OAKLAND, Calif. — It’s like watching Itzhak Perlman play with a high school ensemble — that forgot its sheet music. Or listening to Pavarotti forced not only to sing but to play the violins, harps and flutes, too.
To watch LeBron James score 80 points in the first two games of the N.B.A. finals is to behold one of the greatest basketball players of all time, at the age of 33, in full command of his superpowers in a bid for a fourth championship ring.
To watch LeBron James score 80 points in two games and see his team still losing the series to the Golden State Warriors is to behold the tragedy of the super performer wrestling with an age-old dilemma: How much do I need my backup singers?