LEBRON JAMES: THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD
I love a good story.
In the Summer of 2004, one of my favorite stories was the Curse of the Bambino, and the New York Yankees utter historical domination of the sport and rivalry with the Boston Red Sox. I know fans of small market teams hate the “Evil Empire,” but I submit sports and sports fans need the Yanks because the Yankees make a good story great. The Arizona Diamondbacks didn’t just win the World Series in 2001. They beat the Yankees. Boston is far from a small market team, but the yarn they spun in 2004 is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, sports stories of all-time precisely because the Yankees were a part of it.
While most people celebrated the Red Sox victory, or at least recognized its incredible narrative, I mourned. Because the story was over. Boston won. The Curse was dead. Winning your first championship in 85 years is phenomenal, but do you know what’s better than that? Winning your first championship in 185 years. Now THAT’S a story. The Red Sox could have lost for another 100 years, and I would’ve appreciated every second of it (well, I’d be dead, but still).
The best story in basketball, bar none, is LeBron James. His reads like Greek mythology. A titan, gifted with the preternatural ability to do anything and everything on the basketball court, is cast out of the heavens, sent to Earth as a man to display the might of the gods. But LeBron has one fatal flaw: in his tremendous, other-worldly success, he never learned to deal with adversity, cannot perform under pressure, and wilts when the lights shine the brightest.
I’m not saying that’s word-for-word what’s happening with LeBron James in the NBA, but that is a pretty damn great story, no?
LeBron James is truly mighty. His speed and power, elegance and feel for the game, are unmatched. He is ferocious, yet incredibly deft. He is finesse and raw power. He is regal.
He is Achilles.
No one knows why LeBron James, the person who can play basketball the best, is not the undisputed best basketball player ever, and multiple world champion. I just don’t want the story to ever stop. Ever never.
I get a lot of flack for being a “LeBron James Hater,” but the truth is, I love watching him play, in part, because I love this story. Every year, we get the story of a winner, in every sport. It’s all sort of rote. The trophies are literally handed out at the end of each and every season. But the story of the tragic loser is rare, meaningful, poignant, and full of humanity and heart.
During the Miami Heat’s Game 4 loss to the New York Knicks, LeBron James was slowly, but methodically chopping away at the foundation of his own epic storyline. The Knicks’ Mike Bibby buried a 3-pointer to put his team up 84-81, forcing Miami to take a timeout. Undaunted, James hit his own clutch 3-pointer with 75 seconds left in the game, only to watch Carmelo Anthony answer right back with another three. When Anthony went to the line, up three, shooting three more free throws, it looked like the Knicks were a lock to extend the series.
But Carmelo only made one. The lead was four, not an insurmountable lead with 25 seconds left, but certainly a gap difficult to bridge for a normal player. Something felt different. LeBron felt ready. He was carrying himself differently. It was, strangely, no surprise to me when LeBron drove on the reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year, took the foul, and made a wild, left-handed layup in the process. The free throw would follow, and all of a sudden, Miami was within one.
Seven seconds later, with 13 seconds remaining, and down two points, Miami had the opportunity to tie or win the game, as well as their first round series, on their way back to the Finals. The hot hand clearly belonged to LeBron, who was in the process of rewriting his “clutch” storyline.
The dominoes were set perfectly. What better game to let LeBron excise these demons? He was in a safe environment, supported by his team’s dominant 3-0 lead, virtually guaranteed of moving on in the Playoffs. If James misses, and loses, Miami likely claims victory in a forthcoming game, and LeBron learns the crucial lesson that mistakes, in basketball games, aren’t too costly, and certainly not the end of the world, or his future.
However, if LeBron put his teammates on his shoulders, and wins the game, his confidence would soar, and the Heat would likely be unstoppable. The corner wouldn’t just be turned, it would be razed by the King himself. The fourth quarter jokes would go away. No more haranguing tweets. No more commentators dissecting his psyche. Just the gleam of the Larry O’Brien trophy reflected in his bright eyes. A true win-win.
Head coach Erik Spoelstra called the play for Dwyane Wade. LeBron stood in the assigned corner he’s oft been relegated to late in games, and watched. Wade missed. The Knicks won. Opportunity lost.
And frankly, I couldn’t have be more happy about it.
I don’t wish LeBron James failure. I just want this great story to have no end.
DOES LEBRON HAVE EXTRA TEETH?
I think this is one of those things where we’ll never know the true answer. Like the Kennedy assassination, the Apollo moon landing, or how Florida got it’s name.
I think his jaw curvature may just be very shallow. LeBron’s teeth all play forward. When I smile, you can see the front 4-6, top and bottom. In James’s mouth, I can see a good 40-50 in there.
Hey everybody, I’m bored…
PLAYOFFS 2012: LeBron James
From #BTL contributor Mink Couteaux, prints and t-shirts available here.
EXHIBIT A
Michael Rand from the Star Tribune presents the visual evidence separating Derrick Rose and LeBron James.
At the top, we have a screen grab of LeBron James driving against a “double-team” in the Miami Heat’s loss to the Utah Jazz on Friday night. LeBron took some flak for passing to a teammate, again, with everything on the line. On the flip side, James’ supporters claimed LeBron made the correct “basketball play.” WATCH LEBRON’S PLAY HERE.
At the bottom, we have Derrick Rose driving against a strikingly similar “double-team” from the (much better defensively) Philadelphia 76ers. Rose (“You Magnificent Bastard”) chose to handle things a little bit differently and, oh yeah, the Bulls won. WATCH ROSE’S PLAY HERE.
Turns out their approach on the basketball court isn’t the only difference between these two.
Fantastic job by Rand. Follow him on twitter: @RandBall
MUST WATCH: Kobe vs. LeBron
Our opportunities to watch Kobe and LeBron go head-to-head are few and far between, and dwindling by the second.
Admittedly, at this point in their careers, the battle effectively would prove nothing - LeBron is at his peak, while Kobe is fighting against the dying of the light - yet I don’t know a basketball fan who doesn’t want to see it.
Like Pacquiao vs. Mayweather, the wait has made us clamor.
Unfortunately, the game seemed to be in the can. Kobe’s side was up 12 points, with 4:30 minutes left in the game, when LeBron put in the first of his two deep, 4th quarter 3-pointers. When James made his second, LeBron’s side was only down three, with three minutes remaining.
With only 20 seconds left, Bryant went to the foul line with the opportunity to keep the same lead, but after uncharacteristically missing the freebie (although, in this day and age, that miss felt ever so symbolic, and increasingly more characteristic of Kobe’s trajectory) LeBron’s Eastern Conference All-Stars had the opportunity to tie or beat Kobe’s Western Conference foes with a last-second, clutch shot.
LeBron took the ball. Kobe matched up with him. Finally, we would have our moment, however small. We would all happily settle for this one-on-one moment to decide the All-Star game, on national television, in front of millions of viewers.
LeBron had the right side of the court. Only Bryant in front of him. But the play was run for Deron Williams, who missed a 3-pointer.
Robbed again. The moment had been taken from us. Basketball fans deflated. First, the Orlando Magic knocked off the heavily favored Cleveland Cavaliers in the Summer of 2009. Then the Celtics dismissed LeBron’s Cavs in 2010, and sent James packing for the South. Spring, 2011, it was the Mavericks turn to crush our roundball dreams, sweeping Kobe away, as the Phil Jackson Lakers dismantled.
But just wait.
As fate would have it, Deron’s miss was tipped back out, and into the hands of the would-be King. This time, the clock read 5.5 seconds. Kobe still guarding him, and the entire right side of the court still open for his game-winning drive.
A scant two seconds later, LeBron would pass the ball again, this time cross-court, to his Miami Heat teammate Dwyane Wade. But the ball never got there. Blake Griffin would intercept it, and be fouled.
The only thing worse than watching your hopes dashed once, is watching them die a fifth death. This just isn’t fair. All we’ve done is support this league through a pointless, greedy lockout, forced to endure the reign of a tyrannical, out-of-touch commissioner. We deserve to watch Kobe and LeBron, two All-Time greats, decide it on the court.
Blake Griffin must have felt the same way. He would miss one of his two free throws, no doubt just to please us as a spectators, leaving the opportunity for LeBron’s East to tie Kobe’s West, and send the game to overtime.
Timeout. 1.1 seconds left. The ball is at half court.
The teams take the court, and LeBron walks to the sidelines, out of bounds, ready to throw the ball in. King James wasn’t even in the field of play. Wade would miss. The West won.
Once more we would go without our answer. Once more, the viewers would leave angry, and no one more so than Kobe Bryant. At :20 seconds in the video above, Kobe is downright perplexed. Confounded. Angry. He’s interrogating LeBron. Kobe, it seems, feels he was robbed of his moment too.
And that seems to be the perfect manifestation of what separates these two men.
Kobe vs. LeBron.
(video via @jose3030)
