LeBron James Shows New York Knicks That He's Ready for His First NBA Ring

While I haven't been watching the NBA playoffs for as long as a lot of other readers here on Bleacher Report, the dominating performance I saw from LeBron James and Co. was the most impressive playoff performance I've ever seen.

As a team, the Miami Heat absolutely dominated the Knicks in every aspect of the game. The player that led the charge though was none other than LeBron James, and he sent quite a message to the rest of the NBA with his performance Saturday afternoon.

With his first playoff appearance of the 2012 postseason, LeBron told the basketball world that he is ready to do whatever it takes to win his first NBA title, even if that means faking some calls along the way.

I'm a LeBron supporter, but I'll be the first to tell you that LeBron did quite a flop job against J.R. Smith. And while it was a a weak move, it was a smart one to say the least.

I won't go as far as saying Tyson Chandler's hard screen on LeBron was a flop on LBJ's part, because I'm pretty sure if you ran into a 7'1'', 250-pound NBA player without warning, you'd be feeling it just a little bit too.

We could argue until we're blue in the face whether or not those fouls were flops or not, but the point that those plays make is that, again—LeBron's desire to bring the championship back to the Heat is as strong as ever.

LeBron's ready to lay his body on the line, he's ready to take hard screens and hard fouls in the paint when his team needs him to, and he's ready to take over games with his ever impressive offensive arsenal and efficiency.

Aside from the fact that LeBron accounted for 32 points on 71.4 percent shooting (including a solid 78.5 percent from the free-throw line), the most impressive part of King James' performance was his tenacity on the defensive side of the ball.

LeBron was tasked with making Carmelo Anthony's afternoon utterly miserable and overwhelming, and he did just that.

LeBron held 'Melo to 11 points on 20 percent shooting, and he blanketed 'Melo absolutely everywhere on the court. His defensive pressure on the Knicks' best player set the tone of series opener early on and forced the Knicks out of rhythm on offense.

Sure, it was just one game, and to win his first NBA Finals LeBron needs to win at least 15 more, but there's no doubting the fact that the Heat star made quite a statement with his 32-point performance versus New York.

Either LeBron's opening first-round performance was a one-game fluke, or it was a sign that LeBron truly is a different player this year and he's ready to take fans on a magical and historical 2012 postseason ride.

I'm pretty sure his performance against the Knicks wasn't a fluke, so you know what that means.

Watch out NBA, LeBron's on a mission and he's ready to take out whoever gets in his way.