OKLAHOMA CITY â€" First round, to Kevin Durant.
By Jerome Miron, US Presswire
Thunder forward Kevin Durant, left, and Heat forward LeBron James led their teams in scoring Tuesday in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
By Jerome Miron, US Presswire
Thunder forward Kevin Durant, left, and Heat forward LeBron James led their teams in scoring Tuesday in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
Old questions, for LeBron James.
Finally, the heavyweights of hoop were together, not in the promos, but the flesh. They took the court before tipoff, and you half expected someone to holler "Let's get ready to rumble!"
Durant wore the white trunks. James wore the red.
Durant scored 36. James scored 30.
Durant had 17 of them in the fourth quarter. James had seven.
A year after all those inexplicably quiet finishes against Dallas, James was still haunted by his NBA Finals fourth quarter ghosts, going 2-for-6. Durant took over Game 1 as the arena â€" and maybe the entire state of Oklahoma â€" shook.
Durant won 105-94. James lost.
They were what everyone expected. They were the stars of the show. It is not quite that simple, of course. It will never be that simple.
Did you notice there were eight other players on the floor, though?
Russell Westbrook finished two rebounds shy of a triple double for Oklahoma City. Thabo Sefolosha furnished defense, Derek Fisher savvy.
Meanwhile, Miami took a big early lead behind its scoring machine. That, of course, was Shane Battier. Thirteen points in the first half for the guy from Duke. "I don't even know if I'm on the scouting report," he told ABC at halftime. Miami lost with five players scoring in double figures.
Durant vs. James is absolutely delicious. Only basketball among team sports can give us a moment like this. We never really get Tom Brady going against Peyton Manning, or Alex Rodriguez vs. Albert Pujols. But Durant and James were eyeball to eyeball.
Still, this is not the NBA one-on-one Finals.
But in the end, the Thunder got what they needed in the fourth quarter from Durant.
The Heat did not from James. So the LeBron quandary goes on.
James' time is now. Or it isn't.
When the series ends, his critics will be silent. Or they will be louder.
You like him. You loathe him. You cheer at his feats. You chortle at his failures.
He's the New York Yankees and Notre Dame and Duke. There is anti and there is pro, and there is a no-fan's land in between. He is not the Kansas City Royals, or Wake Forest.
You get up with him, or you get down. He's a superstar, he's an unkept promise. He is 27 and has won no championship.
Neither, by the way, had Michael Jordan at that age.
James has the experience of having played in two Finals before. He has the stigma of losing them both.
Last year he said he was anxious. "I played too much to prove people wrong.''
This year he says he is at peace. "I feel like I've been here a couple of times," he mentioned Tuesday after the morning shoot-around. "I feel more relaxed now. The first two times, I couldn't sleep. Last night, I slept really well. It just shows the type of zone I'm in right now. How comfortable I am right now.''
Wonder if he is now.
Consider some of his recent performances.
But the public sometimes has trouble remembering great games.
Foolish acts, and bad fourth quarters, it never forgets.
He can make it look so easy. But it can't have been. Not with so much going on.
So as the series begins in Oklahoma City, he can prove all the fuss was worth it. Or he can't.
The Decision made his world at once both grander and more hostile. The NBA Finals last season made his aura curiously more suspect.
He can either endure it, or show the detractors his championship ring. But first, he has to get one.
He will be different this year, or he won't. It must be one way . Or the other. The first game was not encouraging. It is Kevin Durant's NBA Finals so far.
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