2011 NBA Finals Preview: Lebron James Is Darth Vader
This year’s edition of the NBA finals is a polarizing issue, even though most of America and the entire state of Ohio share the same opinion. The issue at hand isn’t, "will America root against the Heat?" It is, "why America can’t totally root against the Heat?"
The superficial and obvious answer is that LeBron James selfishly and traitorously left the Cavs to join a super AAU version of an NBA team.
That answer is wrong.
The less obvious, but often thrown around answer, is that the Mavericks are entirely more likeable than the Heat. Dirk Nowitzki and his geriatric band of NBA has-beens are the Mighty Ducks to the Heat’s skilled, powerful and unlikable Hawks. Sorry Charlie (all puns and triple dekes aside), that answer is wrong too.
The reason that America will root for the Mavericks (but not fully) in the Finals comes down to the essential element in life, The Force.
Last summer, LeBron swapping jerseys created a disturbance in the force that will surely decide the future of the league and LeBron’s legacy.
You see, until last year, LeBron was Anakin Skywalker.
From a young age, he was destined to be something great. Like Anakin, he demonstrated Jedi-like basketball skills at an early age. Brian Windhorst (the guy who writes the Heat Index) began following LeBron at age 14. As he grew stronger in the force, Anakin became a game changer as he went off on adventures with his master Obi Wan. What he did, saw and experienced were things that no one his age ever did.
His budding talents then began to draw recognition from outside sources like the Jedi counsel. LeBron likewise created the industry of nationally televised high school games, which are now fixtures on ESPN. During his junior and senior years in high school, I remember watching LBJ in my beat up college apartment. My roommates and I sat amazed that a kid that young could have the physique and skill set of a seasoned NBA all-star.
As Anakin grew stronger in the force, he routinely became frustrated with Obi Wan. He always felt that he could and should be doing so much more as a Jedi. In the face of seemingly impossible adversity, Anakin’s raw talent continually allowed escaped death and came out on top. His zeal and eagerness for new challenges, however, became a frustration as his master continually limited his scope and checked his ego. This is just like LeBron's time with the Cavs up until 2007.
LeBron overachieved and took the Cavs to the Finals. He took the ’07 playoffs by storm and established himself as the one hope for Cleveland. He took over the Eastern Conference Finals against the Pistons, when he scored 48 points, including his team's last 25. Undeterred from losing in the Finals to a veteran Spurs team, LeBron had big plans for himself in Cleveland, but over the course of the next two years his team’s lack of talent and hapless front office began to wear down his patience to stay on the right side of the force.
Fast forward to Beijing. LBJ experiences the power of the dark side. After failing to win the gold medal in Athens in 2004, he sees first hand how powerful the Sith are through the Dark Lord, Kobe Bryant. LeBron experiences Lord Mamba’s desire to win at all costs, and wrongfully lusts after how to attain the championship status Kobe holds. As the USA takes the gold medal, he finally gets that taste.
At the same time, and under the influence of the dark side, he and his buddies decide to become free agents the same year so that they can all play together (rumored, but probably true). In Star Wars, Anakin begins to get his fix from the dark side as the Emperor subtly lures Anakin by stroking his ego and indulging his fantasies of power and glory. Emperor Pat Riley, through the guise of USA teammate Dwayne Wade, begins to fill LeBron's head with illusions of titles and glory in South Beach.
Obi Wan, in an effort to train the ever-stronger Anakin, alienated himself by continually keeping Anakin in check. That parallels LBJ's 2008-2010 seasons with the Cavs when they ultimately fell in the playoffs to the Celts and the Magic.
In 2008, LBJ took the eventual champion Celtics to seven games before coming short. Not that he didn’t do his fair share. In the final game LeBron dropped 45 all for not (not to mention 32/12/6 to force game seven). LeBron could not have done more for his team, but ultimately fell short because the talent around him was always kept in check by Dan Gilbert and the Cavs front office.
In 2009 against the Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals, he had games of 49, 41 and 44 points (all losses), two games of 35 and 37 points (including one triple double) and a 25/7/7 effort in the deciding game six. He also hit a game winner from the top of the key, so you can’t say he didn’t max out his talents. No matter what he did though, like Anakin at the end of Episodes I and II, he couldn’t do it all by himself.
LeBron, frustrated with the direction of the franchise and his career, basically put all his eggs into the 2010 season as the make or break year. I think he knew that if he didn't get the title in 2010, he wasn't going to stay, even though it was his hometown that he loved. Anakin similarly had to wrestle with the catch 22 of being with Padme or being a Jedi. Both guys’ desires weren't compatible with their situation. Anakin could either stay true to the cause of the Jedi and be looked at favorably, or he could chase after his love and be shunned by the Jedi. In an impossible situation, young Anakin chooses love and consequently allows the dark side to shape his decision.
The Cavs' loss to the Celtics in 2010 is LeBron’s Padme situation. After Delonte West sleeps with LeBron’s mother (allegedly), LeBron feels double crossed just like Anakin felt betrayed by Obi Wan when he couldn’t have Padme. In games four and five of the Celtics series, LeBron symbolically gives up on his team by parking himself in the corner and demonstrating the devastating effect the absence of his effort has on the team (22 and 15 points respectively). As the Cavs leave the court in game six, LBJ takes his jersey off symbolically leaving Cleveland and going to the Dark Side just as Anakin did when he slaughtered all of the young pad-wan Jedis (LBJ’s 27/29/10 triple double in game seven was also a mental slaughter for Cavs fans, knowing that they would never see him do that again in a Cleveland jersey).
Pat Riley, the emperor, begins his final courting pitch to King James in the summer of 2010. He makes it clear that LeBron is going to rule the NBA galaxy with him and D-Wade, and LeBron slowly gives into the Dark Side. The courting of LBJ by the Heat is the symbolic disturbance in the force felt by Obi Wan when Anakin went to the Dark Side.
"The Decision" was Anakin's battle with Obi Wan. At that point, Anakin, so far gone into the Dark Side, couldn't comprehend the magnitude of what he was doing or how damaging that would be. Just as Anakin thought no one could defeat him, LBJ thought that doing the "Decision" would have no lingering repercussions. When the LBJ backlash hit, LeBron was lying nearly dead and soul-less just like Anakin after Obi Wan defeats him. He has lost everything he built in terms of his legacy, and now the dark side is his new destiny.
To top the summer off, the Heat reveal LeBron, Wade and Bosh to their fans where all of them come out on stage in their new jerseys. The Miami reveal is perfectly akin to Darth Vader tilting forward, secured to an operating table, and is more machine than man.
This season, LeBron was set to rule the galaxy, but is no longer revered by fans. He was condemned and booed at every area he played in, and generally adopted the roll of bad guy. The "good" in LeBron is now replaced by the machine-like desire to win multiple titles regardless of what it does to his legacy. Ultimately, he sealed his legacy and basketball path by going to Miami just as Anakin did when he became Darth Vader.
As we stand on the precipice of the 2011 Finals, the NBA is in the gap between Episode III and IV. No one knows how Vader rose to power. All we know is that in Episode III he became Darth Vader and in Episode IV he was ruling the Galaxy and working in upper management at the Death Star. The next five years will play out LeBron’s rise to power. That is why America can’t totally root against LBJ.
Everyone who loves Star Wars roots for Luke, Han Solo and Yoda to win the intergalactic war. But everyone who loves Star Wars secretly roots for Darth Vader because at the end of the day he is just a bad ass dude. As much as I disagree with LeBron’s decision to take his talents to South Beach, and no matter how much I root against him, I secretly love to watch him eviscerate his opponents much like he did against Boston (the apparent real reason he went to the Dark Side) and Chicago. His power, like Vader’s, is so evident when you watch him play that you can’t help but be enthralled.
So America, root as hard as you want against LeBron and the Empire, but remember, it is his DES-TIN-Y to take over the NBA. Over the next five years, you will see LBJ in destruction mode and you can’t stop it because the force to too strong with him. All we can hope for is that LBJ will redeem himself in the end like Vader did.
