The Deceptive Superstar

Tonight I had the pleasure of attending the Warriors-Cavaliers game, allowing me to see LeBron James in person for the first time. As the game's box score can attest, I picked the right night to see the King, as he notched his second career triple-double. The funny thing was, even though LeBron's performance was probably the best NBA performance I've ever witnessed live, it didn't look like one. When I think "outstanding individual performance," I usually imagine a gunner like Jordan or Iverson throwing up 50 points, putting the team on his back and taking all of his team's shots down the stretch.

Tonight, LeBron gave a dominating performance that was somehow subtle. In the first quarter, he was just another cog in the Cavs machine, letting his teammates handle the ball in the half court, only taking five or six shots and continually feeding his teammates in the post. Rather than beat you over the head with his talent, LeBron lets it permeate throughout his team. As the game went on, he started affecting the game more and more with deft passes, nifty deflections and overachieving rebounds (the kind where he had no business even getting his hands on a ball so high in the air). These intangibles more than made up for the few sloppy turnovers that he committed in the first half. You can only shake your head when you think about how flawless he'll be after he has a few years in the league to iron out the kinks.

As the game stretched into the fourth quarter, the Warriors made a little run and got within six points. LeBron decided it was time to stop worrying about his teammates for a sec and just put the game away. So all he did was score 10 points in a two minute span. After a garbage time assist gave him 28, 12 and 10 for the night, the Oakland crowd cheered, LeBron raised his arms and I made a mental note to attend every Cavs-at-Warriors game for the next 15 years.