Heading into Game Five of the Western Conference Finals, pundits were all too ready to consider LeBron James鈥 mortality. They had cause, to be sure: Even as he finished the regular season second in Most Valuable Player voting, he likewise saw himself relying on an All-Star teammate more than ever for the first time in his career. And as the Lakers plowed through the playoffs, the increased contributions of Anthony Davis, juxtaposed with his noticeable tiring in the crunch of outings, gave rise to valid contentions pointing to his losing battle with Father Time.
Granted, James could still shift to a higher gear in spurts; he remained capable of stamping his class for stretches. With games in the Walt Disney World bubble occurring every other day, however, the relative lack of recovery times in between told on his stamina, which was why Lakers head coach Frank Vogel saw fit to cleverly manage his minutes, resting him in the middle of quarters to keep him fresh for crucial end runs. To argue that the results had been mixed would be an understatement; of late, he appeared gassed with outcomes on the line.
To be clear, there can be no overstating James鈥 importance to the Lakers in any case. For all the significance of Rajon Rondo鈥檚 contributions at the point, he is the engine that drives the purple and gold 鈥 and on both ends of the court, as advanced statistics have shown. Much was made of how he managed to shut down the Nuggets鈥 Jamal Murray from midway through the fourth quarter until the final buzzer of Game Four, but, really, he had been consistently bringing it on defense under Vogel and with Davis lighting a fire under his backside. If there was any question, it was on offense, where his seeming tentativeness led to stagnant sets and errant shots off poor clock management.
Under the circumstances, the always-proud James no doubt felt compelled to live up to outsized expectations. Even as he no longer had to prove himself in light of his unparalleled body of work, regency bias worked against him. And so he trekked to Game Five on a mission: He resolved to be all that he could, and, in the process, close out the dangerous Nuggets. That he wound up delivering exactly what he promised with aplomb speaks volume of his talent and self-assurance. His 16-point fourth quarter to thwart a comeback that appeared in the offing capped the 27th 鈥 and arguably most meaningful 鈥 triple-double of his career.
As even diehard fans will admit, James is well past his prime. If there鈥檚 anything he has underscored with his virtuoso performance yesterday, however, it鈥檚 that he remains first among equals. And in forging his ninth Finals appearance over the last decade, he鈥檚 breathing rarefied air. He鈥檒l be banking on Davis and his teammates while casting moist eyes on the hardware, but, make no mistake: it鈥檚 his orchestra to conduct, and rightly so. As he argued in his on-the-floor post-mortem with TNT鈥檚 Allie LaForce, 鈥淢y shoulders [are] wide enough to carry a lot of load, but my mind is stronger.鈥 Indeed.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since 大象传媒 introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
