Michael Jordan had one. Magic Johnson had one. Even Lebron James had one in last year’s Eastern Conference Finals, now he just needs to have another.

The “one” is called an alpha dog game, and after another putrid performance in the Cavaliers’ 89-73 Game 2 loss to the Boston Celtics, James must summon another one of these performances to rescue his team from this 0-2 deficit.

During the regular season and the first round of the playoffs, James has been content to lead the team through his all around play, and this is supported by his numbers. In the first 82 games, he averaged 30 points, 7 rebound and 7 assists. Against the Washington Wizards in the first round of the playoffs, he averaged around 29 points, 7 assists and 9 rebounds.

James’ plan in those games was simple. He would spend the early part of the game making sure his teammates got involved and he would only shoot here and there. In the second and third quarters, he would score a little more, but he would still make a concerted effort to get his teammates started. He would feed Zydrunas Ilgauskas in the post, and he would set Daniel Gibson, Delonte West and Wally Szczerbiak up from the outside. It was only in the fourth quarter when James would play with reckless abandon and attempt to win the game. Most of the time this was a successful formula, that is until he faced the Boston Celtics.

Through the first two games of the Celtics series, James is averaging a very pedestrian 15 points to go along with 7 rebounds and 7 assists and has shot a combined 8-42 from the field. He still takes the time to get his teammates involved, but there is little to no aggression on the offensive end. In these games, when James would drive, he would double clutch the ball and focus on initiating contact instead of scoring. His set jumpshot was way off and at no point did he try to dribble in a bit to get a closer shot. Instead, he remained passive, and although his teammates almost bailed him out in Game 1, in Game 2, the Celtics came and blew the game open. Part of this can be blamed on the Celtics’ defense. But this is Lebron James, the alpha dog, and a superstar of his caliber should still be able to trump any defense.

Michael Jordan’s alpha dog moment came in Game 6 of the NBA Finals in 1998. The Bulls were up three games to two, and the game was being played in Utah. None of the Bulls previous five NBA title series had gone to a seventh game, and Jordan didn’t want this to be the year it happened. He went out and scored 45 points, had a steal at the end of the game and hit the now famous shot over Bryon Russell. From start to finish, Jordan made up his mind that he was going to score and his teammates knew it and got behind him. At the same time, he completely demoralized Karl Malone and the Utah Jazz.

Magic Johnson played the role of alpha dog back in the 1980 NBA finals, in Game 6 of the Lakers/Sixers series. Hall of Fame center Kareem Abdul Jabbar was out with an ankle injury and Magic, as a rookie was forced to temporarily put his point guard duties aside, and jump center. Yes, Johnson had a very point guard-like seven assists. But he also scored 42 points and dominated the boards, grabbing 15 rebounds. At no point during that game was there a doubt about who was in control, because Johnson had unleashed his inner alpha dog. Even future Hall of Famer Julius Erving was blown away when he said, “It was amazing, simply amazing”

And if James is too young to remember those first two examples, he simply needs to look at last year when he revealed his own alpha dog. It was Game 5 of the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals and the series was tied 2-2 and headed back to Detroit. Through the first three quarters and part of the fourth, James played his typical all around game. However, during the last part of the fourth quarter and through two overtimes, he dug a bit deeper and became that alpha dog. He scored Cleveland’s last 25 points, 29 of their last 30, and of course led his team to victory. He scored on jumpers, on hard drives and even harder dunks. Unlike his first two games against the Celtics when he was extremely passive, James showed no fear in that Game 5 versus the Pistons, and was simply unstoppable. That’s the man that needs to show up for Game 3 versus the Celtics.

Announcers and basketball enthusiasts constantly say that James is a hybrid player. They say he has the passing ability of Magic Johnson and the scoring ability of Michael Jordan. Magic and Jordan have multiple NBA titles, and although they knew how to be unselfish, it was that alpha dog in them helped them get those championships. If James wants to beat the Celtics, let alone start his own NBA title collection, he’s going to need to unleash his own alpha dog.

Make us all witnesses, Lebron.

Photo Credit: Icon Sports Media