LeBron impresses beyond the basketball court

By Nicholas Grenke
Western Herald

During the last two weeks, my view of LeBron James has changed for the better with two games where he single-handily destroyed my much beloved Detroit Pistons.

Both games the Pistons could have won and Detroit fans should have hated him for beating them. While watching him, we finally saw not just how talented he is, but how he’s become a leader not just for his team, but for the whole league.

I used to hate Lebron in a vengeance that was only matched by my hatred of 24-hour NFL draft coverage (do we really need to know who the Seahawks are taking in the sixth round?).

I saw him end the era of domination by the possible champ Pistons when he scored a bazillion points in the final quarter of game six of the 2007 Eastern Conference finals, the first indication that another championship wouldn’t come to Detroit, and therefore planting the seed in the brain of Joe Dumars to trade Chauncey Billups.

I laughed when he lost to the Spurs in that year’s finals, thought he was a jerk when he refused to shake hands with the Orlando Magic last year after getting bounced from the playoffs and grew sick and tired of seeing him clown around with his Cavalier teammates before, after and during games. James was overrated and besides, he didn’t have that killer instinct that winners like MJ, Kobe or even Billups had.

But watching him play this year, I saw sometime different. He started playing defense and blocked shots that would make Dikembe Mutumbo proud and in that game against the Pistons, when point guard Rodney Stuckey went down and appeared to be in serious health concerns, James did something even more amazing – he became a compassionate leader of men.

For those not watching the game, Stuckey collapsed during the third quarter on the Pistons bench and had to be rushed to the ambulance on a stretcher. He was leading the Pistons in scoring that night and his sudden collapse was terrifying not only for his basketball career but for his life.

What was even scarier is that Stuckey is not much older than many college students and his collapse brought to mind the players with heart mummers or conditions. Stuckey has proven to be fine, despite the scare. But after the game resumed and Cleveland won, his fate was still up in the air among of all the players and fans courtside.

While the Pistons were walking off defeated and concerned about their teammate, James called them back out to the floor. There, everyone on both teams stood together and said a prayer for Stuckey. If any other player in the league called out to come back to the court would the Pistons have? Most likely not. James showed that he dominates not only his team but the rest of the league with his leadership.

The more important question is why? Michel Jordan would have never done this, neither would Kobe. They were consumed to win, which made their social skills somewhat wanting. However, James, now 25 (hard to believe since he’s been around so long), seems to be growing not only as a basketball player but as man. He seems to have realized what his talent and status in the NBA really means.

Earlier this week the Cavs once again squared off against the Pistons, as Detroit played inspired basketball for one of the few times this year. James’ shots weren’t falling in the first half so he passed and rebounded.

Later on in the game, he found his stride and willed Cleveland to victory by posting the most underappreciated stat in sports with triple-double of 25 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists. Afterwards, he gave the Pistons a few hand slaps and smiled as he left the arena.

With the Pistons going nowhere fast, it’s hard to find a team to root for who will be in the this year’s playoffs, so it appears that their Central Division foe will now be my favorite to win it all.

As much as it pains to write that, it’s obvious that James means as much to Cleveland as Barry Sanders meant to Lions fans in the day. Here’s hoping that the Cavs go on and win the championship and “The King” doesn’t decide to bolt for the bright lights of New York or L.A. after the season is done.

Even though James is in the same division as the Pistons, it’s where he belongs.

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Posted by heraldstaff on Mar 17 2010. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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