By Gina Morrone ’14
LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and the rest of the Miami Heat appear to be on their way to fulfilling their ‘Not one, not two, not three…’ championship promise. This team is heating up (pun intended), not that they weren’t already hot to begin with. They will stop at nothing to earn their second consecutive championship, and to do that, they need Lebron James, who seems to have developed an uncanny ease in his stellar play this season. He is an indispensible player, and not just because of his stat line.
Just look at their record: the Miami Heat just finished February with a record of 12-1. The single loss came during the first game of the month, to probably the only team that could provide a real threat to them in the Eastern Conference: the Indiana Pacers. At this point, even the notion of the Pacers giving Miami trouble in a playoff series seems far-fetched. LeBron’s shockingly high shooting percentage so far this year (57 percent), and his even more impressive shooting percentage for the month of February (64 percent) are going to go unmatched. He’s coming off a 40-point (season-high), and 16-assist (career-high) performance during a double OT win versus Sacramento. He’s shooting 41 wpercent from beyond the arc. He’s no Kyle Korver, but he is Lebron James. He has so much more than a three-point shot.
I don’t want to put all of the emphasis on LeBron’s shot selection or his record high scoring streak. With Lebron, it’s all about class. He gives his team credit for helping him achieve ‘video game numbers,’ and even more indicative of his team-first play is the fact that he ranks in the league top 10 for assists per game (7.3).
LeBron’s game adds a spark to the fire that is the Heat. Sure, the Spurs may have the best record in the league right now. Sure, Kevin Durant and the Thunder look as strong as ever. But the Heat are going to cruise through the East, and whether you like it or not, they’re unstoppable. Let’s just give LeBron his second championship right now. If they keep playing like this, we could even give him his third…and his fourth…
You know how it goes.
