Boston Celtics vs. Miami Heat Preview: Redemption For Lebron Is Not As Easy As A Series Win

MIAMI, FL. By virtue of taking his "talents" to South Beach and joining a greater talent in Dwayne Wade, Lebron has his best chance ever to win against the team that ended his career in Cleveland. However, even a series win will not be enough to erase the legacy of his past playoff failures.

The Boston Celtics continued to dominate Lebron (along with his new team, the Heat) during the regular season; will the playoffs be any different?

It was around this time last year that the Boston Celtics played and dominated Lebron's Cleveland Cavaliers to another disappointing early dismissal from the playoffs.

As he left the court following an overall unimpressive performance in the series, he ripped his Cavaliers jersey off with visible disdain before he reached the locker room; it was a moment that will replay in the minds of Cleveland fans as it began to fuel speculation that Lebron had quit in the Boston series.

The early end of the season for Lebron and the Cavs equated to an early start to a summer of speculation about where Lebron would go in free agency. The "Summer of Lebron" saw several franchises, who had gutted their lineups to create financial flexibility in the form of capspace, vy for the attention of the most talented free agent class in a generation, particularly the "No-Ring King", himself.

Lebron basked in the constant attention leading up to the July 1st threshold for the first day of signing. Lebron wanted more time in the limelight, so he extended his personal deadline for making up his mind to July 7th. Then that day came and went with only the statement that Lebron would make his announcement July 9th. Then ESPN began promoting "The Decision" show that would take place in primetime...

The rest is one of the biggest branding and marketing fiascoes of 2010.

And who can forget the aftermath?

Many a Cleveland home was warmed in the winter of 2010 using a Lebron jersey heating system.

Ultimately, his embarassment at the hands of Boston's Big Three may have been the catalyst for his joining fellow Superfriends Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami.

The production of not only "The Decision" show on ESPN and the subsequent introduction of Miami's free agents at the American Airlines Arena proved to be as shameless and disrespectful of the game as the threesome's alleged conspiracy to join forces following the 2008 Olympic Games.

The attention given to such a talented player who has no team-oriented success in a team sport is astounding. However, to be fair, Lebron and his dickriders made the excuse that he did not have enough help in Cleveland. I think that we can all agree that with Wade and Bosh, Lebron has more than enough help.

After being eliminated from the 2011 NBA Playoffs by the Boston Celtics for the second year in a row, Lebron exclaims, "When I said enough help, I meant I don't have enough Kevin Durants and Dwight Howards on my team!"

And when Lebron faces Boston this time, there are no more excuses. The least he can do is exorcise the demons of last season's playoff failure.

However, it will take much more than that for Lebron to redeem himself in the basketball world. He became Wade's Sidekick to win championships. He mortgaged his legacy and status in the sport in order to claim "multiple championships" (in Lebron's own words).

Anything short of that can only be defined as failure.

Attention, Miami Heat fans. Please don't wet yourself in excitement, for as anyone in Cleveland can tell you, Lebron's promises and predictions are never as good as they sound.

Lebron Returns to Cleveland: Post-Game Postmortem

CLEVELAND, OH.  Lebron's big return to Cleveland was marked by nothing more than a much needed "W" for the Miami Heat. Nothing more. DWade finally shot a respectable percentage from the field, and the Miami Heat were able to get a big lead in the first quarter and cruised.

The two major stories of the game hardly concerned the actual basketball that was played.

Signs of the times: this is no longer 2003 for Queen James.

Cleveland fans were empassioned at the start of the game, and they did their fair share of "booing" before being quieted by the Heat's big first quarter.

All the bogus threat of violence perceived by Lebron's caretakers and the ESPN news machine was nothing more than making a news story out of a molehill.

The atmosphere created by the fans in support of their underdog team exceeded the effort that was given on the night by Cavs players.

Despite the magnitude of the game, Cavs players joked and laughed with Lebron, putting him at ease in the hostile environment. All that we learned on Thursday night was that Cleveland fans are classy but still upset, the current Cavaliers team still has the "warm fuzzies" for Lebron, and Lebron is still a LeBiatch.

Lebron tosses chalk in the air because he can't juggle.

Lebron is a LeBiatch because he did his Chalk Toss routine, in front of a chorus of "booing" Cleveland Cavaliers fans at the Q. In spite of numerous questions about it and suggestions that not doing the chalk toss would go a long way towards repairing the bitterness felt in Cleveland about "The Decision" show and other displays of disrespect towards the fans that loyally followed Lebron, Lebron goaded the packed stadium who rained "boos" down upon the villainous traitor. The Cleveland Cavaliers fans showed up in force to "unwelcome" Lebron, and to be present for the event. But there was no apology, no show of grace, no show of respect from Lebron that would have to be returned in kind.

However, the packed stadium was enough to prove a point to the self-appointed "king". Here was a basketball fan base that knows and appreciates sports and sports history. They filled the stadium for all those seven years that Lebron played for their Cavs. Now, Lebron joins Wade, playing before fans who can hardly show up for the first half of the game and have no sense of history. I suppose it is fitting that a player whose legacy is ruined would want to play in front of fans who don't care and won't remember. Being the best player to not achieve his potential and the best player to be completely forgotten will be Lebron's legacy.