<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"FacebookPinterestGetty Images\n\nLeBron James had a stupendous game last night against Boston, the kind we all know he can have. The question, and the reason why one of the most seismic LBJ performances ever is as much about us as him, is whether this is a half-full or half-empty scenario. Has James flashed for us that consummate greatness of which he is most surely capable on a regular basis (Magic suggested that America bottle it up and drink deep, or something), or reminded us of how much he&amp;#39;s keeping from us and himself? Is this a King rising to his highest heights as the circumstances demand or a tease? Is it who he should be or a defiance of who he really is? And jeez, how is it possible that somehow James doesn&amp;#39;t do &amp;quot;enough&amp;quot; the rest of the time?\n\nFacts first: James didn&amp;#39;t blow us away with highlights. He just couldn&amp;#39;t miss. He was given the green light to carry the weight and leave Bosh and Wade in the dust, an unfortunate recurring motif in the history of the Big Three. Exclusion always seems to yield the most tantalizing results.\n\nAt halftime, James had an expression we had never seen before, one halfway between cynicism and candor. When it was over, he looked vulnerable in a different way, almost like he was about to cry. Turns out he was tired, though one wonders whether the wear and tear had been as much internal as external. That game cut against how LeBron usually approaches the sport. He dug deep because he had to, and what resulted was a blunt-force triumph of all that makes LeBron James impossible to stop. Minus any of the guile, wit, or resourcefulness that he himself so prizes, sometimes to a fault. Fittingly, the NBA Draft Combine was airing at the same time.\n\nThe man and his actions aside, let&amp;#39;s get to the thicket of discourse, the range of argumentation, that is as much as part of James as the man himself. In other words, James is about us, not him. I finally wrote something unkind about LeBron and Wade after Game 4. I&amp;#39;m not sure I retract it entirely; despite the heady grandeur of his play last night, there remains a way in which we&amp;#39;re left wondering whether this LeBron would come out in a desperate-seeming Game 7. Or what exactly motivated James to flip that switch. It sure as hell wasn&amp;#39;t just &amp;quot;his night&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;hot shooting.&amp;quot; That level of dominance, or something approaching it, is within his reach whenever he wants it. The question is, how often and for how long, should we expect him to sustain it? How great is he, really? And isn&amp;#39;t he great enough without all this muck-muck?\n\nAt this point, the discussion is either self-serving or nearly metaphysical, depending on how awful you feel about yourself. The fact remains, though, that this game isn&amp;#39;t a climax like 2007&amp;#39;s Detroit adventure. There was zero drama as soon as LeBron announced his presence. Welcome to a facet of LeBron James we have trouble making sense of, even if it&amp;#39;s the most obvious one he offers. It&amp;#39;s likely he feels the same way about it himself.\n\nWhat happens next will likely decide how we look back on last night&amp;#39;s game. If the Heat flame out, especially with LeBron relatively passive (i.e. not dropping 40), this only makes matters more grim. It may even dog him into the Finals, assuming they make it there. Really, though, it&amp;#39;s on us, not him. We simply have to make due that, unlike Kobe Bryant or Kevin Durant, James&amp;#39;s search-and-destroy mechanism is not linear or easy to decipher. Even at his most somber, he likes to experiment, play, work with others and then lash out with bouts of aggression. This game was measured by comparison. It was also, from the stats, the utmost in one-man team-ness.\n\nThe strangest thing about LeBron James is his aversion to the obvious; it&amp;#39;s almost as if the powers he&amp;#39;s been blessed with leave him forever searching for an answer about how to give purpose to his game. We know what Happy LeBron looks like, as well as Joyless LeBron. This was a glimpse into the fact that, from a basketball standpoint, it&amp;#39;s really easy being LeBron. If you switch over the Human Condition channel, though, it&amp;#39;s extraordinarily hard. LeBron James just doesn&amp;#39;t know what to do with himself, no more than we know what to do with him."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.gq.com/story/lebron-james-did-it-for-you-and-i?mbid=social_twitter_gqmagazine>