No one has truly articulated what’s happening with LeBron James during these NBA Finals.

We’ve seen the simplified versions, like he’s struggling under the
brightest of lights, and an unsubstantiated rumor that his woman was
unfaithful. None of that quite cuts it. All we really end up with is
another notch in Michael Jordan’s favor for a tired debate.

The truth of it is that people prefer the less complicated reasoning.
It facilitates ignorance. They call themselves fans, when their
preference is clearly to revel in another man’s struggles. Because
Scottie Pippen spoke out of turn and it’s time for some laughs and chest
thumping.

Disgusting.

It doesn’t matter to anyone that the Heat overachieved in their first
year as a presumed superpower. Anyone who claims they expected Miami to
appear in the NBA Finals in Year One of the Big Three is a liar. (Save for Heat fans and homers, of course.)

Miami reached the grandest stage of the sport, and something is
clearly wrong with James. It’s not quitting, though. There’s some type
of mental block, but James is too much of a competitor to be a quitter.

James isn’t cowering under the shadow Jordan cast. He’s been striving to be better than Jordan since before entering the league.

Truthfully, it looks like he’s trying to find a new light source to
create his own shadow, like he wants to win a championship by doing
everything well instead of just one great thing.

His contract and reputation implies he’s the go-to guy for game-changing shots. But that’s not realistic. 

With all credit and respect due to the Mavericks’ fourth-quarter
defense, they’re intensely guarding a player who’s trying not to be
selfish. You don’t notch a triple-double in a losing effort if that’s
the case.

And you don’t take every fourth-quarter shot when Dwyane Wade is averaging nearly 30 points a game.

Imagine the backlash from the media, Twitterverse, and blogs if James
really did his best Jordan impression and hogged the ball while Wade is
hot. The same people criticizing James now would likely criticize him
for icing his own teammates in pursuit of personal glory.

It’s a lose-lose situation when you’re as talented as James. People
want to witness The King take over like he did to put away the Boston
Celtics and Chicago Bulls, as if he hasn’t been distributing the ball
well and playing solid defense. That Jason Terry three that hammered the
nail into Game 5 is among the few exceptions.

Being great can’t be simplified. That’s not considered a reasonable
excuse for a professional athlete. No one is willing to float James a
flyer for being human. That’s unfortunate.

*****

LeBron James is on the verge of becoming the Peyton Manning of the
hardwood. Both are fierce competitors who make greatness appear routine
until that greatness is expected — or demanded.

When you’re so talented that you make prolific performances look
easy, you get labeled a choke artist when the world decides that it really counts now.

Because glory is defined by championships, and a champion’s
statistics are only evidence as to what they’re capable of all the time.

These team games become individual efforts in the eyes of the
ignorant at the most inopportune times. The only solution is to become
the rare player who delivers the improbable performance that people will
reference during his Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

That’s not so hard, right? To be greater than everyone, ever, all the time. Is it asking too much?