Pauley Pavilion was sold out on Saturday night. NBA general
managers and scouts dotted the crowd. ESPN2 had its cameras in
place, with hordes of national media lining press row.
Four high school basketball games were played, some involving
teams with national title hopes, but only one person mattered.
LeBron James, widely accepted as the best high school player in
the nation, took center stage in a game that probably mattered more
for him and his teammates than it did for the nation.
His high school, St. Vincent-St. Mary’s of Ohio (8-0)
played the Monarchs of Mater Dei of Santa Ana (15-2) and won
convincingly 64-58, as part of the Pangos Dream Classic.
All eight teams ““ hailing from Los Angeles to New York
““ were nationally ranked, but that wasn’t advertised.
It was all about “King James.”
And he didn’t even play all that well.
“I did enough,” he said after the game. “I did
enough to help my team win.”
ESPN2 has made a concerted effort to publicize the predicted No.
1 pick in the 2003 NBA draft. In James’ last televised
performance, he played in stellar fashion, with this game expected
to be a continuation of that.
But on Saturday, he finished with 21 points on eight of 24
shooting. The game was sloppy throughout, and the score was
stalemated at 11 after the first quarter.
The crowd forgot it was only a high school game, focused on
James, and even booed him at times.
It didn’t faze him, though.
“I’m just playing my game,” he said.
“I’m out there to have fun.”
In the second quarter he did have some fun, scoring 13 points on
five for eight shooting. Mater Dei really had no chance after
that.
The Irish pulled well ahead of the Monarchs after halftime, but
James had nothing to do with it. He missed all nine of his three
point attempts while his teammates picked up the garbage. Three
other players scored in double figures.
Some would question James’ performance and blame showtime
jitters, but if you ask him, it wasn’t a factor.
“I’ve been doing this since the fifth grade,”
he said.
Like any other NBA or college basketball player with a bad night
offensively, he exploited his opponent’s triple coverage on
him and passed the ball. He recorded seven assists and played hard
defensively, grabbing nine rebounds. He was still the difference in
the game.
“We didn’t shoot very well, but we found a way to
win,” Irish head coach Dru Joyce said.
Mater Dei fought back in the second half, drilling three
pointers when the Monarchs needed them, but it wasn’t enough
in the end.
Mater Dei didn’t speak with the media following the game.
It may have been because of the upset itself, but maybe it was to
avoid questions about James.
The announced crowd of 15,000 (Pauley has a capacity of 12,819)
turned out for a high school game, but the focus was on James. He
was the only player on either team to stay on the court the whole
game, because ““ for the record ““ he is playing to win a
national title.
“I’m about team first,” James said. “I
had an off night, but we had a victory.”
For the sake of his teammates, he better be right. As the season
progresses, more fans, media and ““ most importantly for James
““ scouts, will be watching.