With the Miami Heat now leading the Oklahoma City Thunder 3-1, a coronation for "King James" seems inevitable. The Thunder once again showed their Finals inexperience as a missed James Harden layup, Derek Fisher blocked shot and ill-advised foul by Russell Westbrook cemented Game 4 for the Heat.
Despite suffering what appeared to be severe leg cramps in the closing minutes of Game 4, LeBron James has said that he will play in Game 5. Everything appears to be all lined up for the Heat and the first of "not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven" NBA championships in the LeBron, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh era.
Like my other Denver Stiffs colleagues, I don't hold much ill will towards LeBron James other than regarding him as a pompous, arrogant ass, but you could apply that metric to many other NBA players as well. I don't even regard the fact that he joined Wade and Bosh to create a "Super Team" as all that damning, since that appears to be more and more the only way for an NBA team to compete in the Finals. Although Cleveland fans will forever look at LeBron's departure as a stab in the back and yet another chapter in Cleveland sports misery, LeBron's game has never been better and the rest of us should feel lucky to watch a player of his talent in his prime.
At least Nuggets fans can (probably) still say that no other team in the Northwest Division has won a championship in the modern era.
Game 5 tips off tonight at 7PM MST.