I once wrote an article about LeBron James where I said he might be declining soon. At 33 years of age and as a player that has been so physically dominant, it was hard to see where LeBron James would be without as much of that speed and strength. I generally didn't like watching LeBron growing up and actively tried to find reasons to criticize the man. Two weeks ago, I thought this was the end for LeBron and the Cavaliers. After being taken to seven games by the Pacers, it seemed like the new and improved Raptors would finally take the Cavs this year.
Well, God damn. I don't think I've ever been more wrong in my life.
LeBron James is like red wine: even better as he ages. Now, the conversation isn't whether LeBron is past his prime, or whether if the Cavs are done. The conversation is whether LeBron is better than Michael Jordan, whether LeBron is the greatest of all time.
LeBron James increasingly seems like a mastermind: the narrative of the "collapsing Cavaliers" that foreshadowed the impending demise of the LeBron era seemed to be exactly what he wanted, and what he wanted his opponents to think. He fooled his opponents, lured them into a false sense of security. The Raptors went into the conference semi-finals confident, thinking that he was tired from a seven-game series against the Pacers, thinking that they finally had their chance to surpass him.
It wasn't that the Cavs swept the Raptors. It was how dominantly they did it, or at least how dominantly LeBron did it, that there is no question that the competition for basketball's GOAT goes to either LeBron or Jordan. And it's not just how dominant LeBron was against the Raptors that puts him in that category - it's how dominant LeBron has been his entire career for the last 15 years.
Look no further than Game 5 of the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals, in which a 22-year-old LeBron scored 29 of his team's last 30 points, tied the game at the end of regulation, got the game-winner, and dethroned one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference to let the entire world know that this would be the best player of all time.
Look no further than the fact that LeBron has destroyed the Eastern Conference and caused many teams to tank once they realized no one was getting past him. Since 2011, no other team besides LeBron's team has made it out of the east. Look no further than the fact that Kevin Durant, who would have the label of the game's best player if not LeBron, realized the only chance he had of winning a championship was joining a team that had won 73 games the previous season.
Again, somehow, someway, there's an addition in LeBron's game where he keeps getting better and better with age. And in this past series against the Raptors, he unveiled the latest addition, a signature unguardable offensive move. It is the mastery of the least efficient and most difficult shot in basketball: the midrange, heavily contested fadeaway. In game 2 against the Raptors, he hit six of these in the 4th quarter.
This is the shot that you want LeBron to take. At least he's not at the basket, where he's absolutely unstoppable. You're doing everything coach told you to do, and this is all part of the game plan. And then no matter how much you do, it's not enough. LeBron just keeps making these shots, no matter how well-defended or contested they are.
And there's a psychological impact in knowing that you don't stand a chance, that the man raining down the most difficult, inefficient shot in basketball is not human. He is a superhero.
When questioned about this new signature shot, he responded, "2 points isn't 2 points. It's a lie. 2 points is not 2 points. I'll explain it to you later. Coaches have said that for years, but 2 points is not 2 points." Think about how you would feel, executing a defensive scheme perfectly, only to have these shots go in seamlessly. Helpless. Powerless. In my mind, no matter what the scoreboard says, it would feel like LeBron rained 5 points on you. And when he does it six times in a quarter, well, that's a message: the series is over.
And then think how you feel when this happens, knowing that this was the most difficult buzzer beater of all time, and how you would feel when SportsCenter, that night, would put 10 different angles of that shot as their 10 top plays.
I was speechless a week ago. I remain speechless. Remember when we thought LeBron was not clutch? Well, now he has five playoff buzzer beaters, two more playoff buzzer beaters than Jordan ever had. LeBron James has shown, more clearly in the Toronto series than any other, that he is not human. He is a superhero.
