Finally!

LeBron James is beginning to live up to the hype. His performance last night was insane. The last 25 points of the game, some dunks, some layups, some threes, basically he did it all. He took over the game when it matters most and has the Cavs in position to go to their first Finals.

More importantly, he is the only player that can save the playoffs. LeBron can be rather boring to watch when he plays with a lack of enthusiasm. However, when he plays like he did last night, he's one of the most exciting players in the league.

Since Jordan retired, the NBA has missed that one wing player that could take over a game and throw up 20+ in a row like LeBron did last night (Shaq was unstoppable during the Lakers 3-Peat, but at the end of the day, somebody still has to get him the ball). Kobe has done this frequently during the regular season, but he's yet to really put together that type of performance in the playoffs. Wade has some Jordanesque performances in last year's playoffs, but he was banged up this year after a long summer.

LeBron has been compared to Jordan constantly since before he even graduated from high school. It would only be right if 23 became the new 23. We've all been waiting for this to happen, and the light seems to finally be going off for him.

For the NBA, this is great news. Before Game 5, I figured the Pistons would win at home and put the Cavs away in 6 or 7, then lose to the Spurs in a very boring Finals. A repeat of the 2005 finals would have been disastrous for the league.

Instead, we'll probably get a chance to watch "The Next Jordan" try to become "The Next Jordan." Hopefully we'll get treated to some stuff like this dunk. However, a Spurs/Cavs series could easily resemble the first three games of this Cavs/Pistons series. Its up to LeBron to ensure that doesn't happen.