The Roar
The Roar

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It's LeBron James' court, you're just playing on it

Roar Rookie
8th March, 2013
21

There’s 12.6 seconds left. Magic 96-95 Heat. The Heat, defending NBA champions, down one to the second worst team record-wise in the league on their home floor. Time to panic, right?

Wrong. Not when you have LeBron James on your team.

You just watch the greatest player in the world go to work.

Wade inbounds to LeBron who receives the ball at the top of the key. Guarded by Arron Afflalo initially, and then DeQuan Jones.

I’m sure neither player was looking forward to defending the MVP.

LeBron dribbles over to the right wing and starts his isolation move on Jones. He begins to size up his defender, goes between the legs, and unleashes a killer crossover and blow-by, going past Jones as if he weren’t there.

He can get into the paint whenever he likes.

When no shot blocker comes to meet him at the rim, LeBron banks in a lefty layup, and the Heat go up one with 3.2 seconds left.

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No need to panic. Just watch The King do what he does better than anyone else in the game.

As the clock winds down, the Magic inbound the ball to Afflalo, who runs down the sideline, pressured mercilessly by LeBron and Wade, and is forced to jack up an ugly half-court shot while falling out of bounds.

It doesn’t even draw rim. Ball game.

This is just another win for the Heat now, their 16th straight. Winning has become routine for Miami. And at the centre of it is LeBron James.

Leading the team in points, rebounds, assists, steals and field goal percentage, LeBron is the driving force behind the Heat juggernaut.

He is the best all around player in the league, excelling at scoring (27 points per game, good for fourth in the league, while shooting 56.2% from the field, 40% from three and 75.2% from the charity stripe) and facilitating (7.2 assists per game, tied for tenth in the league and the only non Point Guard in the top 20).

He’s also adept at rebounding (8.1 rebounds per game, best among non Power Forwards on Centres), getting steals (1.73 per game, 11th in the league), and consistently defending the opposition’s best scorer (seriously, the only player in the league that can guard anyone from Dwight Howard to Chris Paul).

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There is nothing on the floor that LeBron doesn’t cannot do, and that’s what makes him the best player in the league.

He should be a sure thing to win his fourth MVP trophy this year.

Well, unless MVP voters give it to Kevin Durant – who’s having an outstanding year in his own right – because they are tired of voting for LeBron or don’t appreciate the show he puts on night in night out at both ends of the floor.

While I am also a huge fan of Durant, it would be a travesty if LeBron doesn’t win the MVP for what he’s doing this season. There is no other player in the league that can match what he brings to the court.

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