He may be playing through a season-long wrist sprain, but LeBron James feels like he's on top of his game.
He proved as much with a transcendent performance in a clean sweep of the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference Final, narrowly missing becoming just the 11th player in history to average a triple-double for an entire series.
Still, the Golden State Warriors awaiting his Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals may well represent the most fearsome playoff opponent James has faced. With half his team injured or hobbled, he'll need to submit perhaps the finest individual performance of his career if the Cavs are to have any hope of upending the heavily favored Warriors.
That's no small task given that he's 30, and coming off a regular season in which his true shooting percentage dipped from 64.9 to 57.7, his PER was his lowest in eight years, and his turnover rate was higher than it's ever been. For all that, after three dominant playoff series he insists he's heading into the finals playing the best basketball of his career.
"I think if you put it all together, yeah," James said Monday, according to ESPN's Dave McMenamin. "If you put everything together as far as my mind, my body, my game. If you put everything in one bottle, this is probably the best I've been."
James's wounded teammate, Kevin Love, agrees that, despite the obvious physical toll 12 seasons and nearly 1,100 NBA regular-season and playoff games have taken, James has gained something intangible along the way.
"I think it's tough," Love said. "Was he bouncier at one point? Physically, it's tough to say. But as far as up here (mentally), I think he's ahead of where he was. Being able to make everybody around him better, it's a great quality. He doesn't lack that at all. I think he's truly done a phenomenal job with guys going down and helping others to play better."
James, no matter how well he plays, will need his teammates to rise to the occasion in the finals. How they perform will largely be out of his hands, but he'll put them in the best position possible to succeed.
"They see me every day, and I happen to be alongside those guys and I'm just trying to do whatever it takes to help our team win," James said. "It's great to know when your teammates appreciate what you do and I just try to give it all back to them as best I can."
Game 1 of the finals goes Thursday night at Oracle Arena.
