Ascension

I am not going to break any new ground today. By now, you all know that LeBron James has earned-- emphasis on earned-- a championship. He's climbed the mountain, topped the tower, conquered all there was to be conquered (this year). The King has ascended his throne.

I watched James just about every game this postseason not because I am a fan of the Heat-- in terms of basketball, they're actually kind of difficult to watch outside of their transition game-- but because I am a fan of greatness. That's simply what LeBron is. As Mike Greenberg said via twitter, “You don't have to like Lebron, but if you refuse to respect his game, be aware you are taking a position that is indefensible.”

I truly think the flood gates are about to open. I really do. The Miami experiment has officially been justified with a title. Management doesn’t have to be afraid to pour money in to sustain what’s going on. They need guys at the 1 and 5 positions pretty badly (as badly as any championship team has ever needed them, probably), and odds are they’re probably going to get them now.

More importantly, Lebron James has exorcised some demons this postseason. I’m not talking about public perception either. It’s fun to debate what you and I think, but ultimately, it doesn’t quite matter. What does matter is the state of mind James can enter postseason games in. I fully believe the pressure is off now. Sure, he’s still expected to win. That’s a given. But he’s already got the snazzy hardware on his hand, and the ant-on-fire, microscopic focus with which Lebron has fallen under the last few seasons will be gone.

And I think they’re gonna pour it on. The Miami Heat are about to go on a tear. One for the ages.

The haters… well, they’ll continue to do their thing. I don’t know what Skip Bayless has to say this morning, nor do I particularly care that much. Someone said a few days ago that LeBron has become so polarizing, he’s actually on the level of politics at this point. People have made their decisions already. Conservatives are Conservatives and Liberals are Liberals; the same is true with LBJ. If you like him, you’re going to continue to like and appreciate him. And if you don’t like/hate him—whether it be because you didn’t like “The Decision,” and his $1,000,000 donation to charity, whether you’re jealous, whether your summer house is in Cleveland, or whatever other possible reasons there are—you will continue to not like him. It’s engrained.

If the best revenge is to live well, then today, LeBron James has his revenge. Dan Gilbert can suck it.

Some Memorable Quotes:

“So,let me get this straight: You hate guys who take less money and sacrifice individual glory to try to win titles in a team sport.” –Mike Greenberg, Twitter

“The past two months haven't been a coronation for the new Finals MVP as much as they've been an acquittal. That's what everything has been about for James since he decided to sign in Miami and then chased that with an end to last season that legitimately shamed him. Not all of it can be washed away with beer and champagne, but James was willing to try.” –Brian Windhorst, Daily Dime


“I did it the right way; I didn't short-cut anything. It's the hardest thing I've ever done.” –LeBron James, on this year’s playoffs.


“LeBron James, by the sheer tidal force of the 28.6 point/7.4 assist/10.2 rebound average line he posted in these NBA Finals -- including 26/13/11 in the clinching game -- didn't just refute the old arguments against his "clutchness," but obliterated them, rendered them ridiculous. Do yourself a favor: Take a minute to appreciate the mastery of the sport we witnessed these past eight weeks. It doesn't happen often.”   –Tom Sunnergren, Philadunkia/Daily Dime


“Great NBA season. Enjoyed playoffs. Congratulations to Miami & OKC for an exciting Finals. Back to work on next weeks promising Cavs draft.” –Dan Gilbert, Twitter


“His 26 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists in the closeout game represented, by any measure, the cherry on one of the greatest individual playoff runs in history. He averaged 30 points and 10 rebounds during the playoffs; moved to power forward when Chris Bosh missed nine playoff games with an injury; led rallies from deficits in three consecutive series; delivered one of the most dominating games of this generation with 45 points in a road elimination game in Boston; got his first Game 7 victory; set a record for number of playoff games with at least 25 points, five rebounds and five assists; and became the fifth player ever to have multiple Finals triple-doubles. You could go on and on. The summation is that James is a worthy champion.”  -Brian Windhorst, Daily Dime


“Finally.” –Skip Bayless

“LeBron James is the first player in nine years to win both the regular-season league MVP award and the NBA championship in the same season. The last was Tim Duncan in the 2002-03 season.” –Elias Sports Bureau

“What I meant to say was, the Cleveland Cavaliers will win one championship before LeBron wins seven.” –Dan Gilbert

(okay, fine,  I made that last one up)

“But really, I've known since the Pacers series; definitely since the end of the Boston series. This is the best player in the world. The best player of his generation. His lack of rings meant about as much as the number of Oscars sitting on Martin Scorsese's mantel when he made Goodfellas. Zero. I knew right then: I'm watching something special. It makes one Thursday night different than all the rest. It makes watching every minute worth every second.” –Chris Ryan, Grantland

“For the past two years, the sportosphere has been focused on the fallacy of deconstructing greatness. Although daily arguments over behavior in late-game situations and historical placement are part of the natural sports discourse, the NBA fan has been stuck in an unhealthy, argumentative state. We are more interested in analyzing individual body language than in deconstructing a team's pick-and-roll defense. Now that the Miami Heat have seized control of the NBA Finals, we are mentally preparing for a world where LeBron has officially earned his place in the discussion of greatness. All of our arguments are about to become irrelevant, exposing the flawed template we used to construct our anti-LeBron values.” –Carles, Grantland

“I’d been quietly pulling for the Miami Heat to win the title since April -- and not because I find LeBron James to be sympathetic or because I like the Heat’s brand of basketball or even because I have a lingering attachment to the Heat after covering them in Miami during the 2010-11 season.
I simply wanted it all to be about basketball again, because the public exercise of trying to probe James’ inner life had grown tiresome. The ease with which epithets like choke artist, fraud and much worse have been thrown at James has always been petty and, when examined closely, they usually rang false. In recent months, those takedowns had also become boring, and the prospect that they’d continue to dominate the NBA for at least another year was excruciating…  All that talk is over. The next time James falls short -- and he almost certainly will at some point -- we’ll measure that failure in the context of the game, not in the language of hysteria.”  -Kevin Arnovitz

“[Losing last year] was the best thing that ever happened to me in my career. Because basically, I got back to the basics, it humbled me, and I knew what it was going to take and I was going to have to change as a basketball player and change as a person to get what I wanted.” –LeBron James