Miami Heat: What We Learned About LeBron James in Heat's Beatdown of the Lakers

LeBron did it again. He led the Miami Heat to another win without fellow star Dwyane Wade, moving to 5-0 on the season without him in the starting lineup.

The Heat—led by James' 31 points, eight assists, eight rebounds, four steals and three blocks—dominated the Lakers in every facet of the game in their 98-87 beatdown of Kobe and the Los Angeles Lakers.

An impressive point to take into account is that LeBron performed at such a dominant level against Kobe and the Lakers even while struggling with an undisclosed illness, which resulted in him missing the Heat's shoot-around Thursday afternoon.

I know missing one shoot-around means nothing for a professional athlete, but still, it's impressive that LeBron's health issues didn't hold him back at all.

Watching LeBron lead the Miami Heat, without Dwyane Wade, has been an impressive sight to behold, mainly because he's done so by once again being the most consistent, complete and dominant player on the court.

In his last two games, LeBron has averaged 31.5 points, 9.0 assists, 6.5 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.5 blocks, all with an above-average field-goal percentage of 50.8 percent, putting on display the kind of production that most players in the NBA can only dream of reaching.

Sure, there are better pure rebounders, pure passers and pure scorers in the NBA than LeBron. But there's absolutely no doubting that LeBron is the one player in the league who puts all three facets of the game—in addition to defensive performance—into one complete package. And he does so better than any other player.

In addition to putting on display his ridiculous "completeness" as a basketball player, LeBron also showed the world that he is quite possibly the most versatile player in the NBA today.

LeBron was able to split double teams, drive into the paint, post up defenders and hit mid- to long-range jumpers like no other player on the court against the Lakers.

It's amazing that LeBron can "run the point" in the Heat's transition offense, hit fade-away 20-foot jumpers, then go into the paint and block seven-foot center Andrew Bynum with some serious force.

The versatility and efficiency that exists within LeBron's game—as evidenced by the fact that the only player in the history of the NBA with a higher player-efficiency rating is Michael Jordan (LeBron's is 27.04, Jordan's is 27.91)—truly puts him in a whole different league when it comes to comparing him to current NBA players.

No, I'm not saying that LeBron James is the greatest player to ever play the game or that he is more complete of a player than a guy named Magic Johnson. What I'm saying is that LeBron has played, especially as of late, at such a high level of efficiency that there's no debating that he is the most valuable player in the NBA.

Yes, the Heat won another game, reaching 10 wins on the 2011-12 season. And players like Shane Battier finally stepped their game up, but what we learned about LeBron James is more valuable than all of that.

In the Heat's beatdown of the Los Angeles Lakers, we learned that there is no player in the NBA that is more valuable to his team than LeBron is to the Heat.

Sure, Kobe was able to drop 40 or more points in four straight games, but he hasn't been able help his team win games nearly as much as LeBron has. And that was on display Thursday night when both stars took the court.

The fact that LeBron is more valuable than Kobe isn't found in the championships won, well, because LeBron has zero so far. Instead, it's found in the versatility that LeBron brings to the court each and every night, as evidenced by his career averages of 27.7 PPG, 7.1 RPG and 7.0 APG, compared to Kobe's career averages of 25.3 PPG, 5.3 RPG and 4.7 APG.

What LeBron showed us is that he can help the Heat win games with more than a pure ability score, which is something that Kobe Bryant can't do nearly as well.

LeBron outperformed Kobe, especially with most of Kobe's points coming late in the game when the game was out of reach. More importantly, LeBron kept his teammates involved in the game, with is something he does better than most players in the NBA.

The final thing that LeBron put on display Thursday night was his ability to make the players on the court around him look better and play better, which is one thing he consistently does better than Bryant.

LeBron finds teammates and creates offensive opportunities for his teammates like no other player in the NBA at his position, and that is another piece of what makes him such a spectacular player.

Sure, it's only one game, but it was a huge win for the Heat. What's more important than the outcome of the game was the way that the Heat won. Led by LeBron James, the Heat won with tenacious defense, efficient offense and an impressive physicality that the Lakers just didn't have.

LeBron's performance against Kobe and the Lakers proved one thing—that he is the early frontrunner for the 2012 MVP trophy.

LeBron also proved that even on the Heat's star-studded roster, he's still the main attraction.