Sure, he had some scattered instances of playoff brilliance during previous postseasons — some of the greatest performances of his career, in fact — but those don't matter much unless you take home the hardware. And after six career playoff appearances, including two trips to the NBA Finals, with no winning results, LeBron carried the need for redemption on his back like a gorilla.
But not anymore. James has won his title and found redemption.
Now it's the Thunder's turn to inherit that forlorn, pit-in-your-stomach feeling that follows a Finals loss. And no hug from mom or kind words from an analyst the following day can make that feeling go away.
Unfortunately for Oklahoma City, it's an all-too-familiar feeling. The Thunder have bowed out to the eventual NBA champions for the past three seasons in a row, losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round in 2010, the Dallas Mavericks last year in the Western Conference Finals and now to the formidable Miami Heat. So no one needs to tell Kevin Durant and the Thunder what the thirst for redemption feels like — they already know.
"We told each other to embrace this feeling and remember this feeling,” Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook said following Thursday night’s loss.
There you have it. In their most recent playoff shortcoming, the Thunder may have found what LeBron and the Heat had been looking for and the very thing that eventually led to their dominance in this year's Finals. You can only take so much rejection before deciding that enough is enough and turning to one of two options: give up, or step up. And the Thunder certainly aren't the bunch to toss in the towel so easily.
After advancing farther into the NBA playoffs each of the past three seasons, it's only a matter of time before we see the Thunder tap into the James' philosophy of "enough is enough."
Potential is often a word used to describe an individual or a team that has the key elements to win but can't get the job done. James had potential. Chris Bosh had potential. Even Erik Spoelstra had potential. But they didn't have the results to back it all up.
Then, they got angry. They got fed up with losing. They grew tired of the critics and the talking heads. The need for redemption irked them so much, they had no other choice but to win. Now, James, Bosh and Spoelstra have the results they and everyone else were waiting for.
Without that factor — whatever was missing — to mix with his abundance of potential, James' desires to win were simply, well, desires. Potential is nothing without a driving force, and now the Thunder have that. Sure, every team wants to win, but not every team has all the essentials.
The yearning for redemption, just as it did for James, will be the saving grace of this young and talented Oklahoma City team. The urge to obtain that sweet taste of ultimate victory, the unmatched feeling of becoming a champion, will drive them out of the dismay of this year and on to glory in years to come. They had potential — they always have. But now they have fuel to stimulate that potential, and that's what makes them so very dangerous.
"This is not the last time we'll see Oklahoma City,” James said Thursday night.
LeBron, you can bet your lone championship ring it won't be.
