LeBron is one of the biggest stars in the NBA, the second biggest name in the game after Kobe. He has been called a variety of nick-names ranging from "The chosen one" to "The King" and it has been that way since he was 15. I still remember his baby-face on the cover of SI when he was just a high-school junior. I routinely refer to him as the King in this blog. He is expected to carry this league much like MJ. So it feels wrong to say "he arrived today" because he pretty much arrived when he was 15! Still a lot of the hype and attention was for his future potential as much as for his current greatness. This game 5 showed us that the future may be here already and it will end up as one of the defining games of his career.
James had a 48-9-7 game on 18/33 shooting in a double OT game, but thats not even half the story. The story was, how thoroughly he dominated the second half of the 4-Th quarter and both overtimes. The guy scored 25 straight points to end the game and 29 of their last 30 points! Yes, you read that right. Thats the most ridiculous stat you might ever see. And this was against a great defensive team in Detroit, on the road, in the playoffs, in the Eastern Conference finals. I have seen a lot of basketball, but never seen anything like this. Stars go on big personal scoring runs. Even Leandro Barbosa had scored 12 straight or 15 straight in the second quarter in a couple of games. But never have I seen a single player score ALL the points at the end of a close game. I mean, you would expect the other team to trap and get the ball out of his hands at least after he had scored every single bucket in the last 5 minutes of the fourth and the entire first OT. The Pistons for some reason, didn't aggressively trap him or double him. The double teams were usually soft and it came after he was already committed to a move. And he did hit some ridiculous fade-aways over the trap a couple of times, but I am not sure why Detroit didn't trap him every single time and make him give the ball up.
The guys on TNT were pretty on point with their criticism of the Detroit D, but this night was about The King. He missed a few FTs in regulation in what could be his only weakness, but he more than made of for it with spectacular drives and dunks at the end of the 4-Th. Again, not sure how the Pistons of all teams could let him dunk like that. Poor defense against a great talent. Once the game went to OT, it was more of the same. It didn't matter if he was taking tough fade-aways or driving to the cup, he just scored routinely. There was a stretch in OT when the other guys got a few shots and Sasha Pavlovic actually tried to help him out with some aggressive scoring attempts, but they all came up empty every-time. The Cavs had nothing else working, literally nothing, but the Pistons still couldn't stop the King. He was literally playing 1-on-5 on offense and still dominated. And these were all high-pressure minutes and clutch shots, one after the other. His final lay-up to win the game was another gorgeous move that just completed his coronation.
This game will be remembered as the game he broke through, the game when he took that next step. Of course, the Cavs still have to win another game and this game will be ESPN classic material by the time Saturday rolls around. In fact, they blew the same 3-2 lead last year and they might need another spectacular effort from the King to avoid that this time. I was complaining about how these playoffs have suddenly gotten boring, but LeBron is one reason we have to watch every game. This is how stars change the course of teams and leagues. We are seeing it right in front of our eyes. This series still features a boring style and some bad coaching (what was Mike Brown doing burning all his timeouts at the end of the 4-Th ?), but still you can't take your eyes away as long as the King is on the floor.
Cleveland @ Detroit - 109-107 (2 OT)
Playoff schedule for 06/02/2007
Cleveland @ Detroit @ Cleveland - What will King James do now? The game is almost secondary to that question. Cavs better finish things here.
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