Mark WiedmerThe Cleveland Cavaliers have LeBron James, and we don't.
That's what every team still alive in the NBA playoffs is coming to grips with today after James - with more than a little help at times from point guard Kyrie Irving - pretty much willed the Cavs into the second round with a sweep of the Indiana Pacers.
For proof of why everyone but the Golden State Warriors may be playing for second, merely consider the final 1:08 on Sunday, the Pacers having just taken their first lead of the final half by a slender two points on their home court.
What happened next is what makes King James inarguably the second-best player in NBA history, and should he creep another title or two closer to Michael Jordan's six NBA crowns, possibly the best.
At that moment, with the game on the line, James calmly drilled a 3-pointer to return the lead to the 2016 champs. Then, with the Pacers down one and in possession of the ball, James stole it from Lance Stephenson to all but ice the victory.
Yes, the officials could have called a foul on LeBron. Had it been a far lesser name or talent making that steal from behind with his right arm, his left arm perhaps not so gently nudging Stephenson out of the way, a foul almost certainly would have been called. That said, James has gotten far fewer of those breaks over his career than MJ.
So here we seem to be going again, headed for a third straight NBA Finals between the Cavaliers and the Warriors, each franchise owning one title in that duel so far.
"You have to mentally challenge yourself every year and go out and try to do what's right - putting your body on the line, putting your team on the line and trying to be successful," James told ESPN afterward. "It's very hard."
It hasn't been all that hard for the James Gang to this point. They wiped out a 26-point second-half deficit at Indiana in Game 3 on Friday, their 25-point halftime hole the largest ever overcome in the postseason. Sunday was the King's 21st consecutive opening-round win (dating back to his Miami Heat days), which broke a record for the modern NBA playoff format that he'd briefly shared with former Los Angeles Lakers players Michael Cooper, Magic Johnson and James Worthy. James' 10th playoff series sweep broke a tie he'd held with retired San Antonio Spurs great Tim Duncan.
And just to show the King is as deadly playing from ahead as behind, his teams are now 52-0 when entering the fourth quarter of a playoff game with a double-digit lead.
It's easy to argue that the Pacers just aren't that good. But neither is anyone else in the Eastern Conference. So it doesn't take a Vegas oddsmaker to figure Cleveland will rock and roll its way to the finals. But once there, will the Cavs face the Warriors, Houston Rockets, Spurs or Memphis Grizzlies?
It's hard to see the Warriors not three-peating as Western Conference champs. They already own a 3-0 lead over Portland, and that's with Kevin Durant again injured and coach Steve Kerr sick.
But that doesn't mean they can't be beaten, especially by the Rockets, who are proving that no matter how good Oklahoma City star Russell Westbrook is - and the probable NBA MVP has recorded triple-doubles in three straight games against Houston - a team normally beats an individual in the postseason. As for the Spurs, they again look old against the Grizzlies. Color them done, this round or next.
But back to the Rockets' 113-109 win Sunday over the host Thunder to take a 3-1 series lead. The Houston bench scored 64 points on an afternoon when league MVP candidate James Harden scored but 16. Conversely, despite Westbrook's 35, the Thunder bench totaled but 22 points.
In what may have or may not have been a bit of a shot at his old team after Sunday's win, Harden noted: "That's what a team is for. It's not just one guy."
Countered Westbrook, when asked a question he perceived as taking a shot at his teammates: "Don't try and split us up. Don't try to make us go against each other. We're in this together."
The Thunder don't seem to have off-court issues. But that deep, offensively gifted bench is clearly what makes Houston dangerous, even against the Warriors or Cavs. In Harden, reserve guards Lou Williams and Eric Gordon and point guard Patrick Beverley, the Rockets have four guards capable of tossing in 20 or more points every night. Then there's Nene, the center who scored 28 points off the bench Sunday while hitting all 12 of his field-goal attempts.
Should such success continue, and Durant's injury lingers, Golden State could have a fight on its hands just to return to the finals.
Cleveland's bench was also pretty good Sunday, scoring 29 points, including 22 in the second quarter. Then there's that LeBron guy.
"It's real frustrating to continue on losing to the same team or same person," said Pacers star Paul George following the sweep. "Ultimately, he (James) is who I'm always going to have to see and face."
And given that a James-led team has reached the NBA Finals the past six seasons, George is all but certain not to be the last player to utter those words about the man who may one day be viewed as the best player in league history.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.