The box score reads: "J.R. Smith made layup (assist: James).
This was the second score of the Cleveland Cavaliers' 2016-17 season-opening victory over the helpless Knicks -- which began Tuesday night amid glittering rings and wild emotions with the World Series less than a mile away in a city suddenly on top of the sports world.
It began with a simple pass to LeBron James in the pinch post, followed by a read only a handful of players in the NBA can make, and a pass even fewer can.
James doesn't turn his head until he receives the ball. Look at the moment where he turns his head and what he sees here.
When he makes that pass, J.R. Smith is already out of his sight line. Lots of players, good ones, can make that read, but it's still an incredible play. More importantly, it's a locked-in play. The kind of play you expect in late June when every single read is critical.
Here's why that matters: LeBron James is supposed to be beyond all this. The Knicks and their "super-team," the Celtics and their pursuit of making a run, the regular season, the questions of who's the top dog. He's beyond it, all of it. There were questions coming into this season of what James would give, how much he would try in the regular season. Would he coast? He has nothing left to prove, after all, not after those Finals, not after the 3-1 comeback, not after "The Block."
There was talk, though, from Cleveland. Talk that James was aware that only Jordan, Russell and Kareem have five MVPs. (Kareem has six.) Talk that the discussion of the super-team Warriors and Steph Curry still annoyed him. Talk that he still feels good physically.
It's possible that James' 19-point, 14-assist, 11-rebound triple-double on ring night in Cleveland was just a show for an overhyped city that has waited so long for this moment. Maybe James was just giving a show and he'll settle back in.
Or maybe this was a statement. An announcement that he has no intention of relinquishing his crown even for the regular season, even for a little while, even for a moment. We've never seen a LeBron James who wasn't saddled with expectations and burdens. He's free now, and there was kind of an assumption that would mean he wouldn't need to do what he's capable of, certainly not in the regular season. Instead, this could be an opening salvo of James' last great career surge.
It helps that the Knicks were helpless against him. Their guards got caught on screens, Kristaps Porzingis is still learning to anticipate rotations, Joakim Noah still learning how to communicate with this team. Carmelo Anthony has never had luck with James, and this was actually a lower scoring performance than he usually surrenders to James, though in just 32 minutes.
There will be tougher nights, and James is still likely to take his annual respite to South Beach. Can you win MVP if you take several weeks off? Maybe not. Maybe it doesn't matter, though. Maybe that's what this game showed once again. It doesn't matter if James wins MVP, if the Cavs get the No.1 seed. When James decided to be the best player in the Finals, he was, and that swung a 3-1 deficit into Cleveland's first championship. On Tuesday, he raised the most meaningful banner and played in a way that shows the separation between him and the rest.
James said this summer he's chasing Michael Jordan's ghost. On Tuesday, prior to the tip, the voice of another legend echoed through the P.A. in Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena. It was Muhammad Ali.
"The champ is here!"
And so he is. This kingdom is his, and he's not going anywhere.
