DALLAS – Through the door goes LeBron James, and it never fails: They all fall into line behind him. There’s the agent, the shoe reps, the publicists, the hangers-on surrounding him on his walk out of the interview room, through the corridor and into the garage. He wore his flinty black eyeglass frames, a narrow necktie and the stain of the most putrid postseason game of his life.
For now, the coronation of King James has stalled, replaced with the resurfacing referendum on his resolve, his resiliency, an acid test on his championship chase. These Finals are 2-2 because James hasn’t done his job. They’re 2-2, because Dwyane Wade has had to carry James, and Dirk Nowitzki has been the most resourceful closer for the Dallas Mavericks.
These Miami Heat are constructed to survive James’ slumps, but bottoming out is something else. This is beneath James’ talent, beneath his stature. Nowitzki was fighting a fever, and still made the biggest shot of the night. Wade scored 32 points and blocked a 7-footer’s dunk at the rim. James was a passive drifter and let Jason Terry get over on him defensively in the fourth quarter.
Worst playoff game of his life, and everyone’s left wondering: What’s happening to James here, and how is he going to snap himself out of it?
This is no time for James to get lost within one of his funks, to revisit the ghosts and goblins of his miserable ends with the Cleveland Cavaliers a season ago.
All around LeBron, his minions marched out of this 86-83 loss with uneasy glances and an unraveling global commodity. How it’s possible numbs the mind, but James had eight points in Game 4.
Hard to imagine how that’s possible for James, but for the first time in more than four years he didn’t reach double figures. This is beyond stunning and downright unacceptable with these circumstances, these stakes. The Mavericks could’ve been eliminated by now had James been stronger, surer and sharper in the fourth quarters of the Heat’s two losses.
Once the most hellacious player in these playoffs, a force of nature full of fury and ferocity, James pushed past Wade’s sidekick and reduced himself to third wheel behind Chris Bosh on Tuesday night. He was bursting with bravado, with confidence, in the Eastern Conference playoffs, but it’s been spotty in the Finals.
“I got to do a better job of being more assertive offensively, not being out of rhythm offensively the whole game,” James said.
All over again, this was James crumbling to the Boston Celtics in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals a year ago. When he was scoreless into the third quarter a year ago, the Cleveland Cavaliers would lose by 32 points. This time, he had Wade and Bosh playing the starry roles again. Wade has completely controlled these Finals for the Heat, and he could need to carry them to the end like it’s 2006.
So here it is, deep into these NBA Finals, and James has let himself become the target of public pep talks and condemnations out of Bosh, of all people. “He struggled. Point blank, period. He struggled out there. … I want to see him aggressive again. He can turn it up his aggression a notch.”
Wade had 32 points, Bosh 24 and James drifted and drifted without too little purpose, too little passion. When the Heat needed to run a play to free someone for a 3-pointer at the end of regulation, the ball tumbled out of Wade’s hands, and was flung eventually to Mike Miller for an off-balance, desperation miss. No James, no chance his coach would go through him with the game on the line.
Once, these playoffs had been a nightly toast to power and precision, but Game 3’s deference to Wade blurred into Game 4 indifference. This time, James challenged no one to go back and study the tape. He’s the best player in the gymnasium, the most capable of creating chaos within every corner and crevice of the court.
Only, James played the part of a spectator on Tuesday night, content to wander into the corners, disappear into the tangle of bodies. Miami coach Erik Spoelstra needs to run more plays that get him on the move, get him catching the ball in his preferred locales.
Most of all, LeBron James needs to rediscover himself again. These Mavericks won’t go away, won’t stop grinding, and there will be no getting out of these Finals without James flashing his greatness again. It can all come roaring back without a moment’s notice, come with some steals and dunks in transition, come with a 3-pointer and another that starts to feel like an avalanche.
That’s how it goes with James, and that’s what’s needed out of him in these Finals. He’s a genius passer and defender, and does so much more than score. Yet, he needs to get to the free-throw line, needs to punish Dallas on drives.
Between now and Game 5, LeBron James will hear it all again, and it will test him. This has been the Year of LeBron and he won’t escape with a title without reclaiming his dominance in these Finals, without pushing past these sluggish performances in Dallas and rising again.
As he walked out of the interview room and on his way to the loading dock, there was America standing safely behind the glass windows of the Old No. 7 Club here. James marched past and the Mavericks fans leaned into the glass, screaming and mocking and deriding him. “YOU WERE HORRRRRRRRRIBLE,” one burly, beer-swirling man blurted, and they all roared.
LeBron James kept marching past them, past the ridicule and couldn’t say a word to defend himself. No more explanations, no more talking now. The Championship of Me has come of age, come to its moment of truth, and LeBron James needs to rediscover something he’s lost along the way in these NBA Finals. Referendum on his resolve, his resiliency, his greatness. All now, all coming for him.
Staffwriter, Pinstripe Magazine. Bringing you the latest in Men’s Fashion, Gear & Gadgets, Beautiful Woman and more
