Back in the day, I remember growing up with a lot of common childhood fears.
Thunderstorms, the dark, monsters under the bed - you name it, it probably terrified me to my very core at one point or another. I'm happy that I'm old enough now to look back on how silly I was.
I've learned my lesson. I have my priorities straight now. When I have children, I'm raising them to have just one fear in life. That fear's name is LeBron James.
LeBron has impressed me since he was 18. Watching clips of him on SportsCenter when he played high school ball at St. Vincent-St. Mary was dazzling enough. The athleticism, the intensity, the highlight-reel dunks - from the start, he put on a show. And in five years since, he's only gotten better. And better, and better.
But what's happened over the past two weeks is just unreal.
On Monday night, King James posted 24 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists to lead the Cavaliers past Portland. It was the 17th triple-double of his career. He's twenty-freaking-three years old.
The 24-point outing was LeBron's lowest so far this March. He started off his month by dropping 37 on the Bulls, 50 on the Knicks, 39 on the Bulls again and 38 on the Pacers. This month, he's averaging 38 points and eight rebounds a night. He's topped the 20-point mark in 41 straight games.
But those are just numbers (huge, disgusting numbers). Here's the truly scary part: On a night when he single-handedly beat a pretty decent Blazers team - a night that led coach Mike Brown to call him "obviously phenomenal" and teammate Wally Szczerbiak to anoint him "the best basketball player in the world" - LeBron himself answered the endless praise with little more than a shrug.
In his own words - and I swear I'm not making this up; the AP reported this - the verdict was, "As an individual, I didn't feel I played particularly well."
I am downright terrified of what "particularly well" means to this man.
For all the Michael Jordan comparisons that have continued to surround LeBron James over the past five years, the most interesting MJ-LBJ similarity is in their competitive drives. For Jordan, the fire was always evident - from the trash-talking to the tongue-wagging to the scoring-38-points-in-the-NBA-Finals-while-practically-dying-of-the-flu, the signs were all there.
But with LeBron, all you need to do is listen. When the guy drops a triple-double and all he can say is - again, exact quote - "I could have played better," that's cause for alarm.
Just as any successor to His Airness should, LeBron has proven his ability to kick it up a notch in big games. His Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Pistons last year - when with the series tied 2-2 and headed back to Detroit, he scored his team's last 25 points and won the game in double OT - will be remembered as one of the greatest postseason performances ever. And after being swept out of the Finals last June, he's only going to be more motivated to do it again.
So as April draws closer and the playoff picture takes focus, what's a fan to do? I'm searching for an answer other than "panic." It's not coming to me.
With the Celtics comfortably atop the Eastern Conference and a soft April schedule waiting, I've been looking ahead to potential playoff matchups. Who's coming to Boston for the second round?
Detroit? Bring it. Beat 'em twice in the regular season; four more would be fun. Orlando? Sure. I'd love nothing more than a week of KG showing up Dwight Howard.
But the Celtics aren't that lucky. If they see either of those teams, chances are it'll be in the conference finals. And before that, there's one little roadblock in the way.
One 23-year-old beast of a roadblock.
Evans Clinchy is a junior majoring in English. He can be reached at Evans.Clinchy@tufts.edu.
