The albatross has flown.  Although the refs have periodically acted as cop and crook, the National Basketball Association is not rigged after all.  No siree, not after the GDP of Cleveland—otherwise known as 24-years-young, Ohio-born superstar LeBron James—finished the final quarter of his season like so many once-monolithic American companies: reporting a staggering loss.  

Excuse the French, but let’s say adieu to the fait accompli of a megawatt Cavs-Lakers Final: Nike’s Most Valuable Puppet campaign that supposes LeBron and L.A. Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant as odd-couple roommates (hey remember Li’l Penny?); VitaminWater’s inescapable, either-or debate; and, lest we forget, ESPN and other outlets’ continuous “Who’s Your Player” parley.  Yeah, LeBron is the reigning MVP and the most dominant basketball force in the whole yawning Milky Way, but he won’t be the last man standing from Olympus—in fact, not since Tim Duncan’s 2nd MVP season (2002-2003) has the league’s best player taken home the more blessed Larry O’Brien trophy.  No, the bragging right will be relished by his media arch-rival or his newfangled rival, Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard.  Both make-you-believe talents, of course, were assisted beautifully by teammates who came through at the most opportune times (Trevor Ariza and Mikael Pietrus rush to mind).  So, the King is dead, carried off by a team that amounted to an Army of One.  Long live the King’s otherworldly stats (38.5 ppg, 8.0 apg, 8.3 rpg in his exit; 35.3 ppg, 7.3 apg, 9.1 rpg in total), but also remember his retinue’s fitful effort when stories of “LBJ in NYC 2010” resurface this offseason. Sound that cursed refrain for Cleveland franchises: better luck next year.

On a lighter note, let’s imagine this fairy-tale photo op: Howard—the Superman anchor of the surprising Eastern Conference champs—holding up a newspaper clip with “LeBron defeats Magic,” à la Harry Truman in 1948. When predicting the result of the Cavs-Magic series, few outside of Florida fathomed non-Disneyworld frenzies in Orlando come June, even if the Magic entered the playoffs with the conference’s third-best and the league’s fourth-best record at 59-23.  Throughout the Cleveland series, the Magic—starters Howard, Rafer Alston, Courtney Lee, Hedo Turkoglu, and Rashard Lewis and supersub Pietrus—battled both the Cavs and a hype machine that ka-chinged with every LBJ highlight.  Of course, the team astutely used the widespread disrespect as an all-for-one impetus.  In ever-crucial game 1, for example, the Cavs led by 15 at the half thanks to Mo Williams’ serendipitous, opposite-side heave at the buzzer.  At intermission, Magic coach Stan Van Gundy shrewdly used Nike’s LeBron slogan (“We are all witnesses”) to motivate his shell-shocked players.  They eventually eked out a one-point win on a clutch jumper by Lewis, setting the hard-fought, back-and-forth tone of doom for the Cavs.  With that, the Magic proved that they wouldn’t go down with a prolonged fight.