(Insert combination of Lebron, king, crowned, reign here)

I know, I know. You the reader have been anxiously waiting for my take on Lebron James. You’ve been pounding the message boards across the internet asking, “What does Barney have to say about last week’s performance? When will it be posted?” Wait, that’s not what’s been happening? Sorry, confused myself with an actual writer there. I tend to do that some times.
Let’s start by delving into where I was when this historic performance was going on: at the bar. See, I had gotten out of work at around 7:45. 12 hour days have a way of making me want bourbon so I don’t start computing how much my per hour pay decreased that day. Plus, a couple of my friends were already at happy hour, so I figured, why not just stop by. Three hours later and many double jack on the rocks, I’m plastered. On the way home, I’m in the cab when the second overtime starts. I knew something was up when Mike Tirico sounded like Gus Johnson. After asking myself, “Did I get so drunk that Mike Tirico sounds excited in my mind,” I actually listened to what he was saying and understood why. I was missing Lebron’s coming out party and got a little emotional. By the time I got home, the game was over, but I stayed up for another hour flipping back between Sportscenter and Inside the NBA, which is saying something considering how drunk I was. And the first thing I thought off when waking up the next morning, besides, “I don’t want to go to work”, was of that ridiculous three pointer he made on the left wing to tie the game up in the 2nd OT.
So after a week’s time of reflecting back, I have two feelings on this performance. The first was, “Wow!” Even just seeing the highlights was amazing. I forget who said it after the game, but Lebron was actually intimidating them. Jordan and Shaq were the only two players he saw who actually intimidated entire teams. Jordan’s was more mental (as evidenced by an opposing coach telling his young star to not say anything regarding Jordan as he began his comeback with Washington), but I thought that was a good point. This wow feeling turned into cursing myself that I had been waiting for this performance from Lebron and I missed it. I might go to AA one day and go, “I’m an alcoholic. I got so drunk one time, I missed Lebron James score 29 of the Cavs last 30 points.” (Though it won’t be as awkward as two weeks ago when my AA speech would have included, “I was so drunk, the Kelly Clarkson movie after she won American Idol was entertaining to me.” That’s the best one I’ve had so far, but there’s still time before I make this speech)
My second thought was, “What the hell took so long?” Here’s a guy who has “Chosen One” and “Witness” tattooed on himself, who embraces a nickname calling himself royalty (note: I actively try not to call him King James. I have a problem calling someone younger than me “King,” plus I feel like a tool). This was what was expected of him, right? I was about to jump off the “Lebron James will be up there with Jordan” bus after his incredible act after game 5 of the Nets series. “It’s just a basketball game,” should not come out of his mouth, I don’t care how pregnant his girlfriend is. This was needed to redeem himself for that crap. Then I realized that I sounded like a jaded sportswriter, so I try to block this thought out of my head. I’m already jaded enough about the rest of my life, no need to extend this to the NBA.
Quick Lebron story before I get into the Finals a bit: A couple of months ago I was talking to my brother and he just casually mentioned that he played against Lebron in AAU ball, like 8 years ago. He mentioned this like he was talking about some random ok movie he saw a few years ago. After nearly punching him for withholding this information from me, which he had to have known I would probably pay some money to hear, he told me, “Yeah, he was going up for a dunk, I was in the area, I left the area before he dunked. He was really, really good.” That’s it. My brother’s a fuckin’ genius, but he needs to kick some of that chemical formulas out of his head so he can remember more details about that game. (I’m sorry if I just wasted 2 minutes of your life with that last paragraph. It added nothing to this post. I’m just venting that my brother didn’t have a good story. I guess it shows how much I expected from the guy that I was anticipating a story where he just kept discarding random white kids with reckless abandon on his way down the lane for vicious dunks for 32 minutes. Oh well. He might have had gears in eighth grade. If so, my brother’s team would have been one of those “coasting” games.)
As for my Finals prediction, Spurs in 5. I expect something along the lines of the 2001 Finals, where Iverson got hot one game, carried his team, but couldn’t do it for the other 4. I have a feeling Tim Duncan will be a ready to play and remind people how good he is. That’s probably a discussion for next week.