CLEVELAND — Perfection presented itself to a player who has forever flirted with it.
LeBron James, the kid from Akron, stood on the right block less than 40 miles from the apartment he grew up in with his mother, Gloria. She was watching. Michael Jordan, the man who inspired James as a young child, had embraced him earlier in the night.
His team needed one basket to win, and James spun back and shot a high-arcing fadeaway over a double-team that arrived just a second late. The ball went through the basket, the crowd, including his closest friends, washed totally over in another signature sequence.
