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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Beating Pacers no biggie to James

LeBron still 2 steps from cherished goal

By: Tim Reynolds

Posted: 05/27/2012 3:17 AM | Comments: 0

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Miami's LeBron James sees no reason to celebrate yet. (AL DIAZ / MIAMI HERALD / MCT ARCHIVES)

MIAMI -- LeBron James shook a few hands, slapped a few fives, gave a few hugs.

That was the extent of his celebrating after the Miami Heat ousted the Indiana Pacers.

A return to the Eastern Conference final -- no small achievement by any measure -- is nice, though it's far from the oft-stated goal for the reigning NBA MVP and the Heat. They'll host Game 1 of the East title series on Monday night against the Boston Celtics, a teams that was ousted from last year's playoffs by Miami in five games.

"You can't just show up, no matter who you're playing against," James said Saturday, when the Heat resumed practice after taking one day off to rest up and recover from a grind against Indiana. "We have to prepare the same way we've done the first two rounds -- and even prepare ourselves even more. As the rounds go, the competition grows, so we look forward to the challenge."

The way James sees it, there's not a lot of reason for celebration yet. After all, he's not wearing the letters VIII across his upper teeth.

Over the past couple seasons, James has worn mouthguards with fangs, others with the Heat logo, and some with no adornments whatsoever. For these playoffs, he's broken out something new: A mouthguard embossed "XVI."

It doesn't take much to decipher what those Roman numerals are supposed to signify. It's 16, the number of wins that the Heat would need to capture the NBA championship. Miami has the first eight of those out of the way, but in this all-or-nothing season for the Heat, that's far from enough to satisfy anyone. Beating New York brought one or two quick moments of excitement, as did topping Indiana, but neither provided the ultimate moment.

"The first year in Cleveland, when we beat Washington in that first-round series, it was an achievement for not only myself and my teammates but for our franchise, which hadn't been to the playoffs in a long time," James said. "Those days are over. My aspiration is to go win a championship now. So those days are over."

They've been over for a while, of course. And as if anyone needed any reminder of the goal, James started wearing the "XVI" mouthguard. The idea came from Mike Mancias, a trainer who has worked with James for years, first in Cleveland and for the past two seasons with the Heat.

"We always look for inspiration throughout the playoffs and throughout the season to just kind of get me going," James said. "He knows that I'm a big Gladiator fan, of course Maximus, the Roman numerals, all that stuff. So that's where the inspiration came from. Sometimes I say I want something, sometimes Mike surprises me with a lot of it. I like that. I like the inspiration."

Of course, the main source of inspiration is the championship trophy.

Saturday was essentially a tuneup day for the Heat, given that they couldn't exactly plan for an opponent because Game 7 of the Celtics-76ers series was still hours from tip-off.

-- The Associated Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 27, 2012 B7

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