NBA Playoffs 2011: LeBron James NBA's Big Loser, Derrick Rose Its Biggest Winner

LeBron James screaming and jumping up and down. The crowd screaming and jumping up and down. Dwyane Wade seemingly the more quiet of the Heat's Big Three, or as the Miami Heat portrayed them the Three Kings, parading around on his home court.

The Heat had won, beaten the Celtics in five games, and swaggered their way into the Eastern Conference Finals without a care in the world, on their way to the certain NBA championship that awaits all great teams.

Then they played the Chicago Bulls on Sunday. The same Bulls who had beaten them three straight in the regular season.

And the wheels came off.

In the middle of it all, with every seat filled and the media buzz, was Chicago's own Derrick Rose. Silent. Quiet. Methodical. Looking for ways to win.

Many had little or no belief that the Chicago Bulls would win the first game, much less this series. Despite their great season ending with the best record in the NBA. Despite their MVP, the wondrous Derrick Rose.

In fact, many thought that the end of Chicago's run came when Rose accepted his MVP award in tears. The differences in emotions are telling.

James self-congratulating himself. Rose crying because of his mother and family.

The betting showed that this was going to be a very tough game for the Bulls. Most betting lines had the Bulls a 1.5 point favorite in the first game, making this almost as much of a toss-up as you can get without going dead even.

They were after all meeting Miami's Three Kings. The toast of the world.

The team with LeBron James, the man who apologized to Cleveland for leaving that city in search of the only award that really matters in order to become the Man. After chest-thumping his way in his self-focused way.

LeBron James is much like Dirk Nowitzki and yet very different indeed.

James needs the NBA title to satisfy critics that nothing is missing in James, just as Nowitzki needs his. That his athletic abilities, individual accomplishments, and breathtaking breakaways that end in huge dunks or draining threes are not mere smoke screens hiding the NBA's Biggest Loser but instead just reminders of LeBron James greatness.

As it turns out, the MVP award was not the end of the Bull's run. Instead, it was the validation of the still very young man who rose above all odds to NBA greatness.

Game 1 shows that Rose will get his team to the NBA Finals by walking all over LeBron James and the Miami Heat. Game One proves that James is the Big Loser despite leaving Cleveland in the dust for the Three Kings. Game One showed that James is not the Man, although he is still the One. The One of the Three Kings. Not the Man of the NBA.

The anatomy of the NBA's Biggest Loser is clear now—more than ever before.

The Biggest Loser is a player whose greatness precedes him, as it did with James. Anyone whose greatness exists more because he is the One rather than the Man of the Team will prove to be the Biggest Loser. Anyone who needs self-congratulations, who puts himself in front of his team, who blames himself less for his failures than his team for its weaknesses. The One is not the Man. And never will be.

The Miami Heat expected less from the Chicago Bulls. So did many sportswriters, pundits and fans.

They expected Chicago to cave as they fought toe to toe, basket to basket and dunk to dunk. They thought that Rose was not Jordan. That he was incapable of sustaining a win in the Heat of the moment.

They were all proven wrong.

There is little to like these days about James. James is the One of Three Kings, whose egos and promotion beg the question of what you get when you match three superstars onto one NBA team. What do you get when roles played conflict with each other? Where do you go with LeBron James is unable to find a shot or his range?

In contrast to James, there is everything to like about Derrick Rose, the Man of this series.

The Man is the one who rose up against the backdrop of one of Chicago's worst neighborhoods and managed to make himself the Man. The Man who stayed home to play professional basketball in his home town. The Man who could exceed Michael Jordan if only because of his background and heart. One of Chicago's own.

The Man is  Rose, the NBA's MVP. Rose, the Man whose psyche, will, and soul will move the Chicago Bulls to another championship even if they should face Dirk Nowitzki and his Dallas Mavericks. Rose is the Man whose psychology does not require media fawning. And whose reason for being is to be the Man on the Team, not the One of the Three Kings.

In the end, the Biggest Loser is clearly James.

Win or lose the series, LeBron admitted he could not sleep before the game, showing how big he considered this game. And LeBron became LeBron yet again. Losing a big game. Leaving only some of what he had on the floor. Never giving his all. The One who is the media focus of this and every NBA playoff in which he plays. The One expected to win, but who always loses.

LeBron James is the Biggest Loser for these reasons. The almost certain goat of this series. Whoever wins this series, we can see who the Biggest Loser is.

James, the One once again.