As LeBron James takes the heat, Kobe Bryant suddenly looks cool

LeLemmings Strike Back!

You know the guy on the 100-foot billboard in Cleveland with his head thrown back and his arms outstretched under the Nike swoosh and the words "We Are All Witnesses"?

He doesn't perform miracles there anymore.


After years of dreading this day, Cavaliers fans, who assured themselves LeBron James would never leave, knowing he was all they had going and there would be no reason for them to stay, either, learned he would spend the rest of their lives in. . . .

And now a word from our sponsors.

MIAMI?

Down came the billboard.

Up in flames went No. 23 jerseys. Out of the stores went the unsold ones.

Off his rocker went owner Dan Gilbert, who may ban the numerals 2 and 3 in the organization next.

Taking it as yet another personal betrayal, Gilbert charged that James "quit" in the Boston series, although it didn't stop him from offering LeBron $129 million.

How much can one owner take, especially if swollen to such self-importance that he can curse the Heat, guarantee the Cavaliers will win a title first (yeah, right) and vow:

"This shameful display of selfishness and betrayal by one of our very own has shifted our 'motivation' to previously unknown and previously never experienced levels."

So they weren't trying their hardest before?

Maybe that's why they acquired Drew Gooden in 2004 and signed Larry Hughes and Donyell Marshall in 2005, and went for Antawn Jamison last season, rather than Marcus Camby, who would have helped more and had an expiring deal.

Instead, James wound up choosing between playing with Jamison, Mo Williams, J.J. Hickson and Anderson Varejao and contending for a title.

Unfortunately for LeBron, the owner couldn't take all the heat off him.

A nationwide storm broke over James' head, suggesting how outrageous his choice was . . . or that he was finally old enough to be at the bottom of a worldwide pile-on, rechristened as Le(fill in blank), as in LeBummer, LeGone and LeCon.

TNT's Reggie Miller noted James was about to become Alex Rodriguez to Wade's Derek Jeter, a fair point.

TNT's Chris Webber said he'd never again compare James to Jordan, something he should know about, having never been compared to Karl Malone.