To the victor goes the spoils (and talk show appearances).
Even though the Heat won it all this year, simultaneously exorcising James’ personal demons and validating Miami’s big 3, there’s something I will never be able to get out of my head. It confounds me so much that even as I stood in front of the TV this morning, toothbrush still in my mouth, watching SportsCenter show a clip of LeBron, Wade, and Bosh on “The View” from earlier this week, all I could think was, “What happened between May 7th and May 9th back in 2010?”
Long before we thought of James as a choke artist, we thought of him as a phenom (similar to how we perceive Kevin Durant now). LeBron singlehandedly carried some of his Cavs teams deeper into the playoffs than they probably deserved to go based on how good those teams actually were. In 2007, nobody was talking about not being clutch when James basically beat the Detroit Pistons all by himself. James’ Cavs then got swept by a San Antonio Spurs team with Tim Duncan and the Spurs’ D at the height of their powers.
In 2008, Cleveland was ousted from the playoffs by the eventual champion Boston Celtics, but not without James waging an epic game of “can you top this” with Paul Pierce. LeBron’s individual numbers were always slightly better, but it was Pierce and the Celts that eventually moved on. If the 2007 Finals loss to the Spurs was when the seed was planted in James’ mind that the Cavs would never surround him with enough help to win it all, it was most definitely this Boston series that added the water, fertilizer, and other gardening TLC to it.
In 2009, James and the Cavs fell short again, this time in the Conference Finals to Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic. To me, this outcome is still an oddity because I honestly feel that Cleveland had the better team. The NBA and Nike were certainly counting on it, as Kobe-LeBron TV spots had been running throughout the entire postseason (and some pretty funny spoofs of those commercials on YouTube as well). But this was the year of Orlando’s funky spread-the-floor-with-4-shooters lineup. The Cavs had no one that could match-up with Howard inside, and the Magic hit seemingly every 3 they took. James averaged close to a triple-double (38.5 points, 8.3 boards, 8.0 assists) for the series, but it wasn’t enough.
It wasn’t until 2010 that we all collectively said, “What the f*** was that?” though. Facing the Celtics again, James led the Cavs to a 2-1 series lead after demolishing the C’s on their home court in game 3. LeBron looked unstoppable in that game, going for 38 points on 14 for 22 shooting. However, for the next 3 games it was like we were watching a different person, as the Celtics won 3 straight to close out the series. James’ numbers in games 4, 5, and 6 look more than respectable at 1st glance (he nearly averaged a triple-double in that span), but something was off.
In game 4, James shot poorly (7 for 18) and had 7 turnovers. He also seemed less intense than only 2 nights before in game 3 when he practically ripped Boston’s heart out. S*** happens though…maybe it was just an off night for him…maybe he was tired. Game 5 was more alarming though. Coming back to Cleveland, you would expect the juice from the home crowd to give James a jolt. LeBron seemed less intense and less engaged than game 4 even. It wasn’t so much that he shot poorly again; it was that he only took 14 shots for the game in 42 minutes. No one in attendance or watching on TV understood what was happening. James looked as if he just wanted to get the game over with as quickly as possible regardless of the outcome.
Looking back, game 6 was fascinating for so many reasons. The return to Boston allowed for 2 days of media skepticism, which LeBron no doubt heard most of. It was clear that James was at least going to give the appearance that he gave a damn. He played all but 2 minutes and took 21 shots from the field this time. Even though he shot under 40% again and coughed the ball up 9 times, his numbers at least made him look more assertive on the surface: 27 points, 19 rebounds, and 10 dimes. But LeBron James could sleepwalk through a triple-double on most nights if he was on the court for nearly the full 48. Long gone were the joyfulness and swagger James displayed in Boston during his game 3 demolition derby. His game 6 was cold and robotic. He whined to the refs, he gave sideways glances at teammates following their miscues, and he looked as if he was only taking shots because he felt he had to take them. It was only 2 years before that James played his last game of those playoffs on the same floor, but he went kicking and screaming, dueling Pierce every step of the way. It was only 6 days earlier on the same floor that James looked ready to step on the Celtics’ throat.
Was LeBron's 2010 series just a strength in numbers issue, or was it something more?
After the final buzzer, LeBron had barely gotten to the tunnel before his red Cavs jersey was already off. I didn’t really know what to think…was it something in his personal life? Were the rumors of Delonte West giving it to LeBron’s mom really true, causing some kind of emotional strike? Did James have some kind of psychotic break (in a sports sense)? Had he simply decided he didn’t want to be in Cleveland anymore? Had the weight of having to carry the Cavs night in and night out finally taken its toll, thus causing James to physically and mentally break down? Or was it something simpler…had the Celtics simply figured James out? Did LeBron maybe just have his worst 3 games of his life?
Anyone who watched that series and saw the change in James’ body language from game 3 on would probably disagree with the last 2 possibilities, but I guess that’s the whole point: no one really knows. And no one knows what’s going to happen next either. LeBron could go on to win 8 titles and 11 MVPs, and most people will forget that particular series ever happened…but not me…which probably explains why that thought creeps into my head at 6:30am with a mouthful of toothpaste…another case of LeBron over-analysis at its finest.
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