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LeBron James Plays Bad Guy For Miami Heat Despite Lack of Reason to Hate Him on The Court Is it possible to be the most hated player in the NBA without ever acting in any sort of villainous manner? "The Decision" is still fresh in everyone's mind and fans continue to turn disgust of the one hour event into an all-out personal assault against James. He has turned into public enemy No. 1 in the league and fans are tuning in just to root against him. Playoff TV ratings are up across the board after experiencing a 45-percent increase in viewership during the regular season. People want to see the bad guy fail and right now they aren't getting their wish. But the ironic thing is, LeBron's brand of basketball doesn't even meet his label according to ESPN's Michael Wilbon: LeBron doesn't play with any noticeable physicality, hardly ever fouls anybody hard, doesn't talk much -- if any -- trash by today's standards, and other than a couple of notable occasions of walking off the court without shaking hands after playoff series defeats (a trend that, annoyingly, seems to be on the increase across the league), has been guilty of nothing objectionable. He simply hasn't fit the villain's bill.
MUST READ: Power Ranking The Last 18 Winners of The 2011 Finals MVP Sometimes he can be a bit over dramatic when he is fouled hard, but overall you can't complain with the way he plays the game. He is a physical force that is as a unique an athlete as any in all of professional sports. Hate him for his actions last summer, but don't hate the way he plays the game. Don't hate him for making the NBA as popular as it's been since Michael Jordan in the mid-90's. We love sports because it allows us on occasion to experience greatness. And when James takes the floor Tuesday night for Game One of the NBA Finals, that's exactly what we wanted to see all along—regardless of any decisions made this past summer.
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