You don’t have to like him. You don’t have to cheer for him. But if you care about basketball, I hope you can appreciate him. Don’t let the cynics and the haters and the screaming clowns take LeBron James away from you. He beat the Pacers in almost every way a basketball team can be beaten. He scored in the post. He blew through the lane. He made passes the Harlem Globetrotters wouldn’t even try. He defended in all sorts of ways — catching up to Leandro Barbosa to block a layup, fronting David West in the post — and hit floaters and slammed dunks, and in the final minutes, there was LeBron James bringing the ball up the floor.
There has never been anything like this guy. James has the Bryant/Jordan athleticism in Karl Malone’s body, with the court vision and passing skills of a point guard. He is the only player in the last 30 years who could, if he chose, lead the league in scoring (he did that once), assists (he could do it if he tried, because of his size, vision and the fact that defenses have to stop him from scoring first), or rebounding (if he focused on it like Ben Wallace and Dennis Rodman did, then why not?).
He finished Game 4 on Sunday with 40 points, 18 rebounds and nine assists, one of the greatest triple-doubles in playoff history. Yes, I know, officially it is not a triple-double because he only had nine assists. I don’t care, and here is why: In the first half, James got the ball in the low post, turned to shoot, realized Louis Admundson was hovering above him, ready to block his shot, then passed across court to Mike Miller for a wide-open three. How he saw Miller, I will never understand. But he did, and the pass was perfect. Miller — who was brought to Miami solely to hit the open threes that come from playing with James and Wade — missed this one. Not LeBron’s fault. I’m counting that as an assist.
So what do we do? We look at this unprecedented combination of basketball genius and … harp on the only flaw we can find. He doesn’t seem to want the ball in crunchtime. There is some legitimacy to the complaint, but if this is what defines his game, there is something seriously wrong with the sports world.