The Sports Monitor

Can LeBron James take the heat? I'm not a James fan. Haven't been since he ditched Cleveland. The hour-long program and the way he left was too classless. But that was years ago. Since then, I've been happy when the Heat -- and James -- and faltered. But I won't dump on James for Thursday's Game 1 loss to the Spurs in the NBA Finals. James left the game with cramps -- and has been taking, well, heat for it. Fans quickly pointed out that Michael Jordan played in the Finals with the flu. He also left with stomach cramps, too. A player can gut it out with the flu. If the leg cramps up, you can't will it to work. You're at the mercy of the muscle. I'm rooting for the Spurs, but I can't fault James for this. If you want to point fingers, look at Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. He didn't adjust to the conditions and should have used a deeper bench.

The NBA needs a villain. LeBron James and the Miami Heat fit that perfectly. People root for James to lose. They'll be rooting for the Pacers to win in Game 6 Saturday. If the Heat win, fans will be rooting for the Spurs in the NBA Finals. Me? I'm a Pacers fan. I became hooked when I lived west of Indianapolis in the mid-90s. It's probably too much to ask for the Pacers to win Game 6 and 7 to advance to the NBA Finals. Either way, I'll be cheering them on. I'll be rooting against LeBron and the Heat in the Finals, however. Sometimes, it's nice to fit in.

Sometimes, perception doesn't equal reality. That's the case with the Miami Heat's victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Christmas Day. My guess is you have seen or will see headlines saying "Heat get revenge," or something along those lines. The Heat really can't get revenge for their loss to the Mavericks in last season's NBA Finals on opening day. They can't. They could beat the Mavs in the Finals this year. That would be revenge. We have a while to go to see if that can happen.

I want to give a sincere thanks to LeBron James. He single-handedly made me interested in the NBA Finals. I used to be a big NBA fan. My all-time favorite player was Hakeem Olajuwon. But I soon started to drift away from the NBA. There were many reasons, I guess, but I'll spare you the details today. I would check in from time to time, but it wasn't like it used to be. Then came The Decision. I didn't mind seeing Cleveland lose a dynamic player. I just didn't like the way James went about selecting his new NBA home. From then on, the Heat were at the top of my list of teams to dislike. When the Finals came around, I had to watch. I had to root against LeBron. The series against the Mavs, however, has turned into something more. Yes, it's great to see LeBron disappear. And it's even better to see the Heat one game away from losing. But this series has been fantastic to watch. I wouldn't have noticed too much without James' decision n...