2012 NBA Finals Preview: LeBron James Has No Choice but to Be Great

Lebron James has to be great.  Not good.  Not pretty impressive.  Great.  Like, “best player alive by a margin the size of the Grand Canyon" great.  If he’s anything less than historically spectacular against the Thunder in this year’s NBA Finals, his team has absolutely no chance to win.

So, what else is new?

Since he entered the league, James has shouldered more responsibility and carried a heavier load for his team than any other player.

The 2012 playoffs have been no different.

In each successive round, as his teammates shrank from big moments (Udonis Haslem and Mario Chalmers) or fell prey to injury (Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh), James has trudged on alone.  As the rest of his team provided less and less help, James drew more defensive attention.

James responded by playing even better.

His brilliance peaked in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Celtics, when he exploded for an otherworldly 45 points, 15 rebounds and five assists.  Perhaps more impressively, James was uniquely efficient, missing just seven of his 26 field-goal attempts.

He was on a mission.

The frightening focus James channeled for that game cannot be an anomaly if the Heat are to have any chance of winning in the finals.  Though it seems impossible, James must be as good as he was in Game 6 for an entire series.

Because the Thunder are a better team than the Heat, and everyone knows it.

They are bigger, younger and deeper.  They are hungry, focused and far more talented as a whole than Miami.   They’ve beaten teams during this very playoff run that were probably better than the Heat. 

The Thunder have not, however, faced this version of Lebron James.

The only way Miami can win is if Lebron continues to make the incredible look routine, which feels unfair.  But when have expectations for James ever been fair?  Now, in this year’s NBA Finals, James has two options: be utterly, mind-numbingly great, or lose.

He has no choice.