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In his own words: “It’s about damn time!” After nine seasons in the NBA, LeBron James, to the chagrin of many, can finally call himself a champion. His Miami Heat made relatively short work of Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder this week to claim the franchise’s second championship title. To cap it off, King James was named the Finals’ Most Valuable Player. So, now that he’s won a title, isn’t it time for all the naysayers to cut LeBron some slack?
Two summers ago, I was just one of many who cringed at LeBron’s tactless decision to announce his leaving Cleveland for Miami in front a national television audience. What will be forever known as “The Decision,” LeBron James used his time on a live ESPN special to make a choice that would have taken a mere 10 seconds. Nonetheless, LeBron made his decision, left the fans of Cleveland, where he played his first seven pro seasons, dejected, angry and bitter — and rightfully so. The city of Cleveland hadn’t celebrated a championship since the Browns won the NFL Championship in 1964 in front of a packed house at the now-long-forgotten Municipal Stadium. With LeBron, the Cavaliers made the Finals one year and were a perennial contender year-in, year-out. Saying goodbye to LeBron meant saying goodbye to any title aspirations.
In the wake of said decision, LeBron James felt enormous scrutiny. Fans, writers and players alike scorned the game’s biggest player. To make matters worse, when former Toronto Raptor Chris Bosh signed in Miami to make the deadly trio of he, James and Dwayne Wade complete, they held a high-school-like pep rally to tell their fans that they were going to win a plethora of championships. If this were 1980 and the rest of the league were the world, the Miami Heat would be the almighty Soviet Union with King James himself playing the cantankerous role of Leonid Brezhnev.
After LeBron, for all intents and purposes, gave up in his final game with the Cavs (a 94-85 defeat at the hands of the more-seasoned Boston Celtics), there was immediate skepticism for LeBron’s future. How could he be compared to the likes of Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan if he couldn’t show up when it mattered most? The Cavaliers finished #1 in the Eastern Conference heading into the 2010 playoffs only to bow out much earlier than anticipated. It took Kobe just four seasons to win his first title, it took Jordan seven and now, LeBron had just wrapped up his seventh year with nothing to show for it.
Heading into the 2010-11 season, while the Chicago Bulls, Orlando Magic and Boston Celtics were all favourites to win the East, it was the Miami Heat who were under everyone’s microscope all season long. Heading into just his third season as head coach, Erik Spoelstra was too young and too inexperienced to lead the Heat to the Promised Land, Bosh couldn’t put the Raptors on the map, championships aren’t built on paper and LeBron James, quite simply, was a quitter. So many excuses and so many reasons for the Heat to fail as they were now the one team that everyone loved to hate.
Despite a slow start, the Heat took off, finishing the season 58-24 before rolling through the first three rounds of the playoffs en route to the Finals where they lost in six games to Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks. It didn’t matter how far the Heat had come — they needed to win it all and nothing less. They didn’t and thus, LeBron’s maiden season in Miami was a failure.
After a new collective bargaining agreement salvaged the 2011-12 season, the NBA played a 66-game regular-season schedule and the Heat, like the previous year, excelled, going 46-20, winning a second-straight division crown along the way. But what LeBron wanted most was a championship and until he came through in the clutch like the aforementioned Kobe and Jordan had, like Magic Johnson and Larry Bird had before them, LeBron James would be never be given his due as one of the greatest.
After eliminating the New York Knicks then the Indiana Pacers, LeBron had a date with his old nemesis, the Boston Celtics. After the Celtics pushed the Heat to the brink with a 3-2 series lead, the doubters began to resurface. What will the Heat do once this is over? Is Coach Spoelstra on his way out? How will LeBron recuperate in the aftermath of yet another lost season? But the series wasn’t over just yet.
In Game 6, LeBron made his skeptics nervous by hitting 19 of 26 field goals, making 15 rebounds and putting up 45 points en route to Miami’s 98-79 beatdown of the Celtics. But the naysayers weren’t satisfied, LeBron put on another show in Game 7, scoring 31 points and jumping on 12 rebounds to lead the Heat to a 101-88 win. All of a sudden, it was the Celtics going home and the Heat moving onto the Finals for the second-straight year.
In the Final, the Heat were up against the Oklahoma City Thunder, a young team loaded with raw talent like Russell Westbrook and James Harden in addition to the aforementioned Kevin Durant. After falling to the Thunder in Game 1, the Heat took over, winning the next four to win the NBA Championship. After averaging 28.6 points per game in the Finals to along with 10.2 rebounds and 7.4 assists, LeBron was named the Finals MVP to go along with his long-coveted title.
So, what now for all the LeBron haters? The fact that he still needs to win another five rings to match the totals of Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan? The excuse well is running dry. It’s time to give King James his due. I was certainly no fan of his asinine choice to let his decision air, joining Jersey Shore in the category of the too long and downright unnecessary. Let’s not forget that LeBron was 25 years old at the time. Haven’t we all done things we shouldn’t have at that age – or at any age?
Not all of us have the power to have a network give us airtime to make a decision that would take a few seconds. Okay, maybe on Rogers Cable. Furthermore, whether anyone likes him or not, millions tuned in to watch LeBron James make his infamous decision. Why? The same reason people tune in to the aforementioned ‘Jersey Shore’ or ‘The Simple Life’ before that. Not because it’s so pathetic that they want to make fun of it but because they like it, they want to be a part of it. Just admit you have a man-crush on ‘The Situation’ already and we can all move on with our lives.
What this all comes down to is how LeBron James will be viewed from now on. We can put him down all we want to but no longer can anyone deny that he is an NBA champion — and a deserved one at that. LeBron didn’t sit idly by while the rest of his team won him a title. While he was helped by a great supporting cast, this was LeBron’s show. King James answered his worst critics with his best performances, which is what defines a champion.
Unlike the other three major North American sports, dynasties are still commonplace in basketball. It’s no longer a question of can LeBron win one but whether he can win multiples. Michael Jordan did it with the Bulls, Kobe Bryant did it with the Lakers and LeBron James has all the makings of turning Miami Heat into a dynasty. It may not be what everyone want to hear but that’s the thing about honesty: like the Heat, it burns.
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Ryan Cowley is a writer at Toronto Standard. Follow him on Twitter @RyanACowley.
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