MIAMI — Just in case LeBron James wanted to have a manufactured MVP ceremony, his public-relations guy had handed him some cue cards.
James didn't reveal what was on those cards. Who knows if there were details about the hurdles James overcame while growing up poor in Akron, Ohio, on the turmoil he has dealt with since his controversial decision in the summer of 2010 to go to Miami and how he would trade the MVP trophy he had just been handed for a championship?
But it doesn't matter what was on those cards. It couldn't have been any better than what the forward said Saturday on a stage on the AmericanAirlines Arena court where he was handed his third career MVP but first as a member of the Heat.
"Moments like this, I don't need a cheat sheet," James said. "I just speak from the heart in something like this. I haven't been nervous like this in a long time. I don't know why, but there's butterflies in my stomach."
James really was nervous. At one point, when he had a bit of a halting in his voice, he joked he wasn't "sick" but was a "little emotional right now just thinking what's going on."
Mostly, though, James spoke eloquently during what was his best off-the-court moment since he joined the Heat in the summer of 2010.
Yes, everybody remembers that summer. James had his infamous "The Decision" TV show and his popularity plummeted. But it's been coming back, and Saturday certainly didn't hurt.
"This is definitely more emotional than my first two (MVPs) because of all I've been through over the last year and a half," said James, who won his previous award with Cleveland in 2009 and 2010 before becoming a free agent and bolting to the Heat. "I just wanted to get back to playing the game that I love at a high level and doing it the way I've always done in my whole life and I got away from that last year.
"I was playing the game of basketball with hate last year instead of love and passion and fun . . . I'm not saying I wasn't there mentally, I just wasn't there all the way. I dedicated this whole season to getting back to how I know."
James spent the first two weeks after last year's 4-2 Finals loss to Dallas holed up in his house, speaking to few. But when he finally emerged, he was on a mission.
James got in great shape, and was ready when the lockout finally was lifted and players took to the court in December. His resolve never let up throughout the season.
"Every day, he's always the first one here," said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. "Even at games, walking past the weight room, 3 1/2 hours before the game (James was) doing his Pilates warm-ups."
James, 27, had one of the best all-around seasons ever by an NBA player. He averaged 27.1 points, a career-high 7.9 rebounds and 6.2 assists while shooting a career-best 53.1 percent from the field.
A strong finish made James a no-brainer for the MVP after it looked as if it might be a tight race with Oklahoma City forward Kevin Durant. James ended up with 85 of 121 first-place votes and 1,074 overall points to outdistance Durant, who had 25 first-place votes and 889 points.
James becomes the eighth player in NBA history to have won three MVPs, joining Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan. He called it "humbling" to be in that company.
James, though, is well aware he's the only one on that list who doesn't have a championship ring. In fact, all but James and Malone won at least two titles.
"This is not the award I want," James said of his latest MVP. "I want that championship. That's all that matters to me . . . I'd give all three (trophies) back for an NBA championship."
The Heat, who face Indiana in a East semifinal that begins Sunday, have a good shot at winning the title this season. And Heat president Pat Riley, while not necessarily speaking about this season, said after the ceremony, "(James) will get his championship and there might be a lot more there, too."
If James doesn't get a ring this season, he's going to hear more criticism. But there shouldn't have been any Saturday. James really did speak from the heart.
"Where I come from, Akron, Ohio, they automatically think you're going to be a statistic, underprivileged African-American kid, single-parent household, you're not going to make it," James said. "You're either going to fall in the streets or you're going to end up in prison. There's no way you're going to make it and be successful . . . There are not many success stories from where I come from."
Later, James looked at his mother, Gloria James, who was seated in the first row.
"My mother was 17 when she had me in a single-parent household with no income, and I have no idea how she did what she did," James said. "You're my inspiration as well."
James spoke with joy about his fiancée, Savannah Brinson, and their two boys, LeBron Jr., 7, and Bryce, 4, who all sat in the front row. James joked about LeBron Jr. falling asleep at one point.
James didn't just acknowledge his teammates. Midway through the ceremony, he asked them to all walk onto the stage from seats on the side.
James also acknowledged about a half-dozen third-graders he had brought from Akron, who participate in his Wheels for Education program, which is part of his LeBron James Family Foundation. He is donating the Kia Sorrento he won for being MVP to his charity.
Most of all, James talked about what a better place he believes he is in this season.
"A lot of it had to do with my family coming down to live with me full-time this year, having another year with my teammates, having another year living in Miami," said James, who last season averaged 26.7 points, 7.5 rebounds and 7.0 assists while shooting 51.0 percent. "Last year came so fast. It was the first time in 26 years that I had lived somewhere else besides Ohio."
The guy who played the biggest role in bringing James to Miami looked on with interest. That would be Riley.
"(What) was being written and judged (about James) impacted him in a certain way and this year it doesn't," Riley said of James overcoming all the negativity from last season. "So he's grown as a man, he's grown as a person, he's grown from that experience. A lot of people might look at it and say, 'Well that's just talk.' It's not. It's how we grow as people. We go through those kinds of experiences. He expressed that."
James did so from the heart, not from cue cards.
Chris Tomasson can be reached at christomasson@hotmail.com or on Twitter @christomasson
