LeBron James Can Win a Title Tonight

But, of course, this is too simple. And because of the career James has made for himself, the constant threat to shatter the glass ceiling of all-around basketball dominance; the disappointments that never made sense except to those with an armchair psychology degree; the poorly-crafted but ultimately wise decision to play with talented friends on a team that is growing around his strengths, and his strengths in turn, especially in these 2012 Finals, that have grown to their newest height of all-controlling power yet; because of all this, of all the box scores and numbers and highlights and lowlights we have fawned and puzzled over the day after through the seasons, the idea that LeBron James can win his title tonight is not one that can be chalked up to simply a matter of time. He is too important to this sport. This has been the journey that more or less has blanketed the NBA since it became clear James might just be who we thought, or dreamed, he could be on the basketball court. It’s a road that some may never want to see end. Others, like explorers in old times who believed the Earth was flat, are just waiting for the edge to come. Anyone with the faint pulse of a basketball fan in them would be moronic to, at the least, not recognize how he’s finishing his quest, if it does end in confetti and oversized T-shirts tonight.

These Finals, through four games, will be remembered for James taking a red pen to his career not for minor reediting but for rewriting his on-court persona in full and drawing a few wicked skull-and-crossbones in the margins to boot. If the Heat finish off the Thunder, James as cog in the machine will work, considering how Miami has surprisingly played as the more solidified and productive-from-all-sides unit. Though a championship will mean something else entirely when you remember that James has been more complete machine than just a piece to the process, as the Finals have been the arena where he has attacked the basket time after time with controlled yet ferocious pace depending on his matchup; where he has embraced the low post game basketball junkies have clamored for (and his teammates have made shots to complete the look); where he had made his archive-worthy late-game shots, pre-game speeches and stat lines that can never be confused with hollow numbers or, really, argued with at all.

For as long as we’ve known him, LeBron James has strived for the impossible. This in part is because of us wanting more and more from someone seemingly without limit in the game of basketball. But also, it seems the impossible is expected from James because with that, we can always expect something more. Whether or not James and the Heat close out the Finals tonight, or it goes back to Oklahoma City for more basketball heaven between these beautiful teams, there will probably always be more that we will want from LeBron James. It’s a testament to the way things are (good and bad) and the player he is.

If he does finish the journey tonight, though, James will not have completed some impossible mission; almost the opposite, actually. If there has ever been anyone I’ve seen in the NBA in my lifetime who can give the basketball world everything they wanted, exactly how they wanted it to happen, with dramatics and dominance crushing doubt and wild expectations to bloody pulps; if there has ever been someone who can win a championship he is supposed to win in a way that is obvious yet still staggeringly awe-inspiring, it is LeBron James. If it ends tonight, let’s remember that if the championship is his reward, James’s journey is, and will continue to be, ours.