[DaKCMan AP]

LeBron is comfortable, humble, on the brink of a ring

With one more win to go, LeBron shows his human side

Dave Hyde
Sun Sentinel Columnist
8:34 p.m. EDT, June 20, 2012

MIAMI — There's something very different about LeBron James right now. Something refreshing. Everyone sees it and it showed again Wednesday when, on the brink of this year's breakthrough, another question came about last year's failure.

LeBron was so human in the answer, so startlingly human, that he gushed with humility and talent and flaws and vanity that mainly told of the comfort he's living these NBA Finals to open himself up like that.

Maybe that's what this entire playoff run has been about for him. Comfort. Maybe Pat Riley's words at the start of the year — "You've got to be relaxed when the moment comes" — have taken root in his head and down through his play.

Because all postseason long — all season long, really — watching him play for a basketball fan has been like watching Mozart play with the string section or Monet among the water lilies. It's not everyday sports. It's basketball for advanced fans.

"Last year after Game 6, after losing, once again, I was very frustrated,'' he said Wednesday to the question of the Finals' loss to Dallas. " I was very hurt that I let my teammates down, and I was very immature.

"Like I've said before, last year I played to prove people wrong instead of just playing my game, instead of just going out and having fun and playing a game that I grew up loving and why I fell in love with the game.

"So I was very immature last year after Game 6 towards you guys [in the media] and towards everyone that was watching. One thing that I learned, and someone taught me this, the greatest teacher you can have in life is experience.

"I've experienced some things in my long but short career, and I'm able to make better of myself throughout these playoffs and throughout this whole year, and that's on and off the court.

"I'm just happy that I'm able to be in this position today and be back in this stage where I can do the things that I can do to make this team proud, make this organization proud, and we'll see what happens."

Whew. People love to throw around the idea of potential, as if that's something anyone with talent should maximize. But how many of us reach our potential? How many of us simply stop striving at some point?

This is the interesting part of LeBron as he stands within one win of a ring. He's grown enough as a person to deliver an answer that recognizes his very public flaws and yet retain a very healthy sense of self.

He's grown as a player, too. That's the equally interesting part. These Finals are Exhibit A. He went to Houston last summer and developed a post game with the help of Hall of Fame center Hakeem Olajuwon after mystifyingly not having one his entire career.

Perhaps watching Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki last year showed him the need to keep growing. Perhaps it was how pint-sizedJ.J. Barea stopped him from backing down that did it.

But there he was again in Tuesday's Game 4, getting the ball in the post and damaging Oklahoma City time after time. Shooting. Muscling. Passing. Attacking. Whatever the moment demanded.

"I've talked to [Olajuwon] three times these playoffs, and he tells me to continue to do what I've been doing — staying in the post will get you easy buckets,'' LeBron said. "And he also tells me to continue to have fun. That's the thing he noticed with me this year."

Pressure? "I haven't really felt that much,'' he said. "Last year, it was much more than it is today. I remember Game 5 last year with the series tied 2-2. It just felt like more pressure, more people, felt like you guys not only brought yourselves but brought your relatives all into Dallas."

Then he gets back to that idea again. "I'm more comfortable."

Topic A for the national media entering tonight's possible close-out game is if America will appreciate LeBron if the Heat win. But who cares about that? Even he seems at a station where, if America does come back, he doesn't need the love anymore.

He's been humbled. He's grown from it. He's comfortable. How many of us have achieved that?

Dhyde@tribune.com.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/m...,469921.column