CLEVELAND — So the certifiably best basketball player on the planet, having just put in one of the great performances in N.B.A. playoff history, slips into his postgame seat, his red eyes shadowed by the rim of a handsome homburg.
We ask about his fantastic solo journey across the ocean tempest of the N.B.A. finals, and he says none of it matters a whit.
“I don’t know, for me, it’s never a success if you go out losing,” he says. “Doesn’t matter if I’m playing in Miami or playing in Cleveland or playing on Mars.”
Great loss on a great stage is moving theater.