You know what sentence wasn't written anywhere? The indisputable fact that LeBron had a better final minute than Dirk Nowitzki. In their last two possessions, LeBron had an assist and a missed shot, and Dirk had a turnover and a missed shot. As a result, LeBron's team won.
If the Heat didn't win, LeBron would have received the blame, not his supporting cast. We're making Larry Bird comparisons for Nowitzki even though he's ringless, yet are withholding judgment on LeBron until we see how many he wins. There's an even greater status Dirk has achieved: He's allowed to miss. He became sanctified after making that 3-pointer and lefty layup late in Game 2. That's what happens when you have the made shots in the Finals on your résumé.
If winning an NBA Finals game won't be enough for LeBron, then winning the Finals won't be either if this series continue in this manner and Wade plays the starring role in two more victories. LeBron wants to win. That's not enough for us. We want him to go out and win it and in a specific manner. You can already hear the keyboards clicking now, saying LeBron's first championship didn't count because he wasn't the Finals MVP.
Did you know that in Kobe Bryant's first NBA Finals he shot 37 percent and averaged 15.6 points per game against the Pacers in 2000? But when it's time for comparisons, you only hear that Kobe has five rings, not 4.5.
When Michael Jordan repeatedly passed to John Paxson in the final quarter of the 1991 NBA Finals, it was viewed as a breakthrough, the superstar yielding to the system for the sake of the team. LeBron does it and its treated as an act of cowardice.
