LeBron slides from reluctant superstar to failed sidekick

On June 12, 1991, Scottie Pippen produced 32 points, 13 rebounds, 7 assists and 5 steals when the Bulls won Game 5 against the Los Angeles Lakers and captured their first NBA championship.

Exactly 20 years later, LeBron James capped a lackluster NBA Finals with another late-game disappearing act as the Dallas Mavericks knocked off Miami's Power Trio for the title.

James took his talents from Cleveland to South Beach last summer because he didn't want to carry the load by himself. In this series he wasn't even a good sidekick.

Forget about comparing James to Michael Jordan. The King couldn't match Pippen.

At the moment, there's no doubt James ranks below Dirk Nowitzki on the list of NBA's greatest players.

Rather than whine and complain about his supporting cast while losing in the first round of the playoffs three of the last four years, Nowitzki stayed patient. When he got a second chance at the Finals, he hit big shots in the fourth quarter of every Dallas victory.

In Game 6, he was 4-for-19 from the field through three quarters but stuck with it and scored 10 points in the fourth quarter as the Mavs pulled away to win comfortably.

James' numbers were very respectable in his final game of the season, with 21 points, 6 assists, 6 turnovers and 9-of-15 shooting. But Miami was outscored by an alarming 24 points during the 40 minutes James was on the floor.

In James' defense, it does seem unfair that people ripped him apart for disappearing during the Finals. But when Wade played just as bad, maybe worse, against the Bulls in the Eastern Conference finals, people blamed a mysterious shoulder injury that magically healed in time to face Dallas.

The reality is the Bulls had two good defenders, Ronnie Brewer and Keith Bogans, available to pester Wade. Dallas was better suited to defend James with a rotation of DeShawn Stevenson and Shawn Marion.

So Miami's season ended in Game 6 of the Finals, which is nothing to be ashamed of, unless the team in question held a garish victory celebration nearly a year ago.

But this series served as a reminder that while a team can group three stars, there's still only one ball. James and Wade basically took turns trying to lead the team in the last two rounds. Chris Bosh, meanwhile, did little except shoot open jump shots when his defenders left to give help.

When Nowitzki looked to score late in games, he was surrounded by a quality cast of players who knew how to play their role.

When Wade tried to take advantage of favorable defensive matchups against Jason Terry and Jason Kidd, James didn't know how to make himself useful, so he usually just stood in the corner away from the action.

In many ways, things couldn't have worked out much better for Miami during the postseason. The Heat got Udonis Haslem back from injury just as the playoffs got tough. Mike Miller, injured and useless all season, provided some positive contributions in the conference finals. Mario Chalmers knocked down a number of 3-point shots against Dallas.

Miami also had homecourt advantage in the Finals because the No. 3 seed emerged from the Western Conference. Dallas' Jason Terry couldn't hit a shot until the last two games. The Heat took advantage of 28 more free-throw attempts in Games 4 and 5 against the Bulls. The list goes on and on.

Will Miami learn from this experience and come back stronger than ever when the next NBA season occurs? Well, the collection of stars could still win multiple titles, but there's no guarantee they'll have a better opportunity than they did this year.

The Bulls feel they gave the Heat a free pass with all the late-game mistakes during a tight conference finals series and will be highly motivated to turn the tables.

For now, LeBron's legacy is the reluctant superstar who became a failed sidekick.