Spurs-Heat, Game 1

I usually put some kind of tagline with post titles like this, but all the cliches have already been written at this point. I dozed off on my couch as the 3rd quarter of last night's game started. By some odd coincidence, I actually woke up at the exact moment when LeBron limped/had to be carried off the court in the 4th quarter because of severe leg cramping. I watched the next minute or so until Danny Green buried another 3, causing a Miami timeout. At that point, I sensed garbage time was upon us, powered down, and climbed into bed.

Predictably, from that moment on the story wasn't the outcome of the game; it was the world's best player watching the last 4 minutes of a Finals game whose outcome was still very much in doubt. Also predictably, it served as an opportunity for any and all LeBron-haters to come out of the woodwork. Listening to "Mike & Mike" on the way in to work this morning, it's amazing how wide the chasm is between said haters and the hate-nots.

The players and coaches, including those of the Heat, mostly played it close to the vest: that the conditions were not ideal, but that both teams were subject to them, and that the Heat still could have found a way to pull this one out sans James. As Michael Wilbon often says on "PTI" though, more than one thing can be true. Both teams did play in the same heat. Miami still had 3 future Hall of Famers on the court to try to take care of business even after LeBron took to the bench. And yet, there are these simple facts: everyone's body reacts differently to different situations; the best player in the world wasn't on the court for the last 4 minutes of what was a 2 point game where his team lost; and San Antonio blew the doors off Miami once James left the game for good.

Also, while James was the only player that the 90+ degree temps took out of the game from either team, you couldn't pick out another player that exerts more energy and has more responsibilities on the court than LeBron.

People (and even Gatorade) can troll James and point to athletes overcoming much tougher conditions than last night's blown arena AC if they want. I can speak from personal experience that cramps can be as debilitating as just about any other injury in that moment if they are severe enough. I've played different sports with sprains to knees, ankles, wrists, shoulders...I've played with broken bones before. A bad cramp can cause your body to literally seize up to the point where you can't move. LeBron is a once in a billion athlete, but there's something in his physiology where this has given him problems in the past from time to time. So, those that would suggest James is no MJ or Kobe because he didn't force himself out there are buffoons.

So, do I think James' leg cramps were the reason San Antonio won Game 1? No. Do I think it was the reason Miami lost any chance of winning that game? Yes. Either way, just one more factor that makes this series fantastic theater if nothing else.