Bernstein: Look At What LeBron James Just Did
By Dan Bernstein--
CBSChicago.com senior columnist
(CBS) The happiest LeBron James has seemed in months was when Kendrick Perkins scored a basket Tuesday night.
The best basketball player on Earth was already in sweats, on the sideline of a conference-clinching blowout, waving his arms in celebration of a clumsy, flailing bucket by perhaps the worst player in the NBA.
James himself was a comfortable spectator at that point, earning a seat for the entire fourth quarter of the 118-88 mercy-killing of the Atlanta Hawks in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals that clinched a sweep. The early exit meant he'd have to forgo the achievement of averaging a triple-double for an entire playoff series, but he managed two other notable accomplishments: becoming the first player ever in the NBA to register a series with averages of at least 30 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists and joining members of the 1960s Celtics in reaching five consecutive NBA Finals.
James was enjoying it all Tuesday night during garbage time in a way he couldn't up to that point in the playoffs. After he vetoed his coach's play call, demanded the ball and buried a last-second shot from the corner to douse whatever flame was left burning inside the conflicted Bulls, he didn't crack a smile. At the completion of his epic, 37-point, 18-rebound, 13-assist performance in Game 3 against the Hawks, he could only drop to his knees in acute fatigue.
Tuesday night was James visibly and vocally appreciating his season's body of work to this point, and we should, too.
The Cavaliers are a plane soaring after getting the wings shot off, due only to the thrust of its engine. First Kevin Love departed with a separated shoulder, and then Kyrie Irving became a semi-functioning collection of leg injuries. James was left with a handful of castoffs from the Knicks, a young power forward who can't really score, an undrafted Australian guard and an overwhelmed cipher of a coach.
And they are going to play for a title.
Numbers fail to tell the complete story of what James has done in carrying this big bag of bums this far, having slung them over his shoulder and borne them here. First, he was involved in pushing for the season-saving trades that netted J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert and Timofey Mozgov, the front office consulting with him specifically before making any moves.
Then as David Blatt tried to catch up to a breakneck NBA pace that outstripped his comfort level both in games and between them, James carefully helped manage everything. He did so both directly when needed – actually taking over huddles at times early in the season and indirectly by his tacit empowerment of assistant coach Tyronn Lue so that another voice could be better heard.
In the vacuum created by Blatt's lack of gravity and charisma, James has spoken for the Cavaliers in the media all season, too, understanding the nuanced messages that can be sent to opponents and teammates in a way that would make Pat Riley or Phil Jackson proud.
On the court, one sees him moving the pieces around like he's playing Stratego. He's calling the play whether bringing the ball up or not, indicating who he wants screening for whom and exactly where. Just as it looks like he's trying to set himself up for an angle to attack the basket, he whistles another pinpoint diagonal pass for the wide open 3-point look that he was arranging all along.
We have long applied the phrase "He makes teammates better" to those who simply make their teammates open by their own drives to the hoop. James does plenty of that, to be sure, but in this case the phrase is true in a greater, more complicated sense than just the alpha scorer drawing attention. Because of the role he has played in creating and directing the team, James really has helped improve a roster of mostly spare parts.
The knuckleheaded Smith is rebounding and defending, as well as being uncharacteristically aware of score and situation on offense. Mozgov is making difficult catches of all kinds of passes on hard dives after his tough screens, and he has anchored the back of the Cleveland defense, while Tristan Thompson and Matthew Dellavedova have played relentlessly. Shumpert has averaged 10.1 points and 5.4 rebounds in these playoffs, shooting nearly 37 percent on 3-pointers.
And all this is still to say that it could very well end here. Tuesday night's bottle-popping locker room celebration seemed to understand that, with the Cavs trying to savor what they have done, knowing what awaits them – the rollicking basketball amusement park that is the Golden State Warriors, primed to finish off their own historic campaign.
James knows it, stopping short even when given an easy chance for some excusable, in-the-moment braggadocio.
"I will guarantee that we will play our asses off," he said after the game. "At the end of the day, that's all I can ask for. That's all we can give."
Dan Bernstein is a co-host of 670 The Score's "Boers and Bernstein Show" in afternoon drive. Follow him on Twitter @dan_bernstein and read more of his columns here.
