The Coronation of LeBron James: How the King Earned His Crown

There are many reasons the Cleveland Cavaliers were able to upset the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals. The most obvious and important one was the scintillating play of LeBron James.

LeBron has always had the body, the tools, and the skill-set to be a dominant NBA player. What he lacked, until recently, was a marquee clutch performance to justify the hype.

There had always been missed free throws in key situations, or an inability to step up in critical games, or poor jump-shooting hindering his growth as a player, or a lack of defense when it mattered most.

None of these shortcomings warranted labeling LeBron a bust—they simply pointed to what he needed to do to play championship-caliber basketball.

Fast forward to Game Five against Detroit.

LeBron was ridiculous. Step-back triples, ferocious drives, powerhouse dunks, a casual brushing aside of his opponents' attempts at defense—everything he did seemed to maximize the potential of his tremendous physical talents.

And he even made his free throws down the stretch.

Detroit's big men had been very effective this season (and last) in rotating hard to alter LeBron's shot and punish LeBron's body as he soared to the hoop. In Game Five, Rasheed Wallace was too intimidated to get in LeBron's way—and the result was a series of uncontested dunks.

The point: James managed to physically and mentally dominate an elite playoff performer.

Fast forward again to Game Six.

As expected, the Pistons doubled LeBron throughout the game and dared the other Cavs to beat them. Fans only interested in stats might look at James' line—3-11 for 20 points—and call it a bad night.

Not quite.

Even against hounding D, LeBron was able to distribute the ball. His eight assists were nice, but his ability to draw defenders before dishing off also created assist opportunities for teammates—hence Larry Hughes and Damon Jones totaling four apiece.

 

LeBron was also powerful enough to drive through multiple defenders for 19 free throw attempts (he made 14)—and his work on the glass netted a man-sized 14 rebounds.

Whereas James had relied on sheer ability in Game Five, he flashed a different kind of talent in Game Six: maturity, discipline, unselfishness, and, most importantly, unlimited trust in the players around him.

It's no coincidence that stars who play with robust faith in their teammates are usually the ones who get the most out of said teammates—and very often find themselves still standing well into June.

If LeBron didn't trust Daniel Gibson, would Gibson have had the confidence to hit all those clutch shots in Game Six? If LeBron didn't have faith in Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Anderson Varejao, would they have continued to punish themselves while dominating the offensive and defensive boards?

In short, LeBron has now—and only now—earned his coronation as one of basketball's masters. At this point, there would seem to be just two thing that could ever really be worth saying:

 

Somebody get the man a crown!...

 

And long live the King!