Keidel: His Haters Will Never Admit It, But LeBron Still Rules The NBA
By Jason Keidel
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A funny thing happened on the way to the Warriors' coronation.
For one night, at least, the titular lord of the sport and the best team in the sport took a back seat to the real king of the court. And forgive some of us if we enjoyed the heck out of it.
It reads like athletic art -- 41 points, 16 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals, 3 blocks.
I have no idea what the Chinese calendar says, but in America, 2016 is The Year We Forgot About LeBron.
Maybe it's not time to toss dirt on his vocational grave. Monday night's game was a reminder and referendum, proof positive that the "King" has not left the building. LeBron posterized his haters for 48 minutes.
Even after his ethereal performance, James played guitar to lead singer Kyrie Irving. For some reason, Game 5 morphed into the Irving show. Kyrie was unconscious. Kyrie sends the series back to Cleveland. Him and LeBron became the first teammates to score at least 40 points in the NBA Finals. Kyrie and LeBron scored or assisted on 97 points. The Warriors scored 97 points as a team.
All true.
But please.
For all of Irving's athletic eminence, he would be back in his New Jersey home -- Gov. Chris Christie sure was quick and proud to label Irving the Garden State's son on Tuesday morning on WFAN -- if not for magic spell cast by King James.
Stephen Curry is a sublime basketball player. He is the best player on the sport's best team. He has redefined the way the game is played and watched. But one of the reasons some of us still think LBJ is still the president of basketball is he can get his points from 20 feet or 2 feet, from behind the arc or in the paint. When Curry has an off game, as he did Monday night, his impact is limited. LeBron's game is slump-proof.
Like Chauncey Billups said after the game, LeBron is the best player in the sport. Not the MVP. Just the best.
LeBron spread his numbers like butter across the box score. If anyone else scored 41 points, snagged 16 rebounds, and dished out seven assists, we'd be talking about this game with biblical reverence.
But since it's LeBron, since he's King James, since he's the Chosen One, we take his splendor for granted.
For too long and too often, he has played against the outsized expectations of jaded fans -- and pundits -- who think a triple-double is his mandate. We didn't expect this from Magic Johnson or Larry Bird. We didn't even demand this from Michael Jordan. Not since perhaps Wilt Chamberlain have we expected a player to literally dwarf the court, to loom like Godzilla above the trembling, Tokyo natives.
Only LeBron James could put up epic numbers like he did Monday night and the narrative could somehow shine on someone else. It was Kyrie Irving, you see, who kept this series from ending in five-game ignominy.
It was Kyrie Irving, who had a Carmelo Anthony-like allergy to passing the ball, who won the game. It was Kyrie Irving, who couldn't sniff the playoffs sans LeBron, who saved the series for LeBron.
Stop it.
Has any player in the history of any sport been taken for granted more than LBJ? To hear the press, players, and pundits, you'd think this LBJ were as dead as Lyndon Baines Johnson.
Like any American with a pulse, I was repulsed by The Decision. He left his home in flames. The Cavs won 60 games a year with LeBron, then lost 60 games a year without him.
But he made that right. So it's unclear if the LeBron hating is the hangover from his Miami Heat years or if people are just plain tired of him. Yet those are the same folks who will hate on the next basketball savant, assuring us he's "no LeBron James."
Now, before we set our clocks toward a Game 7, remember that Game 6 is no cakewalk. You can't count on the the same surreal conditions. You can't count on Golden State missing 13 of its final 14 3-point attempts. You can't count on the Warriors scoring one point over the second half of the final quarter. You can't count on Draymond Green riding the pine outside the arena.
Nor can you count on Kyrie Irving to go nuclear again. On 15 occasions he dribbled the ball and chucked up a shot, and 10 times the ball found the twine. That won't happen again.
But you can count on LeBron to keep his pipeline to the hardwood gods. James, even at his age, can still deliver a game for the ages.
Follow Jason on Twitter at @JasonKeidel