By: John Doe
NEW ORLEANS - This is a link had reached the cusp of winning and losing, LeBron James stopped for a fleeting moment and momentarily considered the path of least resistance.
Perhaps with Amare Stoudemire defending him, James could simply shoot one more jumper Sunday night. The clock had just dipped inside the final minute, the ball was in his hands and the ultimate truth was that it wouldn't be long until those Western stars would be running back to stacked teams, until the Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons would return East with the thickest rosters in the conference.
It wouldn't be long until James was fighting those long odds with the Cleveland Cavaliers again and perhaps everyone should understand how that shapes his thinking, how that sharpens his greatness. No, LeBron James doesn't do the path of least resistance.
By: Some Person
Yes, maybe LeBron James could've let one more long jumper go, but the All-Star Game was tied, and James was probing with the ball across midcourt with the deep-seeded knowledge that no one in the game is harder to stop as a pure physical phenomenon. It takes profound basketball courage to step into his way, and James kept going now, kept that dribble drive alive and a thought flashed to his mind in the moment with Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki on the move.
"When I (saw) those bigs coming, I didn't want to lay the ball up," James said.
So, he dribbled hard and gathered himself and it was clear that no one had the stomach to stop James when he wanted to make the East's 134-128 victory his own. Stoudemire had been left in his wake, Duncan stopped short and Nowitzki ducked out of the way and James rising and rising and rising until he pushed Nowitzki down with his left hand and thundered the ball through the rim with his right.
It wouldn't be long until these pulsating final minutes of this fabulous All-Star Game ultimately belonged to the genius of its Most Valuable Player with 27 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. It wouldn't be long until commissioner David Stern passed him his second trophy at 23 years old, and the world would see who the star of stars was again at New Orleans Arena.
