A Lesson Learned

All hell broke loose in the American Airlines Arena, as fans jumped with joy and screamed in jubilation, shaking the ground throughout Miami. It all happened after an unstoppable wave of momentum propelled the Miami Heat to a series-clinching eight-point lead in game five with the clock frozen at 30.0.

Dwyane Wade managed to simultaneously leap, howl, and give a fist-pump for the ages, all while running down the court in elation towards his bench.

The Miami fans, who were surprisingly loud — probably the loudest they were all playoffs — threw their white towels into the air. Hundreds if not thousands of towels could be seen springing out of peoples’ hands in an act of celebration.

Then came LeBron James’ time in front of the camera, something that he seems to love oh-so much.  Staring into the crowd — over the Boston bench nonetheless — he roared. Similar to Mufasa’s roar in lion king, for he was king of the jungle, and no one could knock him from his thrown.

It did not stop there.

For the next thirty seconds the Miami crowd continued to launch their towels in bliss. LeBron drove to the basket (he does that?), and extended the Heat lead to ten.

0.0 — It was over. Eric Spoelstra shook hands with Doc Rivers, and the teams went in two different directions — the Celtics to the locker room, and the Heat to the center of the court to celebrate.

The entire Heat celebration that ensued seemed completely and utterly ridiculous: LeBron dropped to one knee, put a closed fist on his lowered forehead, and stayed like that for at least ten seconds. James and Wade went on to hug in the middle of the on-court mosh-pit that the Heat had put on.

That entire (premature), camera grabbing, celebration took place after the Eastern Conference semi-finals.

Note: LeBron did have a very classy post-game interview, giving tons of credit to the Celtics and Doc Rivers. He also responded to a question about his ability to play late in games with this, “I know what I work hard for, and that’s to be put in those positions.”

Fast-forward one month: A roster full of castaways, has-beens, and never will be’s, took down the three headed monster that the Heat were supposed to be — in Miami. Many of the Mavericks players’ resumes listed an array of tough and heartbreaking losses. So the smart money would be to bet on the Mavs celebrating similar to the Celtics in 08, or Miami just a month before — totally absurd, but understandable (in the Celtics case at least).

The Mavs had actually accomplished something, unlike the Heat’s all-to-early “look at me!” fest. Yes they were happy, jumping amongst themselves and hugging each other. But they did not scream into the camera, or drop to one knee. In fact, the star of the show, the guy who had just solidified himself as one of the games’ all-time greats, actually did not want the cameras to see his celebration.

Dirk Nowitzki immediately left the court, looking more like he had just lost the biggest game of his career than won it. He got himself into the camera-free locker room to be alone, to cry, and do whatever he need to do — in private. For Dirk, the winning mattered, not people watching him win.

LeBron also immediately left the court, dejected, as he in-fact had just lost the biggest game of his career. The defeat will be something that will stay with him forever. Whatever LeBron felt as he walked off the court will shape him, but it will not define him. He’s far too young and far too talented for that.

A look into the future: 0.0 — It’s over. LeBron James finally got his big win on basketball’s biggest stage — finally to be crowned a king, NBA Champion. He may roar, he may drop to one knee, and he may cry, all in front of the camera. But he will not do it a game before, a series before, or even two series before. He will wait, until his time comes, just like the team who beat him in 2011.

It’s About to Go Down

Dallas, get ready.

Tall, thunderous storm clouds are billowing over the American Airlines Arena, preparing to unleash a fury unlike anything we have ever seen.

The culprits of that storm: sports writers, fans, and Mavericks players alike, as they have called out LeBron James for his poor finals’ performance. In fact, LeBron has been criticized for his poor play (not poor decisions) more in these past few days than in his entire career.

This is a mistake, and the punishment LeBron will surely unleash on the city of Dallas could be epic.

Mavericks’ forward DeShawn Stevenson stated a fact after Game 4 — a game in which LeBron didn’t score a fourth quarter point. He stated that James had “checked out” in the fourth quarter. This is true, but do you really want to call out a guy that could potentially ruin your championship aspirations? The Mavs are two games away from winning the damn thing, and I’m pretty sure they’d like “The King” to stay “checked out.”

In the past two games, LeBron has done exactly what Dallas could have only dreamed of — become a pass-first player. Sure, he did a good job of spreading the ball around, but it’s still better for Dallas than having to watch him explode for 30, 40, or who knows how many.

Sports columns are popping up everywhere, as people seem to be relishing in the “Chosen One’s” failure. It’s easy to see why, the supposed best player in the game decides to only take one shot in the fourth quarter of a tightly-contested, huge finals game.

But be wary, because after Thursday’s game, everything is about to change.

Columns will shift from feasting on LeBron’s passiveness, to being in awe of the cataclysmic greatness that will be his game 5 performance. It will be one hell of a spectacle.

Simply to good to continue being hounded by the public and mass media, LeBron James’ time has come to silence his critics, and game 5 will be his platform.

The Miami Heat’s trio will one-day be legendary, as they came together to do just that — become legends. They took the easy road to win rings, and LeBron took the brunt of that criticism, but he came to Miami to win, and it’s his turn to make sure that happens.

It shouldn’t be too difficult to predict Dallas’ weather for Thursday night, as a monster storm prepares to unload on the poor unsuspecting civilians of Dallas, who have been conned into sleeping on what James can do. His talents are about to rain down on the Mavericks, and it could be one for the ages.

Shout out to Tim MacArthur here. The die-hard Heat fan, I know…gross, told me after game 4 in a rage that LeBron is about to go off, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized he was right.