LeBron's Time Is Now

Never mind the prophetic assertion that as long as Kobe Bryant is in a Lakers uniform, the Lakers’ status as the Kings of LA is firmly planted. Prophetic assertions are, well, prophetic. Should it be a surprise that Bryant slew my Warriors twice in one week (top-7 protected pick!!!), sunk go-ahead threes to seal wins over New Orleans and New Jersey, then subsequently vanquished the Clippers last night with his 31 points? Nope, not if you glance over this site or the other from time to time. Not if you know the psychology of Kobe Bryant. You should by now.

It’s time to mind the psychology of another player – a psychology that’s more ambiguous than Bryant’s killer instinct.

You’d think the topic of LeBron James’ mindset would be worn out by now. In fact, you’d think the topic of LeBron in general would be worn out already. But it isn’t because the only thing to talk about this year is how fucking good he is. We don’t want to admit it, but we’d rather exploit LeBron than rejoice over him. But after his 34-point, 10-assist, 7-rebound, 4-steal, 11-13-free-throw, 3-7-three-point output Wednesday night in a Miami Heat win over the high-octane, Western Conference-dominating Oklahoma City Thunder, it’s apparent that this year is the year we either start rejoicing over LeBron, or commence condemnation eternally.

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Outside of James, the Heat have struggled this season. Dwayne Wade has been off-and-on injured and hasn’t quite found himself; a lingering Chris Bosh injury is a legitimate speculation; Mike Miller and Joel Anthony have been injured all year; Udonis Haslem and Shane Battier have been close to awful; rookie Norris Cole started the season hot and cooled since, and Ronny Turiaf is a shell of himself. When you truly dissect this team, it isn’t an unstoppable juggernaut by any means.

LeBron James is. He’s having the best season of his career in this weird, compacted, back-to-back-riddled NBA season. It hasn’t fazed him once. And 24 hours after his season-high 41 points against the Philadelphia 76ers, he gave us Wednesday night’s aforementioned performance.

And when the scene of that game shifted after Russell Westbrook’s flagrant foul on James’ would-be breakaway dunk, LeBron embraced the atmosphere. Westbrook was charged, running wild and bobbing his head with the “Westbrook sucks!” chants, Kevin Durant was still a force although his turnovers were up, and players were flying around as they joined the decorative crowd in a genuine playoff ambiance. When LeBron exhibited the trademark, swagger-filled hop in his step and quick shot release, it was on. When he, as Hubie Brown said, “shot out of a cannon” with his steal and dunk with just over two minutes remaining in the first half, there was something noticeably different about him. As a vehement NBA fan and former LeBron enthusiast, I’ve never seen that speed and explosiveness out of him. He’s exuded overconfidence in meaningless regular season games before, but nothing like that. To cap it off, he hit a deep jumper at the buzzer to end the half. All he could do after that was stare down the opponent with fierce eyes.

Perceive the game how you want (meaningless regular season game doubling as a Finals preview, meaningless game between two powerhouses, meaningful game between two powerhouses, meaningless altogether), this game was actually important to LeBron James. After the game, he answered a question with, “It’s playoff basketball.” When he was reminded it’s the regular season, he responded: “It’s playoff basketball.”

We can look at the game from every angle, including the ones previously touched on, James’ magnificent defense late in the game, and the fact that the majority of the offense ran through him. We can look at stats. We can look at how LeBron willed his team to its first noteworthy victory on national television since who-knows-when.

But none of those things come close to the importance of timing. The playoffs start in three weeks. The Heat needed a trademark win to get themselves in the postseason groove. LeBron was cognizant of that and took charge. He truly showed that the Miami Heat are his team and he’s been showing it all season. And, as we all know, Miami’s success in the playoffs hinges on LeBron. This game was either the launching pad for a championship, or the aberration that made us actually think LeBron James had it in him.

The time is here and now for LeBron. He already vanquished the Celtics. The Bulls don’t deserve to be in the same league as the Heat in a seven-game series format. The Lakers and Spurs can’t keep up. The Clippers are nowhere near ready. Dallas is still celebrating the title. The Thunder lack experience. The window is wide open, and the title is there for the taking.

We will inevitably denounce every mind-blowing thing he does on the basketball court forever if he, yet again, disappoints. If he can’t succeed this year, with the stars neatly aligned, he never will. But will we rejoice if he succeeds? Will we marvel over something that was imminent all along, or, more than that, supposed to have happened already? It’s tough to say, but in the end, We Are All Witnesses.

Kobe Bryant reminds us as long as he's around, LA basketball belongs to the Lakers

Rewind your NBA Fan Clock back three months. A lockout just ended and Commissioner David Stern just went into full-fledged panic mode after league owners ensued their “We are the 99 percent!” tirade. Chris Paul is no longer being sent to the Los Angeles Lakers. The NBA-owned New Orleans Hornets need to find a viable trade that is in the team’s “best interests” and need to move fast. The Hornets eventually settle on a trade with the Los Angeles Clippers. Lob City is born.

Naturally, ESPN does what it does best by swirling sports media and feeding thrill into our mouths. Remember, Sportscenter studios haven’t resided in LA for very long. The Worldwide Leader has been glamorizing Blake Griffin and the West Coast (at least Southern California) with inordinate regularity. Prominent analysts are prematurely placing the Clips on an outlandish pedestal. The NBA scope has shifted from the glitz of Kobe Bryant and the Lakers to the Lob City spotlight. LA’s “little brother” is poised to make a name for himself and contend with the rest of the NBA’s pristine powerhouses.

Beyond that, the Lakers are deteriorating. They imploded early in the previous postseason to the eventual NBA champion Dallas Mavericks. Bryant is aging and just had a mysterious knee surgery overseas in the offseason. A sullen Lamar Odom just got traded to the Mavericks. A sensitive Pau Gasol is unsure of his future. Ron Artest inexplicably changed his name. Phil Jackson has long ridden into the sunset, smoking peyote. A changing-of-the-guard-type scene is imminent.

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Truthfully, that prospect was in the midst of coming to fruition early in the season. The Clippers beat the Lakers in their first matchup, and continued to beat other contending West teams like Oklahoma City, Dallas Memphis and Denver. All the while, the Lakers were looking like the deteriorating, 2004-bound Lakers awaiting their fall from grace.

Fast-forward to now, and the Clippers are falling apart. They’ve lost 8 of 12; Vinny Del Negro is on thin ice (shocking!); Blake Griffin still hasn’t presented an imposing post presence, shown anything dominant offensively outside of thunderous dunks, or developed an outside jumper to complement Paul’s perennial pick-and-roll game; Paul hasn’t put the team on his back when they’ve needed him; DeAndre Jordan is carrying his $43 million contract along with his 7 points a game and 8 rebounds a game; Caron Butler isn’t good (shocking!); Clipper Darrell got kicked out of town (horrible karma move); Nick Young doesn’t fit into any offense that involves passing (shocking!); and the Clips are getting manhandled by nobodies like Jason Smith. If the measly Hornets aren’t scared of the Clippers, no team is scared of the Clippers. There’s nothing daunting about them once the dunks and crossovers are tapped out.

Concurrently, the Lakers are surging, winning 6 of 8. Pau Gasol can let go of his sensitivity now that his future is certain. Andrew Bynum is morphing into a fabulous force and has dodged the injury bullet. Metta World Peace is kicking his game into gear and Kobe Bryant is the unquestioned catalyst. Despite depth issues, the Lakers are sitting in the third spot in the West. They also just landed Ramon Sessions and (shrewdly) didn’t even bother to take back Derek Fisher, AKA “The Most Worthless Player in the NBA.”

The Clippers attained all the glitz and glam the Lakers lost and allowed the Lakers to sustain their status as the Kings of LA. And in classic Mamba fashion, Kobe Bean is vaulting the Lakers at the coincidental time of crisis in Clipperland.

Aside from being the “Masked Mamba” and ruthlessly backing his teammates, Bryant has been relatively quiet this season. It’s been something commendable to follow. From his slew of 40-point games at the season’s outset, to his curt, yet timely sentiments that if the Lakers are going to trade Gasol, they should just “fucking do it,” his overall veteran savvy, his league-leading 28.7 points per game, his ongoing awareness of career, his newfound awareness of self and team, and his impeccable durability, Bryant is performing and carrying himself at an admirable, professional level in 2012. When was the last time Kobe was labeled as a “jerk”? When was the last time he was questioned for his statements or on-court actions?

As for his awareness of self, he knows where he stands within the organization. If he wants something, he’s going to get it, and that’s how it should be. It’s not done in a cocky way anymore. Bryant turned guys like Pau Gasol and Sasha Vujacicinto relentless pieces on championship teams. He molded teams with his ruthless persona and took them to titles. He’s exuded unlimited faith in Andrew Bynum as an elite center in the same ways he did for Pau Gasol, and it’s paying off. He’s slowly molding a flawed team that deserves more stock purchasing than the nonthreatening Clips. With Bryant, the Lakers will always be daunting. Call it cocky if you want to be in the minority or remain trapped in 2005. Kobe Bryant isthe reason the Lakers are miraculously number three in the West as the most important stage in this wacky, shortened regular season hits stride.

Ironically, Kobe came out with this on Friday. His statements always come at ironic times. It runs parallel with his performance. Here’s the central quote:

“We are a championship-caliber team. I’ve never understood the talk about us not being a contender. I’ve never understood it from the start of the season until now. You have myself, you have Andrew [Bynum], and you have Pau. Who has three players like that on one roster? And then you have Metta [World Peace] and you have [Matt] Barnes…So I hear all this talk and all these conversations and here we are two games out of the second seed in the Western Conference despite our struggles on the road and with the new coaching staff and the new system and new personnel. I always believed we were contenders but we just had to be quiet about it.”

We just had to be quiet about it. 25 year-old Kobe wouldn’t have remained quiet about anything — a prime example of self-awareness.

The Clippers have attempted to seize control of LA basketball every time the Lakers slipped over the years. They’ve never done it. As long as Kobe Bryant is in Los Angeles, they never will.

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Aimless Preview of an Aimless Tournament featuring some Aimless Perspectives

As much as we love the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, we all know how much of a crapshoot it is. Which is why the best thing to do when filling out your bracket is to cater to your personal preferences. Whether it’s a team you vehemently root for, a team you inexplicably root for, an upset you like, a conference that compels you or a player that’s endearing to you, it’s always fun to go for something in a tournament where anything can happen at any given moment. Here are the perspectives I’m looking through in preview of this year’s tourney, and a few things I’ll be rooting for:

Fabulous 4-seeds

In my bracket, I picked three 4-seeds to reach the Elite 8 and two to reach the Final 4. Which ones? Michigan, Wisconsin and Indiana, with Indiana and Wisconsin in the Final 4. Don’t ask me why. Well, actually, it has a lot to do with…

Riding the coattails of the Big Ten

The Big Ten was the best conference in basketball this year, bar none. The difference between the Big Ten this year and in past seasons? The teams actually play offense. Indiana averaged 77 points per game this year, Ohio State 75, Michigan State 72. Wisconsin has enough offense to hang with the teams in its region (especially with Fab Melo now out for Syracuse). Michigan can be a sneaky, lethal team if their good guard play gets hot because, you know, college basketball is all about guard play. Putting stock in an entire conference is a very good strategy in bracket pick ‘ems. The Big Ten is this year’s reliant investment.

First round double-digit victories

My first round upsets by double digit teams (not including the 10/7 match-ups): VCU over Wichita State, Colorado over UNLV, Long Beach State over New Mexico, Texas over Cincinnati, CAL/USF (doesn’t matter which) over Temple, NC State over SDSU, and Belmont over Georgetown. Don’t ask me why. I also have Belmont in the Sweet 16. Don’t ask me why, but it will be fun to root for in a pool that rewards upsets and gives points based on seed differential. It will also be fun to root for Cal (my dream school/where I want to attend graduate school), Long Beach (Cali), and VCU even though everybody is picking VCU.

Players to pay attention to

Austin Rivers, Tyler Zeller, Harrison Barnes, Jared Sullinger, Draymond Green, Michael Dixon, Christian Watford, Thomas Robinson, Tyshawn Taylor. Polarizing set of characters, but each has something to prove coming into the tournament, whether he’s cemented his place in legitimacy or not. NBA draft statuses hinge on a few of these players’ performances (Sullinger in particular), and a handful are capable of taking over this tourney Steph Cury-style (Robinson, Rivers, Green, Dixon). Two of my favorite players — Robinson and Rivers — fall into that category, but the most intriguing is Christian Watford. Don’t ask me why. I just have a weird affinity for 6-9 small forwards with size, range and clutch factor (see: Stephen Jackson, others).

The Final 4

Sadly, Michigan State and Missouri were placed in the same region, so the best game of the tournament will have to be played in the Elite 8. Nevertheless, I have Indiana vs. Michigan State and Wisconsin vs. Kansas in my Final 4. Michigan State vs. Kansas in the championship (and what a championship that would be), with the edge going to Kansas in the national championship. Don’t ask me why. It must be because Thomas Robinson is the best player in the country. (Sorry, Anthony Davis)

You can see this and other pieces on multiple topics at my blog, Hazy Perspectives.