2012 NBA Playoffs: Why It Will Be LeBron James vs Spurs, Again - Bleacher Report

There's pretty much no point in covering either Conference Finals series. Game 7 of Boston vs Philadelphia, while it has it's historical merits and will provide entertainment, will be mostly a formality.

And no disrespect to the Oklahoma City Thunder, who have pushed their way past two defending champions these playoffs, losing only once.

But the two teams entrenched in their respective Conference Finals series have proven that the writing is on the wall. LeBron James will get another shot at winning his first championship, and he'll do so against the team of the first all-time great he faced in 2007 when he was just barely able to order a beer.

Neither Boston or Philadelphia can begin to matchup against Lebron or Wade. The Heat destroyed the Sixers in the regular season, 4-0 by an average of 13.3 points. And with Avery Bradley, the man who was charged with limiting D-Wade to under 18 points-per-game, undergoing shoulder surgery, I doubt Ray Allen's creaky ankles can keep up with Flash.

Boston may have won three out of four against Miami, but one of them came at the end of the season when both teams rested everybody relevant on their rosters. 

On the other hand, the Spurs are going to play a maximum of five games against OKC.

Scott Brooks' crew is totally unstoppable when they are running, confident, and making jump shots. They're a completely average team, capable of letting inferior teams hang in there when the jumpers don't go in. Honestly, it was the only reason some of the games they played against Dallas and Los Angeles were even close. 

But that's the type of team San Antonio has no problem with, because they will strike when the jumpers don't go. Just ask the Phoenix Suns, who the Spurs regularly thumped during Steve Nash's MVP years half a decade ago. 

If he was black and had hipster glasses, he would be Westbrook after the WCF
Christian Petersen/Getty Images

The Thunder's greatest weapon all playoffs has been the fact that no one on the Lakers or Mavericks could stop Westbrook, even if they had a chain saw or a bat.

It's probably relevant to say that the Spurs' defense just completely swallowed up Chris Paul and made him look uncomfortable for a whole series.

Despite LeBron going to Miami to get some help, the ab injury to Chris Bosh, along with the flat-out pathetic performance from their bench, has rendered 2012 to very eerily resemble 2007. Like 2007, King James will again be on the less deep, inferior team. Like 2007, he will still be the best player on the floor.

Now Lebron is bigger, stronger, and playing the best basketball of his life. He now has a super-talented partner in Dwyane Wade who wants it just as much as he does, and is coming back with a renewed focus and hardened skin from the dearth of criticism that has hit him through the years.

Basketball fans always love games that have existential meaning to them. Nobody would have predicted in December that San Antonio would evolve into a juggernaut facing a weakened Miami Heat team in the finals.

But as a pure basketball fan, I'm happy it turned out this way. Lebron gets a chance to prove himself on the ultimate stage again, exorcising his playoff demons against not only the first team to beat him in the Finals, but one of the best teams we've seen in the last five or six years, period.

By all accounts, Miami choked away the 2011 Finals. I'm not so sure I can label Lebron a choker if the Heat can push San Antonio, but still ultimately lose.

Maybe this is how it has to happen. Lebron has the whole world watching, and a myriad of cynical pundits that are too eager to rip him apart should he do anything short of hoisting Larry O'Brien this summer.

And even Skip Bayless will have to shut up if Lebron reprises the role of underdog he had five years ago in Cleveland. By winning this time, and showing the world he's grown up, he will have finally lived up to the hype he's had since he was a teenager.