LeBron James Backing Down Expectations

At various stages in our lives, people start expecting things of you based on their own arbitrary, or completely unrelated, views of how things should be.

It can start with innocent queries and evolve from subtle jabs up to pointed statements poorly disguised as caring questions. Either you hit a certain age when people decide to take all of five minutes to sum up your life and demand more, or people around you begin to reach various milestones and suddenly it’s your fault for not playing catch up?

Where are you going to college? My brother is having a wonderful time at university. Don’t you think it’s time to go back to school?

Do you have a job yet?

Are you dating anyone?

When do you think you’ll get married? We can’t wait to go to your wedding. How long have you been together, again?

How soon do you think you’ll have kids? Being a parent is so rewarding. Our kids could use someone to play with. We would like grandchildren at some point. Aren’t you running out of time?

In part because progress gives anyone a bit of an ego boost, in other parts because those moving forward with their lives can often think it their responsibility to pull you along with them, as if you are doing something wrong by simply standing still, expectations are raised that have little to do with who you are and where you are in life. Often, but not always, people want confirmation that they are doing or have done the right thing. Validation.

For years now, LeBron James has dealt with this. Only not from family or a small group of friends, but from a million people that think they know better.

When is he going to start posting up? Why doesn’t he dominate on the blocks like Jordan and Kobe?

Well, he just did. Has been dominating, in fact, for much of these playoffs. But Game 4 of the NBA Finals was such a magnificent performance for James that not a soul on earth watching his patient evisceration could logically think to deny him what is his: a post game.

Though they provided for some nice storytelling moments, James’ leg cramps in the fourth quarter, and the subsequent shots he somehow managed to hit, mask what he was doing in the three quarters before. With Kevin Durant marking Mario Chalmers, James set up shop on the blocks against Thabo Sefolosha and James Harden and showcased years’ worth of work.

This would normally be the place where we give you the numbers. Where we tell you where James ranks among his peers, at all positions, and just how exceptionally efficient he is in the post. But the numbers have been there, been impressive, for almost three seasons. There’s nothing left they have to say.

This is just something everyone needed to see.

In the beginning, before James even arrived in Miami, his post game was an effective diversionary tactic. He would receive passes, wait for a quick double team or simply for the help defender to shade towards him, and kick the ball back out. Sometimes it was an assist. Sometimes it was a pass that led to an assist. But more often than not, things played out too quickly, his teammates getting enough space to make a move, but not to take advantage of an open shot.

Now, the point-forward is also a forward-point.

“The biggest thing for him in the post is now he’s become that same playmaker that he was on the perimeter,” Dwyane Wade said. “Now he’s becoming it in the post as well is a dominant force. And he’s continuing to get better down there. This is really the first year that he really, really got down there, and he’s made a huge improvement in one season.”