Bulls vs. Heat: LeBron James' Me-First Attitude Will Hurt Miami

It all comes down to Thursday night for the Heat. By the time it's over, they'll just have to get used to the idea of being second best.

As it stands, the Bulls have a two-and-a-half-game lead on the Heat in the Eastern Conference standings, and with a win on Thursday, they can widen it to three and a half games with three games remaining in the season. If the Heat don't win, they'll be relegated to the No. 2 seed.

Though the Heat have won four straight and are about to kick off their final stretch at home, the Bulls will be ready on Thursday. And while the rest of the team worries about how to stop Chicago from locking up the top seed, LeBron James is pondering his chances of locking up the league MVP.

Because, naturally, in the midst of a playoff race, superstars should always be thinking about winning MVPs.

Daily Herald's Mike McGraw wrote that on Wednesday, James told Fox Sports Florida: 

"

It would mean a lot, honestly. I work hard during the offseason, I work hard during the season to be the MVP. I want to be the MVP every year for my teammates, the MVP for my fans every single year. That's how I approach the game every night. 

"

James' intentions were probably good. Most likely, what he meant to say was that he wants to make his team better by being the best he can possibly be.

But, it didn't come out that way. It came out as James saying, "I'm thinking about how much I want to be the MVP."

James' commentary represents, in a nutshell, everything that is wrong with the Heat. Just like his ridiculous "decision" special was a shameless ploy to get attention—to place the focus solely on himself—he has yet again taken what was a great week for the Heat and offered himself up as a dangerous distraction.

Isn't it common knowledge that professional athletes are supposed to pretend they don't care about winning MVP awards? Whether or not the sentiment is genuine, they're supposed to at least say that individual honors don't matter. Peyton Manning and Tom Brady talk about the uselessness of MVP awards all the time. They've both won championships.

It's hard to believe that winning this gold medal is enough for LeBron, whether or not he ever wins a title—or is it? He seems like he'd be pretty satisfied with a plaque that says he's the best of the best. 

Meanwhile, the Bulls—who have somehow managed to stay atop the conference standings despite injuries to reigning MVP Derrick Rose—are thinking about Thursday's showdown. They've won four of five, including a 96-86 overtime victory over the Heat last week, while devising a way to compete if Rose isn't healthy enough to be a factor in the playoffs.

The question is this: If James is about a week removed from an overtime loss to the team that stands in the way of the Heat and a trip to the NBA Finals, why is he taking the bait and talking about winning the MVP? Why didn't he just say what he was supposed to say: "That's not important right now."

At this point, succeeding down the stretch and into the playoffs comes down to focusing, and it comes down to playing like a team. Whether or not James wins the MVP is inconsequential because it won't guarantee the Heat a championship.

The Bulls may be battered, but at least they have their heads on straight, and at least they are finding a way to win, with or without their own MVP. And the difference is, none of them are talking about those three letters because they know it won't do anything to help them win on Thursday.