Commentary – Tonight the Miami Heat can close out the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals and give LeBron James his first NBA Championship, but will that be enough? Will the hatred toward LeBron end?

I don’t think so. I still don’t understand why LeBron is so hated. Is it because he left his hometown team? Is it that he did the decision on live television? Maybe it was the pep rally when LeBron went off about how many championships he was going to bring to Miami? Or is it that he teamed up with two other superstars in South Beach?

LeBron many times has admitted that the “Decision,” his live television over-hyped press conference, was a mistake and he only did it because he was allowed to do it at a Boys and Girls Club, where he donated the million dollars that ESPN paid him to do it.

Yes, the “Decision,” was a bad move, but he donated a million dollars to a charity helping the youth. It was a lapse in good judgement, but let’s get over it people, it was two years ago.

LeBron had to leave Cleveland. The owner of his team, Dan Gilbert, wasn’t spending the money to put talent around LeBron. Let’s face it, the NBA is a league that you need more than one super star to win a championship.

That leads me to my next point. A lot of people hate that LeBron teamed up with two other All-Stars, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. But lets look around the league. Boston not only has a big three but a big four with Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rando, and Ray Allen.

The New York Knicks have the same thing, teaming All-Star Carmelo Anthony with Amare Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler.

The Thunder have their big three with Kevin Durrant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden.

The Spurs have Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili.

The Lakers and Clippers each have a big three with the Lakers Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum and the Clippers Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and Chauncey Billups.

So you can’t get mad at LeBron for wanting to go to a team that has an owner that’s willing to spend more to try and win an NBA championship.

And please don’t say Jordan never had anyone around him. Scottie Pippen was recognized as one of the 50 best players of all-time and Dennis Rodman is arguably the best rebounder of his time. Plus, Jordan had great shooters like Steve Kerr, John Paxon and Tony Kukoc around him, as well as good point guards in B.J. Armstrong and Ron Harper.

If you take away the Bulls “big three” and the Heat’s “big three,” the Bulls role players would blow the Heat out. Most people can’t even mention three other players on the Heat besides James, Wade and Bosh.

Regardless of when LeBron wins his first NBA Championship, it won’t be enough. People will say Kobe has more than him or that he’s not as good as Kobe. And even if LeBron surpasses Kobe, folks would say that Michael Jordan has more.

It’s a never-ending uphill battle for LeBron James. But I think LeBron summed it up best after last year’s NBA Finals loss to the Dallas Mavericks.

“At the end of the day, all of the people that were rooting for me to fail, tomorrow they’ll have to wake up and have the same life that [they had] before they woke up today. They got the same personal problems they had today and I’m going to continue to live the way I want to live and continue to do the things I want to do.”

Patrick Blake is a sports commentator and host of the Blake’s Take radio show. The opinions stated in this article are his and not representative of St. George News.

For more SPORTS TALK, tune into Blake’s Take weekdays from 5-6 p.m. on KZNU Sports Radio – 93.1 FM 1450 AM – or online streaming live on the brand new KZNU Sports website: www.kznusports.com

Email: [email protected]

Twitter:  @BlakesTake

Facebook:   www.facebook.com/kznusports

Copyright 2012 St. George News.