ON PRO BASKETBALL
In His Prime, James Just Getting Started
Mike Segar/Reuters
LeBron James had 37 points and 12 rebounds in Game 7. More Photos »
By HARVEY ARATON
Published: June 21, 2013 62 Comments
MIAMI — If there was one thing we knew about a thrilling N.B.A. finals that carried David Stern on its shoulders to the finish line of his three-decade playoff run as commissioner and chief baby sitter, it was that the series and the season would not conclude with Jeff Van Gundy signing off the network telecast by suggesting the Miami Heat consider trading LeBron James for Dwight Howard.
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Game 7: Heat 95, Spurs 88: Pushed to Limit, James and Miami Repeat as N.B.A. Champions (June 21, 2013)
N.B.A. Gets Another Memorable Game 7 (June 21, 2013)
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Two years ago, in what was celebrated in 49 states and especially in northern Ohio as James’s deserved comeuppance for the way he literally staged his departure from Cleveland, Van Gundy closed with that provocative commentary after James’s well-documented failure in the six-game finals won by Dallas.
“I did say they should consider that to better balance the team, not because I didn’t think LeBron was good enough,” Van Gundy said a little sheepishly before James took to the floor Thursday night for Game 7 against San Antonio.
We all have our hot airtime to fill. We all jumped to conclusions ranging from impulsive to irrational back then and again along the precarious road to James’s masterpiece in closing out the Spurs, 95-88, at American Airlines Arena.
It is human nature to pontificate and prejudge but the moral of the 2013 finals should be that on the complicated subject of legacy, never hazard a guess at halftime of a series or, worse, a career.
Michael Jordan was 28, or exactly James’s age now, when he won his second championship with Chicago. Kobe Bryant – who, like James, entered the league out of high school — had three rings with the Los Angeles Lakers.
But what if we had micro-analyzed Bryant the way we chronically do James and ended up mischaracterizing Bryant as a born Tonto, or second banana, to Shaquille O’Neal?
Everyone should understand by now that James is only clearing his throat, settling into the prime of his emotional maturity. In all basketball-related ways, he is no man-child anymore. The numbers alone – 37 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers in 45 minutes of owning the ball and the burden – fail to explain his dominance of Game 7.
And like a good and generous teammate, James made it about the collective when he sat down in the interview room afterward. “This team is amazing,” he said.
After hugging James at midcourt, Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich kissed Dwyane Wade’s cheek and told him, “You were Dwyane Wade tonight,” and that was certainly true. The Heat also needed all of Shane Battier’s stunning 3-point marksmanship (6 for 8). But let’s not kid ourselves. The Heat was no superteam in the finals, those 27 straight regular-season victories notwithstanding.
With Wade hurting, or declining, and Chris Bosh demonstrating again that he is no max-salary player, James’s supporting cast was not as good as Jordan’s on any of his six Bulls’ title teams.
When Jordan took his sabbatical in 1993-94, the so-called Jordanaires won 55 games and were probably one lousy call (the infamous Hue Hollins judgment that Scottie Pippen fouled Hubert Davis) from reaching the Eastern Conference finals. Without James, would this Miami team be guaranteed 45 victories and even the second round in the postseason?
It was the sheer force of James’s all-court versatility and his Jordanesque obsession with exerting himself on every play that finally gave Miami separation from the Spurs. Dared to shoot the jumper, he made five 3-pointers. And after a leg-weary Tim Duncan missed a short jump hook over the undersized Battier that would have tied the game, James drained the Spurs of a pulse with a 19-footer from the right side that gave the Heat a 92-88 lead with 27.9 seconds left.
“I mean, I watched film, and my mind started to work and I said, O.K., this is how they’re going to play me for the whole series,” James said. “I looked at all my regular‑season stats, all my playoff stats, and I was one of the best midrange shooters in the game. I shot a career high from the 3‑point line. I just told myself: Don't abandon what you've done all year. Don’t abandon now because they’re going under.”
The Spurs finally knuckled under when Manu Ginobili, on the baseline, tried to pass the ball behind him to Duncan. Stepping into the passing lane, James got the steal
“LeBron was unbelievable,” Duncan said.
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