I recall being on a panel a few years back with Sonny Vaccaro, the legendary high school talent evaluator and promoter who now runs the Roundball Classic here. It was LeBron James’ rookie season and the hype machine was in full gear.
James, Vaccaro insisted, would be better than Michael Jordan. It being Chicago, Vaccaro immediately was harassed for heresy, though he insisted we all would see some day. “Just watch,” he said.
“I’m a totally different player than Michael Jordan,” James said Thursday night after he put up a relatively effortless 39 points in a 107-96 loss to the Bulls at the United Center. “As far as the next Jordan, there is no such thing. There’s one Michael Jordan and only one, and no one compares with him.”
Certainly well said and politically correct here. But in watching James in this nationally televised game, it felt like 20 years ago. Doug Collins was courtside again, this time broadcasting instead of coaching the great individual scoring machine of the day. And Jordan, err James, futilely was carrying a team, probably to 50 victories, with transcendent scoring nightly.
In his case, James must do so. And, most remarkably, he can.
James was coming off 50 points Wednesday night in Madison Square Garden. Of course, doing it against this year’s version of the Knicks isn’t that remarkable, though it seems a rite of passage for superstars to have such a scoring performance in front of the New York media and celebrities. You jaw with Spike Lee and then you officially are taken seriously.
James looked on the way to a back-to-back 50s with 26 points in the first half on 10-of-15 shooting. He threw in a three-pointer at the first-quarter buzzer and another unwieldy running bank shot at halftime for a 51-47 lead. He put on a brilliant and breathtaking second-quarter show of driving layups, jumpers and blocks. He even shot a technical foul shot, his former nemesis.
“I can’t shoot 10 of 15 both halves,” James shrugged.
The Bulls had been their individual selves in the first half, generally forgetting they had teammates on the floor and firing up wild jumpers. Luckily for the Bulls, Joakim Noah was catching many of them on his way to 20 rebounds.
“He kicked our butts,” Cavs coach Mike Brown said.
Brown didn’t help his team much, though, with his third-quarter lineup of Ben Wallace playing with Anderson Varejao. When Wallace was with the Bulls, the Bulls saw plenty of the Cavs’ three-on-five offense. Here the Bulls dropped off both Wallace and Varejao in the crucial third-quarter stretch. They put a veritable box-and-one on James, forcing him to stay on the outside and shoot jumpers.
“I took what was there,” James said. “I took shots I knew I could make and missed them. We didn’t play particularly well and they took advantage.”
The Bulls turned a 53-49 deficit into a 64-53 lead with both Cavs’ brick-throwers the court, and the Cavs never got closer than eight before giving up. They took James out with four minutes left and the Bulls up 20.
“We need to get back to focusing on defense,” James said.
It is true that the Cavs probably are missing half of their top six players with Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Daniel Gibson and Sasha Pavlovic out with injuries. So they should get better before the playoffs. And they should be able to avoid those non-scoring front lines they played against the Bulls Thursday. To do so now, they probably need Joe Smith on the floor more.
Wallace got some boos from the home crowd while being introduced in his first game back but joked afterward he was disappointed it wasn’t louder. On this night, Bulls fans could have cheered Wallace, given how much he helped their team.
Watching James now, it feels like watching Jordan 20 years ago with Charles Oakley, Dave Corzine and Brad Sellers as the Bulls’ next leading scorers. Jordan had to average 35 points and the Bulls got 50 wins. They would win their first playoff series in 13 years that season against the Cavs to effectively start their eventual run of championships.
James is the only player in the NBA averaging more than 30 points and figures to lead the league in scoring. The Cavs are on pace to win close to 50 games and James is a top MVP candidate. But it appears, though they were Eastern Conference champions last season, they are not quite at the level of Boston and Detroit.
Nevertheless, James does seem to be playing much like — and in a similar situation to — the guy we were sure couldn’t be duplicated.
“Going out and scoring that many points and still losing doesn’t matter,” James said. “It’s great if you do it in a winning effort.”
Just like Jordan always said.
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sasmith@tribune.com
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