The only problem is that both of those emotions will be held by the Oklahoma City Thunder when after the Miami Heat defeat them in this year's NBA Finals.
Now I know what you may be thinking: the Heat are coached by Erik Spoelstra, Chris Bosh is still coming off an injury, Dwyane Wade has looked certifiably awful on many occasions these playoffs and he's also leading the team in blocks per game, Mike Miller might as well be walking on the court with the aid of one of those walkers with tennis balls on the bottom, Shane Battier is old, and oh yea it's LeBron James in the Finals, how do you have them winning?
My answer is simple: it's just their time.
No person has ever done so much but accomplished so little. Of course I'm talking about the most unfairly treated athlete in professional sports history, LeBron James. Think about it for a second. He has made it to the Finals two years in a row and won three of the last 4 regular season MVP trophies. He is averaging 30.8 PPG, 9.6 RPG, 5.1 APG, and 1.9 SPG in these playoffs, leading the Heat in each of those categories. Reread that last sentence again and let those numbers sink in. As far as I'm concerned that is one of the best playoff performances of all-time. He has single-handedly carried this team to where they are now, and yes that means Dwyane Wade too. If I was Doc Rivers in the last series I would have pleaded for Wade to take as many shots as he could in the first half of all of the games. That's how poorly he played.
This is LeBron's time to finally silence his critics, with a ring on his finger when this is all set and done. But would a ring really be the answer? I'm going to say no. I do not think anything short of scoring the game-winning basket of every game plus winning AT LEAST two or three more titles will silence these, for all intents and purposes, idiots. LeBron James is the greatest basketball player of our generation and he's playing against the second best in Kevin Durant (before all Kobe Bryant fans start popping every vein in their bodies, let me state that in the NBA timeline, Kobe is the past and LeBron and Durant are the present and future of this league. You can't run from Father Time...well unless it's to Germany).
"At the end of the day in this series I'm going to play my game and try to do whatever it takes on both ends and make plays," James said at Chesapeake Energy Arena. "Whatever the results, I'm going to be satisfied with that. I'm going to be happy with it because I know I'm going to give it my all."
This is what he has been doing that has been the difference between this year's playoffs and last year's playoffs. Having said that there are still improvements to be made, especially with free throws and three pointers (Is Dwyane Wade shooting basically the exact same percentages for both categories? Yep. Is he being lambasted in the media every day for it? No, that would just be silly.) If LeBron plays the way he has played the entire playoffs and the Heat lose the series, a very real possibility, I would bet that most blame would still be put on LeBron. Remember folks, basketball is not the 200 meter freestyle. There is a team involved. LeBron took his talents to South Beach to form a Big 3, not Iron Man with Hawkeye and Black Widow from The Avengers (side note: go see The Hunger Games, anyone can be good with a bow and arrow, and all Scarlett Johansson did was martial arts. When did those become equivalent to controlling thunder and lightning, becoming a radioactive green monster, and creating a kick-ass suit that can fly?) The teammates around him need to show up and show why the team and not just LeBron want this championship so badly.
The pressure that has been put on LeBron James to win this title has been debilitating at best. It mystifies me how someone who performs so well can be criticized so much. Watching ESPN First Take this morning, they were debating whether they were more sympathetic for LeBron trying to win a title or Tiger Woods winning the U.S. Open. I couldn't believe this was a legitimate question. James left a team on national television and the sports media has never stopped to look back at the wreckage they have caused while Woods cheated on his wife with multiple women but all of that has seemed to vanish Houdini-style into thin air. It boggles the mind.
James is 27 years old, Wade is 30, and Bosh is 28. There is no better time than the present for this team. The Thunder are all still extremely young (Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden and Serge Ibaka are 23 and under) and haven't felt that feeling of losing in the Finals yet. Miami felt it last year and knows what it takes for them to not feel it again.
The Oklahoma City Thunder will have many, many more opportunities to capture it's first NBA title (Yes their first. Nothing from Seattle carries over on my watch.) Their time will come. Now though, is LeBron and the rest of the Heat's time. And after this is over the pressure will be off the Heat.
Now that is an utterly frightening sight.
Jacob: Your theory is a bit flawed. First of all James may be the best athlete in all of sports but he is not however the best player in basketball. As for the MVP thing: please! Counter or tell me, logically, where this is wrong: 1)The Clippers with out CP3 are dead. No playoffs for them. 2) The Lakers without Kobe probably don't win half of there games and forsure don't make the playoffs. 3) Remove James from the Heat- they still make the playoffs. Labron will be lucky to have two rings when his career is over.
ReplyDeleteLabron:...not one, not two, not three, not four, not five ,not six..." Really?
I respectfully disagree. The Heat without LeBron (by the way that's how his name is spelled) would have been in the same position as all of those teams above. And yes the pre-celebration thing was bad. But does his entire career have to suffer because of it? Absolutely not. Thanks for reading.
ReplyDeleteNo way is the Heat in the same position as those other teams. D-Wade and Bosh are superstars and could have and would have made the playoffs with or without Lebron (i know how his name is spelled). Blake Griffin is fun to watch but not a "superstar". Bynum or Gasol are not leaders. D-Wade actually plays more consistently without Lebron.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree (for once) with you more. Even now after OKC took game 1(easiest call in the books) the Heat will win the series! As expected, the Heat were exhausted from the series with Boston. That's why their shots were short and off in the 4th quarter. Notice even Lebron didn't go after Durant on that steal and dunk, whereas he normally would have at least made the effort to block that breakaway(hello Rondo)dunk. Bosh has to start and play starters minutes, which takes Ibaka away from the inside to guard him around the perimeter and opens it up to the Heat to drive the basket(always the strength of LeBron and Wade). Durant and Westbrook haven't tasted the necessary disappointment of losing in the finals like LeBron has (3 times now), so I'm going with you Jacob and saying the Heat takes the crown (although I'm rooting for OKC)! Thanks for sharing your thoughts and incite with us.
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