he was in '07, that's for sure," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said yesterday, on the eve of Game 1. Tim Duncan told the beaten James minutes after that series that the league would someday belong to him, and he was right.

HOURS AWAY from drawing the toughest defensive assignment of his 2-year career with the San Antonio Spurs, Kawhi Leonard wasn't feverishly taking mental notes of how to guard LeBron James. The second-year pro was simply relaxing at home Monday night, watching Miami rout the Indiana Pacers, 99-76, to set up a showdown with San Antonio in the NBA Finals. Seeing how Paul George and Lance Stephenson defended James wasn't as important to Leonard as the outcome. "I was just [lying down]

Hours away from drawing the toughest defensive assignment of his two-year career with the San Antonio Spurs, Kawhi Leonard wasn't feverishly taking mental notes on how to guard LeBron James. The second-year pro was simply relaxing at home Monday night, watching Miami rout the Indiana Pacers, 99-76, to set up a showdown with San Antonio in the NBA Finals. Seeing how Paul George and Lance Stephenson defended James wasn't as important to Leonard as the outcome. "I was just laying down, seeing who we were going to play," he said.

THEIR SEASON, their legacy, their reign atop the NBA was all at stake, and the Miami Heat responded in a manner befitting defending champions - with a blowout. LeBron James scored 32 points and grabbed eight rebounds, ailing Dwyane Wade matched his postseason high with 21 points, and the Heat ran away from the visiting Indiana Pacers, 99-76, in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals last night. The Heat will play the San Antonio Spurs for the NBA title in a series that starts Thursday in Miami.

PACERS CENTER Roy Hibbert apologized yesterday for using profanity and a gay slur after Saturday's Eastern Conference finals win over the Heat. After the game, which forced tonight's Game 7 in Miami, Hibbert was asked why he finished 10th in Defensive Player of the Year Voting. "I mean, you know what? Cuz y'all [incestuous expletives] don't watch us play throughout the year, to tell you the truth," Hibbert said. "Alright? So that's fine, you know. I'm going to be real with you, and I don't care if I get fined.

THERE WILL BE no win-or-else Game 6 in the Eastern Conference finals for the Miami Heat this season. LeBron James saw to that, and now the reigning champions are one victory from a third straight trip to the NBA Finals. James finished with 30 points, eight rebounds and six assists, Udonis Haslem made his last eight shots on the way to a 16-point night, and the Heat used a dominant third quarter to turn things around and beat the visiting Indiana Pacers, 90-79, in Game 5 last night.