What Made Me Feel LeBron James Is Leaving Cleveland

Sometimes a player's face says more than his game.

Lebron's game spoke in numbers (27 points, 19 rebounds, 10 assists). Those numbers say Lebron is staying.

For once, Lebron's numbers don't tell the story. His Game 6 performance may have been spoke in numbers, but it was his expression/reaction afterward that spoke volumes.

He's leaving.

I'm not a Knicks, Bulls, Nets, Clippers, Heat or Cavs fan. I'm a Suns fan, so you can trust, if nothing else, that I'm indifferent as to where he ends up.

What this objective observer saw in Game 6 was a LeBron who half-heartedly tried to shift into superstar gear in the final five minutes.

I saw LeBron, and the Cavs, fail to show any sense of urgency as the game slipped away.

The biggest thing that stood out were, ironically, the little things right after the buzzer sounded. The King tossed crown (headband) to a foreign crowd, had word with Garnett (advice from a former small-town faithful-turned-big-city-winner?) then removed his Cavs jersey immediately upon entering the tunnel to the locker room.

The vibe/attitude/symbolism of that sequence spoke to me. It said, "Here you go. Hope it means a lot to you, 'cause it sure doesn't to me anymore." Think graduation day, when caps are tossed and an era is eagerly left behind for a bigger and better future.

There wasn't any sadness, anger, irritation or any trace of raw emotion on the King's face. It was eerie.

If I could voice his expression, it would be, "Well, it was fun, but it's over."

And it is. The Era of James is over in Cleveland.

James is probably grateful. He can actually address his situation instead of postponing it. He can make his own destiny instead watching Cleveland fail to make it for him. He can go to a team whose role players don't disappear in the playoffs (Antawn Jamison, the long-awaited "No. 2 Guy", went AWOL while Mo Williams repeated his 2009 playoff performance in spectacular fashion).

He's probably grateful to have a shot at escaping the weight of an entire state. Cleveland's collective sports curse is perhaps the heaviest burden in professional sports, and it showed not just on LeBron, but on the whole team as they lost control in the fourth quarter. The thought has to cross LeBron's mind that he can be just as successful, maybe moreso, without having to bear that monster.

Chicago, with Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah are waiting. New York, with cap space for LeBron and another stud, is waiting. Everyone is waiting, including Cleveland, which is waiting to see its heart will be broken.

And Clevelanders will be heartbroken. I can't blame them.

But I can't console them, either.