Miami Heat: Is LeBron James Threatened By The L.A. Clippers' Blake Griffin?

Ever since he entered the NBA in 2003, LeBron James has been considered the most exciting player in the league, year in and year out.

With his ungodly athletic ability coupled with his size, strength and speed, James has thrilled fans and haters alike with his gravity-defying dunks, extreme-degree-of-difficulty circus shots and uncanny ability to pass the ball for a big man.

For this, he has been rewarded with a Rookie of the Year award, six consecutive All-Star appearances, two All-Star MVP Awards, and two consecutive league MVP Awards, all the while hyped ad nauseam by the sports media.

However, this season has seen a new dog in the game to challenge him for the "most exciting player in the NBA" title, Los Angeles Clippers power forward, Blake Griffin.

Ever since he dropped 44 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists on the New York Knicks on Nov. 20, including a plethora of vicious, humiliating dunks, Griffin has dominated the SportsCenter daily highlights countdown and has become a fan-favorite on YouTube.

That game featured a coast-to-coast spinning one-handed facial slam on Knicks forward Danilo Gallinari, as well as a "best dunk of the Millennium"-contender on 7'1" Knicks center Timofey Mozgov, in which Griffin elevated his waist above Mozgov's head and used his left hand to cup Mozgov's face into his crotch, all while slamming the ball into the hoop with his right hand from three feet away.

The simulated forced-fellatio on a seven footer was nothing that had ever been seen in the NBA before, and rightly brought the rookie sensation into the media limelight.

Since then, Griffin has been a guaranteed highlight-reel night after night, going on a 27 game double-double streak, averaging around 27 points and 15 rebounds in January, and leading his team to a resurgent 12 wins in the last 17 games after starting the season with a miserable 5-21 record.

Making the Clippers resurgence even more impressive is the fact that the wins have come against the league's best teams, including the Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, San Antonio Spurs, New Orleans Hornets and the Chicago Bulls.  The wins against Miami, San Antonio and New Orleans came when those teams were leading their respective conferences.

Since the Knicks game, Griffin has even topped himself with a 47 point, 14 rebound performance against the Indiana Pacers, the highest point-total in the NBA this season, and the highest ever for a Clippers rookie.

Making 19 out of 24 shots from the field and 9 of 11 at the foul line, Griffin showed that his game was more than just dunks, with only four of his points coming from above the rim.

Many of his points came instead from fade-away mid-range jumpers off-the-glass and dizzying spin moves in the post resulting in lay-ups and hook shots.

There is now even talk of Griffin being selected for the All-Star Game as a rookie, a feat even James couldn't accomplish.

All this "media darling" attention and new-found popularity for Griffin has coincided with the swift decline in popularity amongst fans and the growing "villianization" of James in the media.

Griffin has become the "anti-LeBron" in the minds of fans, a special player with Lebron's supernatural athletic gifts and talent, but with a humble, soft-spoken, self-deprecating demeanor and a drive and work ethic that fans find missing in James. 

Contrasting with his off-the-court demeanor is his absolute aggressiveness on the court, a motor that hustles on every play no matter the time on the clock or the score on the board, and his avoidance of "cute", balletic dunks instead opting for nasty, beastly facials on opponents.

It's quite telling that the adjective most used by NBA fans to describe Griffin is "beast", while the adjective most used to describe James is "queen". 

Not surprisingly, all this positive fan and media reaction for Griffin has been weighing heavily on LeBron.

After all, it was the Clippers' 111-105 win over the Heat on Jan. 12, fueled by Griffin's 24 points, 14 rebounds and six assists, that ended the Heat's 13-game road win streak, crushing Miami's hopes of tying the NBA record of 16 straight road wins set by the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers.

In that loss, James injured his ankle in the fourth quarter, resulting in him missing the next two games and starting the Heat's four game losing streak, their most of the season, bringing to a streaking halt their run of winning 21 out of 22 of their previous games.

Though James had been previously complimentary of Griffin, even taking the time to find him on the Clippers' bench last year to give him words of encouragement after Griffin suffered a season-ending injury in the preseason, all that has now changed.

To counter all the attention that Griffin has been receiving, James recently announced to the media prior to the Heat's game against the Toronto Raptors on Jan. 22 that he was ready to play power forward.

"If I'm going to be playing an extensive [power forward], I'll start getting down there and getting us some more paint points."

Traditionally, NBA players and coaches are not known for announcing team strategies to an opponent prior to the game.  It is generally considered counter-productive to let an opposing team know of your game-plan in advance.

However, James was not thinking of his team when he made his "power forward" announcement.  Rather, he was letting the world know that he was not to be outshone by the rookie Griffin, and that "he too" could "score like Blake".

In the game against the Raptors, James was true to his word and played the power forward position brilliantly, scoring many of his 38 points in the paint and pulling down 11 rebounds, four more than his average.

In fact, he looked every bit like a "Blake-lite", often mimicking Griffin's 47 point, 14 rebound performance against the Pacers with a variety spin moves in the paint, backing down opponents with power moves in post, and kissing mid-range jumpers off the glass.

Coupled with Mike Miller's breakout game of 32 points and 10 rebounds, including six three-pointers and a Miami record of 22 points in the second quarter, the Heat were able to pull out a 120-103 win at home against the lowly Raptors, their first victory in five games.

Though on the surface it seems like James feeling threatened by Griffin resulted in something positive for the Heat, when considering the opponent was the 13-30 Raptors and that Miami needed for the victory a 32 point performance from Miller, who previously averaged 1.5 points in 10 games this season, LeBron's new "power forward" role should be viewed more cautiously as "fool's gold" than a true team-defining breakthrough.

What Miami doesn't need is LeBron playing "what you can do, I can do better" with Blake Griffin. 

Rather, Miami needs James to focus on one thing and one thing only, to win games in the regular season, gain home court advantage throughout the playoffs, and win the NBA Championship.

That is what James committed to when he sacrificed much of the luster of his legacy in leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers to team up with fellow superstars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh on the Miami Heat.

That is what his team and Heat fans expect in light of all the ridicule and hate they have received since LeBron's free agency.

Winning a championship this year and multiple titles after that is the only way James can restore his damaged reputation to where it was before his "Decision".

And frankly, winning the championship should be the goal and focus of any NBA player, no matter if he is LeBron James or the last guy off the bench.

Given that he posed a similar threat to the Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant when he joined the league, James should know by now that holding onto past glories and competing for the spotlight against one's inevitable heir is not only silly, but unnecessary, as all those individual accolades and triumphs will eventually take care of themselves if one becomes an NBA Champion.