MIAMI — There was an assassin’s look in Michael Jordan’s eyes, a frightening laser focus, as he stood outside the Bulls locker room furiously chewing gum moments before the start of Game 7 of the 1992 Eastern Conference semifinals against the Knicks at old Chicago Stadium. Anyone who glued his eyes to Jordan right then and there knew the Knicks had no chance against the defending champs.
Jordan scored 42 points in 42 minutes and led the Bulls to a 110-81 romp and eventually his second ring.
What we seem to be witnessing now is the final stage of the evolution of LeBron James into a stone-cold killer, his closing argument against the prosecution’s case he is lacking in the requisite killer instinct that place Jordan and Kobe Bryant in a league of their own.
James has stepped on jugulars from time to time, but as he enters his prime, you can expect it on a more consistent basis, likely next on display again Wednesday night at American Airlines Arena with the Nets on a respirator.
James has always been able to beat you in an unprecedented variety of ways, but falling short in the areas of mercilessness and remorselessness have helped keep him from being placed on the pedestal with Jordan and Bryant even as he begins chasing a third championship in a row that would leave him two behind Bryant and three behind Jordan.
James’ 49-point explosion Monday night in Brooklyn was the stuff legends are made of in a game he identified as a must win, and then refused to let his team lose by imposing his will on the night.
It was telling in this regard: LeBron remains hungry for his third ring every bit as much as he was for his first. The ferociousness of his attack mode from start to finish that left Barclays Center in awe and the Nets in ruins and all the basketball world talking about him and marveling at his genius, offered a hint that maybe it is a magnificent obsession for him.
Only nitpickers who won’t forgive him for The Decision will point out his bloodthirsty predecessors never would have been schmoozing while on the court with Jay Z and Beyonce early in the game.
Dwyane Wade may have had that killer instinct first, but all that matters is James seems to have it now in spades — a scary proposition when you are already the best player on the planet.
Long before Jordan and Bryant, and Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, there was Bill Russell, who once wrote this for Sports Illustrated:
“Russell’s Second Law: You got to have the killer instinct. If you do not have it, forget about basketball and go into social psychology or something. If you sometimes wonder if you’ve got it, you ain’t got it. No pussycats, please. The killer instinct, by my definition, is the ability to spot — and exploit — a weakness in your opponent.”
Bob Gibson and Pete Rose had it in baseball, Lawrence Taylor and Jim Brown in football, Mark Messier and Gordie Howe in hockey. Isiah Thomas. Jason Kidd, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, coincidentally, in basketball.
It is difficult to win back-to-back championships without some element of killer instinct, but Jordan and Bryant remain the standard. But James, whose encyclopedic basketball IQ alone has enabled him to exploit weaknesses in his opponent — is gaining on them. He has always fretted about letting his teammates down, a confession you rarely heard from Jordan and Bryant.
So he apparently scored 49 points in Game 4 so none of his teammates would be let down.
There are different ways to skin the cat, as long as the cat is skinned, and this was LeBron in October in ESPN The Magazine: “There are different ways to hunt. I watch the Discovery Channel all the time, and you look at all these animals in the wild. And they all hunt a different way to feed their families. They all kill a different way. Lions do it strategically — two females will lead, and then everybody else will come in. Hyenas will just go for it.
“There are different ways to kill, and I don’t think people understand that. Everybody wants everybody to kill the same way. Everybody wants everybody to kill like MJ or kill like Kobe. Magic didn’t kill the way they killed. Does that mean he didn’t have a killer instinct? Kareem didn’t either. But does that mean Kareem didn’t have a killer instinct? The same with Bird. That doesn’t mean you don’t have a killer instinct. Tim Duncan don’t kill like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, but I’ve played against Tim Duncan twice in the Finals and I know for sure he’s got a killer instinct.
“So there are different ways to kill. MJ had a killer instinct for sure. But if people really think that MJ didn’t talk to nobody and didn’t smile on the court, they’re crazy. They’re crazy. I’ve seen him. I was watching a clip the other day of him blocking Charles Barkley, and they’re laughing about the play — on the floor. Right now, if I block Kevin Durant on the floor, or I block Carmelo Anthony and we laugh about it? Ahh, I’m going to get killed [laughing]. I’m telling you. But there are different ways of killing.”
Wednesday night against the Nets, LeBron James goes for the kill. His way.