Blame John Elway.
If not for The Drive, perhaps he would not possess his drive. Curse Tony Fernandez. If not for his error, perhaps he would not obsess about erasing five decades of disappointment for Cleveland sports fans.
LeBron James enters Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Tuesday night carrying the dreams of America’s most tortured sports city. The Cleveland Browns have never appeared in a Super Bowl — thanks, Elway — let alone won a ring. The Indians’ last World Series title came in 1948. Their 1997 bid vanished in the World Series when Craig Counsell’s groundball ticked off the bottom of Fernandez’s glove.
When James decided to go home last summer, he walked into this backdrop. He grew up in Akron. He knows the history. He helped the undermanned Cavaliers reach the Finals in his first go-round. For a man who has spent his entire career competing against Michael Jordan’s legacy, his decision offered the ultimate power play. James will likely never equal Jordan’s six rings, but bringing a championship to Cleveland offers its own slice of immortality. Denver’s own legend, Chauncey Billups, predicted that the Cavaliers would win the series because of James’ unbending quest.
Few thought that possible after Game 1, a devastating overtime loss made more painful with the loss of all-star point guard Kyrie Irving to a season-ending knee injury.
Now, with James having willed the Cavs to a Game 2 overtime road win Sunday, anything seems possible.
Like most sports fans my age, I grew up a Jordan fan. Yes, Mars, it started with the shoes. Then the dunks. And all those championships. Jordan remains the gold standard, but comparisons to James, outside of LeBron’s hiatus in Miami, remain unfair.
James is not Jordan. He is Magic Johnson with mudflaps, a 6-foot-8, 265-pound bulldozer. It baffles me that James receives the criticism he does. Take umbrage with his awkward “taking my talents to South Beach” made-for-TV event. Or his commercials.
But his game? Really?
He is averaging 41.5 points, 12 rebounds and 8.5 assists in the Finals. He posted his fifth career triple-double in the Finals on Sunday, trailing only Johnson’s eight. Aesthetically, he is more graffiti than da Vinci against Golden State. So what?
Have you looked at the players surrounding him? Gladys had the Pips. LeBron has the Knicks.
He is attempting to win a title with J.R. Smith and Timofey Mozgov as his best complementary offensive weapons and Iman Shumpert as his top defender.
According to , James’ supporting cast ranks as the third-worst in the Finals since 1985. Only James’ 2007 Cavs team and Larry Johnson’s 1999 New York Knicks were worse.
That’s why what James is doing is historic. He is facing a Warriors team with the reigning league MVP, Steph Curry, and coming off one of the top-10 regular seasons of all time. Yet James will get ripped if the Cavs fall short. If he wins, it’s because of him, and expected. And if loses, it’s because of him?
It’s silly.
If LeBron performed like Curry did Sunday, he would have been crushed in the media. James is not shooting well in the Finals, likely in part because he has to shoot more. He’s averaging 37 shots per game, compared with 19 during the regular season. But he has little choice with Irving and Kevin Love (shoulder) reduced to reluctant spectators. Yet within this vacuum, James remains unselfish. Like Magic, he makes everyone around him better. Actually, like Magic, he makes them contenders.
Teammates want to play with him. They like him. LeBron isn’t Jordan. But Jordan wasn’t LeBron, either.
LeBron is Magic, and if his wand-waving leads to a championship in Cleveland with this team, no player will have anything on him.
Troy E. Renck: trenck@denverpost.com or
