LeBron James: Heat Superstar Must Shine Against Mavericks to Silence Critics

LeBron James needs to start this season with a bang if he wants to shut up all his doubters that have hated on him since the Finals ended last June.

James and the rest of the Miami Heat will be forced to watch the Dallas Mavericks raise their championship banner before taking the floor this afternoon, and it should provide plenty of motivation for revenge.

The two-time NBA MVP had a high-profile offseason in which he told many news outlets that he is no longer going to embrace the “villain” aspect of his personality and will go back to enjoying the game of basketball on his terms.

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"I became unfocused," James told USA Today. "I turned into somebody that I'm not. I'm not a villainous person, and I told you that. I started to become unfocused and worried about the wrong things. I'm back to myself.

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The fans who constantly booed him and derided him for his “Decision” to take his talents to South Beach got into his head and began to shape him into a player that had a mean-streak on the court.

This didn’t work out for him, especially against the Mavs in the Finals. He shrank in the fourth quarter when games were on the line and did not seem like the all-around superstar player that we have become accustomed to.

By earning an emphatic win today and putting up his usual beastly stat line, James can begin proving that he is a changed man, not just saying it.

It’s key that he does this, otherwise his detractors will continue to point out that he isn’t the same player he used to be and won’t ever win a championship with the Heat because of his big-game cowardice. 

If James is out there enjoying what he loves to do with his normal, good-natured personality back that made him a star in Cleveland, the Mavericks will have no chance of stopping him.