LeBron James is one of the 10 greatest basketball players of all time.  

Just in case you were wondering, the list, on May 21, 2012, looks like this:

Jordan

Russell

Bird

Magic

Kareem

Robertson

Wilt

Olajuwon

Duncan

LeBron

With apologies to Kobe Bryant, Elgin Baylor, Jerry West and John Havlicek, that's the group. And I don't know how anyone could have watched LeBron James perform in Sunday's win over the Pacers and come to any other conclusion except that he's perhaps too low on my list.  

First, the obvious: LeBron James is almost compulsively unlikeable. I have no idea if he is a nice guy pretending to be an insecure, egotistical creep  - and he's just not smart enough to be a entertaining heel, it all comes across as completely forced - or if what we have witnessed over the last couple of years is who James actually is. Either way, I get why basically nobody outside of Miami wants to see him succeed. He embarrassed himself with the vomitous "The Decision" (otherwise known as The Death of Any Remaining Credibility at ESPN) and his prediction of eight titles in Miami was another desperate attempt to be the coolest guy in the room, another opportunity to be paid attention to, which matters a lot to LeBron James.

So there's zero sympathy for the guy when you realize that no athlete in history has ever entered a postseason with as much pressure as James did this year. Think about it - the wipeout in Year One vs. the Mavericks (and when you promise eight NBA titles a loss in the finals is only a wipeout) followed by another MVP season plus all the (deserved) baggage he carries and I can't think of anyone else even close. Now you throw in no Derrick Rose and the pressure increases and the "if they don't win this year will it ever happen?" stuff begins to make some sense. 

And with all that, the Miami Heat took the court on Sunday in Indianapolis down 2-1 to the Pacers in the Eastern Conference semifinals. If they lost, they were almost surely going to lose the series and what would that have meant? LeBron James - the best basketball player in the world, a three-time MVP - couldn't beat the Indiana Pacers? Year Two would have done the impossible, which is make Year One look like a roaring success. And, once again, LeBron James would be looked at as a loser. Whatever "it" is, he'd still be searching for it, would be the consensus.

LeBron James has been eviscerated for his inability to deliver in the clutch, by those who haven't had awful plastic surgery and by Skip Bayless.  Some of it is deserved - it seems he isn't pathologically obsessed with making sure he takes the last shot in a one-point game, he's quick to defer - but some of it isn't. It's not that simple. Clutch isn't just moments, not only buzzer-beaters. What LeBron James did on Sunday, with the 2012 Miami Heat on absolute life support and his legacy about to take another massive hit, has to be the definition of clutch. He played 44 minutes, scored 40 points, had 18 rebounds, nine assists, two steals and two blocks in the 101-93 win. Nobody else currently playing in the NBA is capable of that kind of performance, and maybe three players in history could do it. 

Now, did this happen against the 1986 Celtics? Nope, the Pacers are a good, solid, rising team, but nowhere near the neighborhood of greatness. And does 40-18-9 mean that the Heat are going to roll to the NBA championship and James will be done answering all questions? Probably not. And that's fair - again, when you tell us that you are going to win eight NBA titles you deserve to held fully accountable when you haven't won even one. 

We live in a world where every game seems a referendum on something. And it's always moving, isn't it? The story seems to change awfully fast, and it isn't just sports. LeBron James is a loser, LeBron James is a winner. Tim Tebow is the greatest quarterback on the planet, Tim Tebow is the worst quarterback on the planet. Trade Beckett, keep Beckett, trade Beckett, keep Beckett. It was going to be Mitt Romney until it was going to be Rick Perry and then it was going to be Herman Cain and then it was going to be Newt Gingrich until it turned out to be Mitt Romney again. 

And I'm as guilty as anyone else, it's a trap that's almost impossible to avoid. With a million different websites and blogs and sports radio and endless debate shows on ESPN - plus the ultimate game changer, Twitter - if you don't have an instant and punchy take on an issue you are dead in the water. And LeBron James is sports talk porn, plain and simple. He's easy to hate, terrific at what he does but still hasn't landed the ultimate prize. He's still undefined.

I've seen LeBron James win 66 games with Mike Brown as his coach and Mo Williams as his second best player. I've seen LeBron James score 48 points (with nine rebounds and seven assists) - including Cleveland's final 25 points - in a Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Pistons in 2007. I've seen LeBron James put up a 32-9-9 in Game 3 of that same series, willing the Cavs to a win when down 2-0. I've seen LeBron James hit a game-winning, buzzer-beating 3-pointer against the Magic in Game 2 of the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals. He has as many great playoff moments as any active player.

But I saw LeBron James quit - and we all saw it - against the Celtics in Game 5 in 2010. He played plenty of that series with one eye on the Celtics and the other seemingly on real-estate listing for 12-bedroom houses on South Beach. And there are numerous and damning examples of missed free throws and jumpers at the end of games. But I do wonder if we just remember the misses with James more because he's LeBron James. There is no bigger Larry Bird fan on the planet than me, but there were sometimes misses at the end of games. The difference between the two? Bird has three titles and Bird never deferred.

LeBron James is the best basketball player in the world and it isn't close. I think he's already one of the 10 best in history and could finish in the top six or seven if he wins a couple of titles. And I think that's going to happen.

Until the Heat lose Game 6, LeBron plays lousy and I change my mind. Isn't that what we're supposed to do?