Before Game Three New York Knicks’ president Phil Jackson, the man who had coached Jordan to six titles, had asked whether the Cavaliers forward could do what Jordan did in the 1993 Eastern Conference finals. Could he lead a team out of a 2-0 hole?
“I think it's going to take something for LeBron to step up,” Jackson said. “Put his cape on and say, ‘I'm going to have to take over a lot of this series, doing the things beyond my level or my normal capacity.'
“He's been a team player up until this point but I think he's going to have to step beyond that.”
Perhaps those Jordan comparisons, which he strenuously distanced himself from before the game, were ringing in James’ ears as he dribbled past Stephen Curry, who seems to still be struggling with a knee injury despite his claims to the contrary, late in the third quarter.
Feeding Kyrie Irving he burst to the basket, powering down a dunk off the point guard’s alley-oop. Hanging in the air photographers caught James in what certainly seemed to be a reasonable approximation of Jordan’s iconic Jumpman pose.
“We finally got back to our game,” James said. “It was just good basketball. It was a good flow, and everyone felt like they were a part of (Wednesday’s) win. So it was just a collective team win.”
His team-mates might disagree.
Guard Richard Jefferson said: “I’ve been around him all season... Every team he has been on has followed his lead.”
Irving also praised James’ leadership: “We all know our roles. We know what to expect from one another, but the platform that we're on, understanding the moment, he does a great job of dialing us in.”
James may not like talking about where he stands relative to Jordan in basketball’s pantheon but if the Cavaliers do comeback against the reigning champions those comparisons are not going to get any quieter.
