Lakers vs. Heat: LeBron Must Outplay Kobe in Primetime to Quiet Haters

Without Dwyane Wade in the lineup and a matchup against Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night, LeBron James has the opportunity to remind everyone in the basketball world of one little thing:

That he is the best basketball player in the world.

Since joining the Miami Heat, the LeBron haters and detractors have pointed out that he gave away his alpha dog status by joining with Wade and Chris Bosh. He's been killed in many circles for his lack of clutch play down the stretch.

His every little move is dissected and scrutinized. Like it or not, he and the Heat have become the villain.

Remember who the old villain in the NBA was?

Why, it was Kobe Bryant, the shoot-first superstar who we loved to hate after he gave himself the nickname "Black Mamba," clashed with Shaq and generally came off as a selfish, cocky dude on the court.

But Kobe embraced the villain role, continued to play incredibly hard, won two championships post-Shaq and, lo and behold, people begrudgingly began respecting him and admitted that he was was one of the greatest ever to play.

For a while there, it was Kobe's league.

Now, it should be LeBron's league. He has the chance to remind us of that when he takes on Kobe, without Wade, on Thursday night.

He has a chance to remind us that the changing of the guard has taken place in the NBA. That he is still the league's preeminent superstar. That Wade makes his job easier, but he can handle his business whenever he wants to.

Ultimately, this is just a regular season game, and individual games in the regular season rarely mean a thing.

But symbolically, this game should mean something to LeBron. It's another chance to remind his haters that he truly is King James, ruler of the NBA.

Because a whole lot of people think otherwise these days.

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