Get Up Eight Times

And after four years of waiting, LeBron James has finally arrived.

After controversy for not taking the shot or getting the calls in key situations. After having every move he makes scrutinized. After countless bizarre commercials and corporate packaging that molded him into an iconic fixture at 22. After endless highlight reels, spectacular dunks and passes on an underachieving team in an underwhelming conference. LeBron has finally placed himself in a position where many have already anointed him as one of the league’s best. He has finally entered that last stage, the realm of the great playoff performer.

I’ll be honest, I was a little wary of LeBron James from the moment ESPN decided to air his high school games. It was an old trick that the Worldwide Leader had been playing for years–finding the heir to Air. Michael Jordan had boosted the SportsCenter culture to its apex, and ESPN was, as usual, desperate to replicate its success. They did this with Penny, with Vince, with Kobe, with T-Mac, most recently with Wade last summer. Jordan shadows them wherever they go. Naturally, when James announced his intention to go pro, the media machine began cranking.

I think the thing that ticked me off the most about the LeBron hype was that it was just that–hype. Naturally, with all the attention those morons at ESPN paid to him, I thought he’d storm into the league and overwhelm opponents with his athletic speed, pass the ball at will, become a walking triple double like Oscar Robertson. So for four years, basketball fans like me groaned everywhere when they didn’t get what they wanted on a daily basis. Oh, we got wonderful highlight reels that splattered through Sportscenter, but even we felt that James could be playing a lot harder than he was showing.

I can’t blame him in some regards. For the past four years, LeBron was saddled with incompetent ownership, bad teammates, bad coaches (has a Conference champion ever been fired in the off-season?), and overwhelming pressure to step into a role that everyone expected him to fulfill. That’s a lot of pressure to put on a kid, much less an NBA player, but James was so good that no one thought he was capable of any less. In that sense, circumstances dealt him a bad blow.

On the flip side, LeBron has certainly handed himself over to the corporate machine and gone along for the ride of excess with huge commercial deals with Sprite and Nike. The fact that he was called King James was fitting, because the ESPN-driven hype machine had already ensured that he was royalty to the city of Cleveland and the media. He had been handed the throne without proving his championship mettle, just like kings of old.

All this self-promotion and adulation leads to the sort of entitlement that quells the competitive drive of athletes and disappoints the casual fan. Watching James during the regular season and the first two playoff rounds just cruise along was exasperating. You go back to the players that LeBron has been compared to, and you immediately begin wondering about why he’s switching it on and off at will. It’s frustrating to see a player take twenty dribbles away from the basket and then pull up for a crazy jumper with 2 on the shot clock instead of driving to the hole and creating a basket, which is what I saw James do plenty of times. Seeing James literally take quarters, even games off for no real reason…I expect this sort of thing from Shaq after threepeating, not a player who hasn’t even tasted victory. This is what entitlement brings–an inflated sense of self-worth. Cleveland needed him more than he needed Cleveland, so the need to be great didn’t come to him as naturally as we’d have liked it to. I guess in the end, I can’t blame him–it’s a lot to deal with at that age.

This is where hype could have come back to bite him. While his visibility has gone through the roof, his decision-making would be questioned over and over. It’s why the endings to Games 1 and 2 (but his vanishing acts in the 4th quarter especially) were constantly debated through the country. To watch him shrink from the spotlight or reluctantly take it was discomforting, simply because this is what we expect of him. We love players like Wade or Baron Davis because they’re fearless, as they throw their heart into their games. We might hate Kobe because of his personality, but there’s no denying he cares if he wins or loses. Until this Pistons series, I had no such feelings for LeBron because he kept on going back and forth. I wasn’t sure if he’d sit on his winnings or raise the ceiling. The uncertainty of what was to come was…troubling. Games 3 and 4 provided an idea of what was to come, but there was always this worry he’d regress on the road.

Game 5 was the initiation into a new brotherhood, just as when Michael Corleone kissed his father’s hand at the hospital after his assassination attempt. The young Don, elevating his game to a point where the Pistons were themselves caught staring for the final twenty five minutes. Although Detroit did plenty to allow James to score 29 of the past 30 points (the layups and dunks he was able to get revealed the lazy workmanship of the Pistons), there was no way they could stop those insane bizarre-angle fall away jumpers he was taking from outside off of the tough double teams. All of this with Prince, Billows, Hamilton, Wallace all taking their turns guarding him. Add his strong defense down the stretch (including forcing several turnovers), and you have one of the greatest performances in NBA history (where it ranks is a topic for debate).

Sure, Cleveland isn’t likely to win an NBA championship next year. Not with that joke of a supporting cast (no other Cave made more than three shots in Game 5), and not with the best Spurs team of a decade looming ahead of them with one more win. And there’s still the possibility a worn out LeBron totally gasses out in Game 6, although his teammates should be more comfortable at home. But he now has shown what all that talent can do if he goes at it. He just has to play with that ruthless attitude all the time. Especially if he really wants to win like Mike did.

Now with one defining game at the ripe old age of 22, James has finally left the hype behind (I hope). It’s all game now. Play on brother. I’m with you now.

What are your feelings about Lebron James? The media hype? His performances? Has your perception of him changed over the years? Leave your thoughts in the message board discussion.

LeBron James takes over Game 5 [YouTube]
(Image from NBA)