King for a Day

The 2 Wise Men are still around. Our opinions are as strong as ever, and our banter is just as lively, we have been choosing to share them privately more than publicly though for the last while. We both follow and discuss the latest news and highlights in most sports on a regular basis. Whether it is the FA Cup Final, the Champions League, the current Major League Baseball season, or the ongoing hilarity that is the Toronto Maple Leafs, sports are being discussed, rest assured.

What has perhaps blunted this space since our last posts probably has a lot to do with procrastination and laziness, but more so the fact that there simply isn't a whole lot to talk about that is worth the effort of putting up a post. It's one thing for us to talk to each other about sports or even current events, but it's quite another for us to post to the internet, particularly in today's age where there are trained and untrained professionals who make a living commenting on the smallest minutiae in the world of sports.

So in that context, we've been waiting for a sports moment that demands that we stand up and take notice, and that we post our thoughts for the world. There are always worthy candidates of course - the winning streak of Rafael Nadal, the April of Alex Rodriguez, the Toronto Raptors 2007 season - but nothing forced us to step up...until now. For my part, watching the basketball career of LeBron James has been a pleasure, but nothing particularly noteworthy. A product of immense talent, freakish body proportions and the Nike hype machine, "King James" was anointed the next Michael Jordan when he was still in high school. One of my best friends even made a bet with me that LeBron would be the best player in the history of the NBA before he was even drafted, so pervasive was LeBron's reputation.

Since entering the league as the top pick in what may eventually be declared the most talented draft class of all time, LeBron has lived up to the hype as far as athleticism and talent go. However, mired on a mediocre Cleveland Cavaliers team, LeBron has seen the "best player in the NBA" tag that was supposedly reserved for him vested with other stars such as Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, and most notably, his draft classmate and friend, Dwyane Wade, who led the Miami Heat to the 2006 NBA Championship. It was one thing for LeBron to have to wait his turn behind established stars, but quite another for someone from his own draft year to surpass him so soon.

Then came May 31, 2007, where for one glorious night, King James truly ascended to the throne, carrying his team to a 109-108 double overtime victory over the Detroit Pistons and a 3-2 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal. Whether the Cavaliers advance to the NBA Finals and ultimately win a championship this season is, for now, not important. What matters is that LeBron showed fans the world over the tantalizing extent of his abilities. The numbers are staggering. 48 points, 7 assists, 9 rebounds in 50 minutes. On the road. 25 straight points in the fourth quarter and both overtimes. 29 of his team's final 30 points in the game. Shots over double-teams, triple-teams, zone defences, dunks in the clutch when defences NEVER give up dunks. It was a performance that brought me out of my seat at least a half dozen times, staring at the television in bewilderment.

The Detroit Pistons are surely a better overall team. The Pistons have more experience and they may still win this series. Even if the Cavaliers win this series, they will be underdogs to the rested San Antonio Spurs in the Finals. However, what makes James' performance so compelling is the sheer determination that he brought in those final three quarters. Everyone across the world knew that James would shoot the ball on each possession. The Cavaliers never called any significant offensive play to suggest otherwise. Despite that, James continued to attack the basket, getting past defenders and running through clear fouls to score the basketball. He launched shots from distance with near impossible degrees of difficulty. He refused to let his team lose this game. That type of performance is what makes sports worth writing about. A fundamentally sound shooting performance, with shots falling from all over the floor, is impressive and can be beautiful in its own way. What LeBron did in this game was beyond that. He took on the best the defence had to offer, including taking contact, and he never shied away from any of it. For one evening, LeBron James was the sheer force of nature that so many commentators have tried to make him out to be, and it was awesome to watch.