This is About LeBron

Will Leitch writes:

This is about LeBron. He is, in the words of ESPN's John Hollinger, good but not great, and the Heat need great. LeBron had a triple-double — a triple-double! — but he didn't take the game over, he didn't dominate it with his superior skills, he didn't grab the game by the skull and start doing unnatural things to it. This is what everyone wants from James. This is what is demanded of him.

He is capable of doing it; we've seen it before, in far less stressful situations than this one. But wasn't the point of going to Miami to avoid taking over games all by himself anymore? This is the curse of LeBron: When you are so much more talented than everyone else, and still you don't destroy everyone, you must be weak. You must be a loser.

Wojnarowski's terrific column lays down the stakes for Game 6 on Sunday night:

These days, he is a one-man, 24-hour news cycle. When James is done talking between games in these playoffs, half-baked reports on his personal life are flying and innocent bystanders are ducking shrapnel, forced to publicly deny cyber gossip. He's the deepest, darkest swirling vortex of insanity that modern sports has ever seen.

...

The next 72 hours promise to be the most torturous for James, because the world will keep closing on him, keep parsing and replaying and re-engaging everything about his Finals failures. He can't help himself, because so much of the way he sees himself, the way he built himself, was through the prism of this basketball "Truman Show."

Oh, and every morning-radio dope in the country is talking this morning about his girlfriend cheating on him, and how he's a choking fraud. Yeah ... you know, that doesn't sound fun to us, at all.

My thoughts:

1.  If Miami wins the next two games, all this will go away and no one will care.

2.  Technology exponentially increases the pressure of celebrity.

3.  Last night's game was one of the best basketball games I have ever seen.  The drama was so high, I couldn't imagine it being any higher, unless it was a game seven.  The Mavericks were shooting completely lights out.  A hobbit dressed as a basketball player was killing dudes from all over the place.  The Heat were passing the ball better than I have ever seen.  DWade overcomes a rough injury and plays great again.  HUGE threes in the fourth quarter.  And on top of all that you kept waiting for LeBron to do something in the 4th quarter and it never happened.  It was an amazing game to watch.

4.  When the best athletes in the world lay it all on the line it is almost magical to watch.  Points to a great God who enables such athletic prowess.

5.  The Mavs will not shot 68% from the 3 point line in the final two games.  That was an amazing shooting display that won't happen in the Heat barn.

6.  If you love sports at all then you would be insane to miss game six (Sunday Night) and maybe game seven (Tuesday night).

(HT:  JT)