I do not believe there was a more quintessential moment in the history of basketball - maybe even all of sport - than the block in 2016. Everything about that moment was perfection, the point in the game, the call, the camera angles, the stakes.... Scorsese himself took would have to tip his hat to the excellence.
To be able to understand how such a moment can capture an entire legacy of one of the greatest players ever known we have to understand Lebron's history. I am not going to bore everyone with a year by year flashback with alliterations and funny quips... we only need a couple excerpts. The first happened in 2010:
Part 1: The Decision"Lebron was supposed to be the golden boy" is what everyone thought after the decision was made. Everyone remembers it, it was kinda weird the whole thing right? They had school children holding signs saying "please stay Lebron" on live television. Thats crazy! Cleveland did everything they could to guilt him into staying and the result was us witnessing a major and off script quote heard round the world: "I'm gonna take my talents to south beach, and join the Miami Heat"
Hearts Crushed. The awkwardness is visceral in the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Afpgnb_9bA4Lebron was supposed to be the true hero for the hometown small to mid market team. He was supposed to defeat the giant franchises with deep pockets! He was supposed to fight for the little guy.. How could he do this to the hard working people. His people no less!
Lebron was no more... "A Sellout" they would say. No one fighting for the little man anymore... Lebron was once the hero.. but now he has become:
Part 2: Villain LebronLebron didn't give a fuck. All he could talk about is how amazing it is going to be with the 'Big 3' in Miami and how many rings he is going to win.
And of course they had to have red and black jerseys... pure evil! The Devil!
Bro's couldn't even beat Dirk while being together for only 1 season pffftttt..
There were jersey burnings, crying fans. It was awful. Lebron really fucked up in the eyes of a lot of people. He lifted the veil of innocence for a lot of people. Life isn't fair, the world isn't fair.
Lebron knew this all along. Like a Jedi training with Yoda - Lebron knew he needed to play with real basketball players and hone his skills, grow away from home. Understand the game on a new level.
The Prophet would return in dear time good people of the Land. A Divine heroine who defeats his own darkness and comes back to save the people like sunrise at Helms Deep.
A tale only spoken of in mythology:
Part 3: Hand of GodLebron came back to the Land a new man. He had completed his trials. He knew this is a long game and completing the side quests are essential for defeating the final boss. Lebron now had a character sheet that would make Matthew Mercer blush. He was ready.
But again, real life is not fair. He somehow needs to defeat younger faster, more evolved opponents. The greatest player vs the greatest shooter. 2015 a success for the Land with a bountiful playoff run. But not enough for Lebron. GSW wins 4-2
Another change for greatness, a year older and a year wiser. Both teams find themselves against each other in the finals... Perfect.
Hope was all but lost for the first 5 games of the series. It looked like Lebron was now washed, too old. His team going down 0-2 in embarrassing fashion to start these finals. Is this it? Will Lebron always be known as the villain? The cheat? The sellout? Hes old now. He can never win another ring! This is the new generation of basketball old man, thief! Go back to Miami......... is what they would have said... After being down 3-1 on the brink of darkness and a bench full of journeymen Lebron scored 41 points in both game 5 and 6. Diving into the Dragons mouth to find victory in its mighty jaws.
The funny thing is none of that matters, the only thing that matters is 1:51 left on the clock and a tied game 89-89 with an entirely different future running away from Lebron tenths of seconds away from becoming bonafide. God and Yoda himself mustering all they can to propel the spirit bomb of a man across the backboard to perfectly deny the existence of a legacy of darkness.
Ill let Mike Breen take it from here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zd62MxKXp8
thanks for reading