LeBron James was determined not to sweat the small stuff. All the talk about how he and his Miami Heat might have squandered their best chance of leaving San Antonio with a split of the first two games of the NBA Finals with him watching from the sidelines wasn’t about to cramp his style during Sunday night’s pivotal Game 2.
From a statistical standpoint, James and the Heat’s 98-96 win over San Antonio at the AT&T Center may have only left them deadlocked with the Western Conference champs at 1-1, but when it comes to the all-important intangible of momentum, the heat now squarely falls on the shoulders of the suddenly vulnerable Spurs.
James finished with a game-high 35 points to go along with 10 rebounds, and still his impact was so much more substantial. With the game and the Heat run at the immortality of becoming just one of a handful of team to earn a league three-peat both perilously hanging in the balance, James reeled off 14 third- quarter points to help erase a six-point deficit, seemingly gaining more fuel after each basket as he peered into the stunned faces of all those who had so openly mocked him just hours before.
“Staying hydrated before Game 2. LOL,” Spurs forward Danny Green even dared to post on social media just before tip-off, though the punchline may have been lost on his teammates and coach Gregg Popovich by the end of the night as the four-time league MVP outscored the brash fourth-year journeyman 35-9.
“Got to play hard,” James reflected to ESPN after the final buzzer. “I just try to put myself and my teammates in position to succeed. I believe the man above will protect me.”
Protect and bless him, particularly on this night, as James made 11 of his last 13 shots, yet still had enough left in the tank to guard Spurs star guard Tony Parker on some of the night’s most critical possessions.
“We have a very competitive group and you have two days to commiserate how that game went down,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Game 1’s meltdown. “It was frustrating, painful going through that for two days and now we have to manage the other emotion.”
And that all starts with and, more often than not, ends with James, who still insists he rarely watches TV or even talks on his phone during this time of year to make certain to stay even keel and focused on what he sees as his two-time defending title-winning team’s mission.
But in truth, there was no avoiding all the ruckus born of cramp-gate and James’ teammates probably wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Keep it coming,” said trusted sidekick Dwyane Wade. “Hate is motivation. Having No. 6 in the game at the end was a plus for us. Obviously, LeBron had it going.”
And now headed back to South Beach for the next two games, it would seem so do the suddenly revived Heat.
