LeBron James had them in the palm of his hand, but his latest comments are sure to spark a debate whether he let them get away once again.
The world's best basketball player upstaged the Golden State Warriors, who won Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night to take a 3-2 series lead when he was asked during the postgame interview whether he felt less pressure in this NBA Finals than in previous years because his Cavs squad is so undermanned.
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"Nah," James responded. "Naw, I feel confident because I'm the best player in the world. It's simple."
Unfortunately for James, nothing is simple. His heroics in the first three games of the finals that gave his team a 2-1 series lead had NBA fans finally acknowledging his greatness. He got hammered on multiple occasions in Game 2 without getting the benefit of foul calls, and yet found a way to lead his team in overtime to a victory.
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Game 2 may have made him a sympathetic figure for the first time in his career. Even as Golden State won Game 4 to tie the series and claim that James flopped into the cameraman that caused his gash on the side of his head when he hit the television camera, he was a sympathetic figure because the NBA audience could see how the first three games had taken its toll on him.
James was clearly fatigued.
It happened again in Game 5, where James produced the first triple-double in with a 40-point performance since Jerry West in 1969 - as ESPN reported. James had 40 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists, but the Warriors opened a six-point lead as he took his only rest of the second half at the end of the third quarter.
They pulled away despite his 14 points because more-rested NBA MVP Stephen Curry scored 17 points in the fourth quarter. It was reported after the game that Curry felt ill because of dehydration.
But a defiant James appeared at his postgame news conference and said something that Michael Jordan never had to say because everyone knew he was. And Jordan never lost an NBA Final in six appearances.
One more loss, and James will be 2-4 in NBA Finals, having appeared in five straight now with two different teams (the Miami Heat for the first four and now the Cavs).
Even if he's simply trying to motivate his teammates, his comment will be under scrutiny for the next 48 hours until Game 6. And likely beyond. Whether that sympathy for his effort disappears remains to be seen.
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