Lynne Sladky/AP
Celtics' Kevin Garnett can't stop LeBron James in the Eastern Conference finals. Now it's up to Kevin Durant and the Thunder.
MIAMI HEAT 101 BOSTON CELTICS 88Â
MIAMI -Â The LeBron James who dropped jaws across the NBA with a performance for the ages in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals apparently was unavailable for duty in Game 7.
James and the Miami Heat didn’t pay the ultimate price. They still emerged with a hard-fought 101-88 victory over the Celtics, setting up a Finals battle against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
But it was still confounding to see James go from an unstoppable force, bent on willing his team to play in a deciding game, to a player who was mainly content on Saturday night to sit back and let others on his team try to beat the Celtics.
Now, can James win four games in the Finals and finally get his first ring?
It’s the burning question that weighs on James’ broad shoulders, and it will be asked again and again starting Tuesday in Oklahoma City when the Heat meets the Thunder in the opener of the Finals.
To get there, James had a break-through victory of sorts, winning his first Game 7 as he sent Boston’s Big Three into summer with questions whether we’ve seen the last of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen as a unit.
But even with a night that goes in the books as a success, it’s still baffling that James didn’t go at the Celtics like he did up in Boston two days ago when he dominated them with 45 points. He had 30 Saturday night, not a bad night, by any stretch. But only in rare times did he look for his own shot and that was one of the chief reasons the Heat found itself in a battle down to the very end.
Game 6 was special. But this was James playing the role of facilitator, something he does as well as anyone. But really, could he afford to do that with the season on the line?
That was the gamble James took here, a big gamble, because had to walk off the American Airlines Arena floor a winner and on his way to his third Finals, and by now everyone here and across the NBA landscape knows why.
Because LeBron James and no one else set the bar.
He was the one who came down here to win not just one title, as he reminded everyone when he made his infamous decision, but to win multiple championships. He talked about winning two, three, four, five, six, rather cavalierly, as if he was going to merely walk into a South Beach boutique and buy them with his new max-money deal.
But we all know that’s not how it works. Everything is earned. Nothing is given. The Larry O’Brien Trophy isn’t up for sale.
James apparently remembered that in the final stages. With his team down by a point with 7:30 left, he thundered down the floor and threw the ball down for a mighty dunk and a one-point lead that Miami would never relinquich.
That was one of those times when James played as if he got the memo: He had to win this game or else his season would be a failure.
When this series started two weeks back, Rivers said of the Heat, “they have something to prove, they have everything to prove. I mean, every night, they’re second-guessed more than any team in history.’’
Lynne Sladky/AP
Miami Heat taunt Celtics throughout Game 7 at AmericanAirlines Arena.
And no one is second-guess more than James. He opened himself up for a load of second guesses, with his approach in this game, until he started to go to the hoop in the fourth quarter and also got some help from Dwyane Wade, who put in three big baskets in the final minutes, and Chris Bosh.
James’ second big drive of the final quarter resulted in a six-point lead with 7:00 left. Then he bombed in a three-pointer at the end of the shot clock for a seven-point lead with 6:00 left. At that point, he was starting to play as if he remembered that the Heat was expected to make the charter flight to Oklahoma. It’s not that the Celtics weren’t worthy. Before their fourth-quarter meltdown, when they totaled 13 points for the first 11:00, they were still capable of getting to their third Finals since 2008.
But Miami had taken the Celtics out in five games last spring. To lose to them would have been a disaster for James and Pat Riley and maybe even Erik Spoelstra. Much more was expected from James.
He didn’t give us a replay of Game 6. Not close. But now he gets to go to Oklahoma City, where Kevin Durant stands between him and a ring
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