SN Archive (2007): LeBron James just had his first Michael Jordan playoff moment originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
This article, 'His Time is Wow' by Sean Deveney, originally appeared as the cover story for the June 11, 2007 issue of The Sporting News.
LeBron James was in his typical postgame get-up, uniform soaked in sweat, a towel draped over his head, ice packs wrapped around both knees.
His teammate, rookie guard Daniel Gibson, was showered and scrubbed clean, in a striped polo shirt and jeans, popping a diamond earring into his left lobe.
James had just played more than 50 minutes in the biggest game of his career, a double-overtime Game 5 road win against the Pistons in last week's Eastern Conference finals. He scored 29 of his team's final 30 points — 48 total — and was having difficulty walking. He would need intravenous fluids to ensure that he didn't become dehydrated before the team left for Cleveland that night.
Gibson shook his head and said he would do his best to secure a video copy of James' performance, one that he said “defied words.” Then Gibson smiled. “You know, if he can't walk, I'll carry him,” Gibson said. “Seriously, he can get on my back.”
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In Game 6, with James — the NBA's “Savior,” “King,” “Chosen One,” or whatever your preferred sobriquet — struggling with his shot and clearly willing to pick apart Detroit's double-team traps with quick passes, it was Gibson who carried James and the Cavaliers into the franchise's first Finals appearance in its 37-year history.
James' transcendent Game 5 was followed by 31 points from Gibson, a second-round pick who is built like a shoelace and is known as “Boobie.” (Which really could not be much further from the James catalog of nicknames, could it?)
Heading into The Finals, though, Boobie and the rest of the Cavaliers will fade into the background — this is James' moment.
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When he hurled the ball toward the heavens (or the Quicken Loans Arena roof, take your pick) as time ran out in the Cavs' clinching Game 6 win, James broke into what might be the first genuinely enthusiastic grin of his four-year NBA career.
He has long seemed disappointed with his inability to push his team to championship contention. “That was always the question,” says Cavs guard Damon Jones. “Can he do it in the playoffs? I think he's shown he can.”
His talent is obvious — he's a 6-8 bull with trampolines in his shoes and a body by Rodin. His numbers are dazzling — he has career averages of 26.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 6.4 assists.
But James puts tremendous pressure on himself, and from the beginning of the season he insisted the Cavaliers break their huddles with, “One, two, three, championship” Coach Mike Brown would have preferred a simpler, “One, two, three, defense”
The win over the powerhouse Pistons just might mean Cleveland goes to The Finals for the next 10 years.
“I was like, 'Damn, how am 1 going to tell them to say one, two, three, defense?'“ Brown says. “So I let it go on for a little bit, and finally I said, 'He's the man, we'll say it. We want that type of pressure; let's live up to it.'“
Just days ago, the ability of James and the Cavs to live up to the pressure was in doubt. In the series opener, he shot 5-for-15, made zero trips to the free throw line and was heaped with scorn for forsaking his own shot in favor of a pass to Donyell Marshall for a 3-pointer. He was, at that point, a 22-year-old playoff novice figuring out how to win in late spring, the phenom still developing the iron stomach and irrepressible will required of a true NBA playoff great.