King James

Four years ago, people wondered if he was over-hyped. Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, heck, even Moses Malone, were players that skipped the formality of college, and jumped directly to the pros, much like their European brethren. Not every high school students who makes the leap is successful, but no NBA team wanted to be the one that missed the opportunity to get next Kobe or Kevin.

Four years ago, Lebron James was anointed The Chosen One. In a league filled with superstars, the NBA was looking for one to replace Michael Jordan, and they said Lebron was the one. Despite the comparisons to Michael Jordan, people saw him more like Magic Johnson, a guy who was just as willing to pass it as he was to take it to the hole.

Most pundits warned not to expect much from Lebron that first year. Yao Ming didn't exactly wow them right away. The less said about Kwame Brown, the better. No one would have been surprised if Lebron had a slow start, or even failed to live up to the promise, even as a few felt certain that Lebron was different.

Lebron was drafted by Cleveland. Being an Ohio boy, staying at home was seen as a boon for the local team, which had not seen much glory since Jordan himself was regularly beating Cleveland. The first two years, Cleveland came close to making the playoffs, but not quite.

Last year, Cleveland made it to the playoffs, where they were facing the resurgent Washington Wizards, making its second consecutive playoff appearance. The previous year, the Wizards had beaten a Chicago team that was also trying to rebuild its fortunes, ever since Jordan, then Phil Jackson, Scottie Pippen, and the rest of the original Bulls left. They were young, with Kirk Hinrich replacing Jay Williams who had himself a bit of a biking accident, leaving Chicago short of a point guard.

The Wizards were looking to take the next step, but Cleveland, in its first playoffs with Lebron had other ideas, and eventually eliminated the Wizards. The Wizards, poised to make a decent playoff run, was hurt when not one, but two of its leading scorers (Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler) went down with season ending injuries, and though they crawled into the playoffs, they were swept in four by Cleveland.

Cleveland then knocked out the Nets, recent finalists themselves, in 6 games. They were expected to lose to Pistons, although they had pushed them to 7 games last year. Detroit had a bit of an edge, taking the first two games by identical scores of 79-76. In game 1, Lebron passed up the last shot, and was chastised by the media for not playing the superstar. In game 2, Lebron had an opportunity to tie the game, and took, but missed the last shot.

Cleveland won the next game, which was close, too, but Larry Hughes, former Washington Wizard, got hurt, and it seemed James would have to look to the next year to try again. Although, Hughes pulled a Willis Reed and came out for a few minutes, but was largely ineffective. Due to the surprising play of rookie, Daniel Gibson, who scored 21 points in the game, Cleveland won game 4, and they tied up the series.

The NBA, in its infinite wisdom, has chosen to make deals with TNT, making it impossible for those without cable or satellite to watch the games until the final. I had resigned myself to watching it on the web, where the ebb and flow seemed to go back and forth, and it seemed, near the end, that Detroit would win it, after all.

With three minutes to go, Detroit had an 88-81 lead. Lebron would score 2 points, get fouled, miss the free throw, and have his team recover the rebound, then they would get fouled, and Gooden (of Cleveland) would make 2 more free throws to bring the game to 4 points with 2:49 to go.

Lebron would score 3 to make it a one point game, then he'd score 2 to give Cleveland a lead of 1, then Billips would get 3 to give Detroit a 2 point lead, then Lebron would score 2 more points to tie it again, and it would go to overtime.

He would score every Cleveland point in the double overtime win, and scored 29 of his team's last 30 points.

Most pundits saw it more than simply a gutty win, one where Lebron had a signature moment. They were thinking that he may be on the verge of greatness, and this would be one of many moments like it in the future. People want to say they saw the next Michael Jordan and realized it while it was happening.

Will it happen? People had thought that Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade were better than Lebron, two players that entered the league when Lebron did. Is Lebron ready to take this team to the finals?

Are we all witnesses to Lebron's coming of age in the NBA?