NBAVideo

Not Clutch LeBron James Hit A Long Three Last Night, Is Now Clutch

With the shot clock winding down midway through the 4th quarter, LeBron James fired up a three from what looked like five or six feet behind the three-point arc. He made it, as you can see, and the Miami crowd erupted, appropriately so. The bucket gave Miami a seven-point lead and put them firmly in control for the rest of the game.

We’re at an interesting place with LeBron now. The narrative has folded back on itself, and we’re seemingly left at the beginning. By 2007, he had made Daniel Gibson and Sasha Pavlovic relevant NBA names while going to the Finals essentially by himself. And there was that Game 5 against Detroit the same year, when he went crazy. He was destined for greatness and championships – he had to be. He just needed help.

The help crutch permeated the conversation for the following three years – as in, there was none. But his less-than-stellar performance in a few playoff games swung momentum the other way, which was compounded by his departure from Cleveland. So we looked for every excuse to crown someone else as the NBA’s best – Derrick Rose, Kevin Durant, and even Kobe, again. Then Dirk came along and did his thing, simplifying the narrative yet again. Dirk won, so he was the best. But LeBron came back with an unprecedented regular season, fell down 3-2 against Boston, won the series, and reconquered our hearts.

It’s only a temporary respite as the Heat and Thunder face off, and we look for further excuses to knock James off his throne. If the Thunder grab the title, Durant, who already owns our hearts, might just seduce our brains, too. He’ll surely be the best if he takes out the King. So really, we’re back where we started. Can James come through in the clutch? I hope so, even if its just so this tired conversation dissipates.

Follow @dylantmurphy