LeBron James is, in fact, human. Although he might be a cybernetic organism programmed to terminate all opponents on the basketball court. Either way, LeBron had his nose busted by Oklahoma City Thunder's Serge Ibaka Thursday night, and had to leave the game.
But before exiting the court with piles of towels on his face to sop up the blood, LeBron not only completed his monster dunk attempt, but also reminded the world that the MVP race is not yet finished, as so many were so desperate to proclaim it just a week ago.
Before the bloody nose incident, LeBron was absolutely obliterating the OKC defense, shoving chaos, carnage and destruction into an industrial-size blender and mixing it with scrap metal and an old World War II tank, drinking it, and using the energy from it to hit 15 of 22 shots from the floor, and turning Kevin Durant into a human meat sack, out-playing the guy everyone was saying was the hands-down MVP.
As the season wound into All Star weekend, all talk from the media turned to how Durant was now the leading contender to snatch LeBron's MVP crown. The race was all but over in everyone's mind.
But then LeBron decided to unzip his pants and shroud the entire NBA in perpetual darkness, and began to heap destruction on everyone.
And then Thursday's big matchup with the Thunder came, and LeBron proceeded to unleash a sub-atomic blast of awesome the likes of which would have made Oppenheimer himself declare, "My word! That's quite the large explosion!"
James not only hit just about every shot he took, but played stifling defense, and set the tone for what would be a night of a billion turnovers for the Thunder.
Meanwhile, Kevin Durant was erratic most of the night, watching helplessly as LeBron declared that the MVP race was far from concluded.
And then, with 5:56 remaining, LeBron took off towards the basket to flush down another astonishing dunk when Ibala swiped him across the nose with his arm, and then managed to foul him again as LeBron elevated.
No foul call. And yet, LeBron still managed to Hiroshima the dunk, and left Ibaka nothing but a very large smoldering pile of charred bones.
LeBron was taken into the locker room for evaluation, never to return again for the game.
The Heat managed to hang on for the 103-81 win, splitting the season series with OKC 1-1.
Afterwards, Erik Spoelstra said that LeBron was sore, and would be evaluated further once the team returned to Miami. He also said James passed his concussion tests.
The Heat don't play again until Sunday when they host the Chicago Bulls. No word yet on if LeBron will start that game.
But if he does, it'll just be more proof of what is already abundantly clear.
LeBron James is an infiltration unit, part man, part machine. Underneath, he's a hyper-alloy combat chassis - micro processor-controlled, fully armored.
He can't be bargained with. He can't be reasoned with. He doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And he absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead.
@Marco_Romo)
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