LeBron James and the Struggle of Being a Cleveland Fan Versus a Basketball Fan

The Decision is probably the most significant off-court event in the history of basketball, if not the history of sports altogether. Michael Jordan's decision to leave the NBA and play baseball may be the only one bigger.

This is largely due to the fact that LeBron James may very well go down as the most polarizing sports figure in history. Is there another player in any sport ever who everyone has a definitive opinion on? I bet even my mom, who's never seen him play, has an opinion on LeBron.

Some love him. Some hate him. Some are in awe of him. Some always expect more from him. Some are inspired by him. Some are unimpressed. Some believe he can do no wrong. Some believe he can do nothing right.

The LeBron haters were mostly shut up in the second and third rounds of this year's playoffs as James asserted his dominance on both ends of the court leading the Heat over the Celtics and Bulls. His play was simply a thing of beauty. He was scoring and distributing at will on the offensive end and shutting down the league MVP on the defensive end.

I was immediately turned into a LeBron hater on the night of The Decision. For the majority of this season I did my best to steer clear of Miami games on TV and even their highlights on Sportscenter (not an easy task I might add). I knew that if saw again all the amazing things LeBron can do on the basketball court that it would begin to pull me back in.

The inevitability of that came to fruition during the playoffs when I simply could not stay away. The basketball fan/enthusiast in me was reminded of the sheer joy that comes from watching LeBron perform his craft.

At the conclusion of the Boston series LeBron finally apologized for The Decision and the way everything went down. I took that moment to do a little soul-searching of my own and in a column I publicly forgave him and decided that being a hater just wasn't worth it any more. The basketball fan in me finally won out. Like Jordan in the 90's, I simply wanted to enjoy watching greatness.

And that's what LeBron is... the greatest player in the NBA right now.

Or is he?

LeBron's no-show performance during game four of the Finals against Dallas on Tuesday night brought that fact into serious question. If he really is "the greatest" then where was he all night?

In 46 minutes he managed only eight points, nine rebounds, seven assists, going 3-11 shooting, including only 0-1 in the fourth quarter with no points.

During crucial stretches in the fourth quarter when neither team could seem to find a basket, LeBron was hiding in the corner and playing hot potato with the ball every time it got passed to him. At times I actually forgot that he was even on the court at all.

On Wednesday the LeBron haters came back out in full force and had a field day. (Incidentally, no one can be more excited about this than Dwayne Wade who unmistakeably choked twice in the final minute of the game, missing a game tying free throw and bobbling the inbounds pass with a chance to tie the game.)

Every Cleveland fan who watched that game had a case of deja vu relating back to Game 5 of the Boston series last year when James similarly disappeared in a pivotal game. The only difference was that then he had no one to fall back on. Now he has Wade.

Those who didn't actually watch the game can try and make the case that he was just deferring to Wade, who has been having the superior series scoring-wise (despite being almost completely an afterthought the last two rounds). You could also make the case that he has been logging too many minutes and may have simply been tired.

Those who did watch the game, however, know otherwise. His play, body language, and facial expressions told otherwise. (Bill Simmons described his facial expression as looking "like Marcia Cross and Teri Hatcher had attacked him with a Botox needle." High comedy.) And for crying out loud he was being guarded by DeShawn Stevenson! Whether you want to call the performance (or lack thereof) "deferring," "shrinking," "disappearing," or whatever... LeBron simply did not bring his "I'm the freaking best player in the NBA dang it!" game. (I cleaned up the language for the kids.)

As a Cleveland fan this brought me a certain amount of pleasure. I felt almost like we had been vindicated by the LeBron no-show. Maybe him not showing up for us last year didn't have anything to do with what Delonte West may or may not have done. Maybe he wasn't quitting on Cleveland after all. Maybe he did it because he's afraid of the moment. And maybe that's why he took his talents to South Beach... because he needed someone else to take the moment for him.

 As a Cleveland fan I want to watch the Heat crash and burn (no pun intended). I want to watch LeBron shrink from the moment and fail. I want to watch the Mavs win the title and prove that The Decision was a mistake after all. I want to hear LeBron criticise the crappy Miami fans and publicly admit he was wrong to leave Cleveland. I want vindication.

But as a basketball fan... I want to see the man who really is the greatest player in the league. I want to see the player who sliced up the best defense in the NBA like it was Swiss cheese. I want to see the player who made Derrick Rose look like a school-yard scrub. I want to see the player that Scottie Pippen said could be even better than Jordan. I want to see the player is able to assert his will and overpower his opponent whenever he likes. I want to see the player that scored 25 straight points, splitting double and triple-teams against the indomitable Detroit Pistons in Game 5 at the Palace. I want to see the player who when hot can pull up from the arena logo on the floor and drain a 30 footer like it's nothing. I want to see the King.

Unfortunately, I don't know if that player even exists anymore. We will find out tonight in Dallas during a pivotal Game 5.

Who will show up wearing No. 6? Will it be the King? Or will it be the coward?

You can follow me on Twitter @ClevelandFlack