The quality of athleticism was high. Three of the top players in the league, Dirk Nowitzki, Dwayne Wade, and Lebron James were featured. Role players piqued interest too, from Dallas' Jason Terry tattooing an image of a championship trophy on his bicep before the season started to Miami's Mario Chalmers, of fame from his NCAA heroics, making a name for himself on the sport's biggest stage. The series featured a set of games that were some of the closest ever in an NBA Finals series. Yet the 2011 NBA Finals will be remembered more as a morality play than a sporting event
Hemingway said, "there is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self." Lebron failed in this series because he could not be noble; he remained stagnant in his accomplishments on the court and in his continued lack of character off of it. As the confetti in Dallas begins to settle, it becomes clear the driving force behind public interest was whether James would win not on the court, but off of it.
