By BILL REITER
FOXSports.com
MIAMI --Let's aim for the impossible today: finding something the LeBron James haters (talking to you, Cleveland) can agree on with the LeBron-James-can-do-no-wrong fan club (hello, Miami).
Something like: Neither is going to particularly like this column.
The Heat are on a nine-game winning streak, and LeBron has played incredible basketball during that time as both a player and a leader, and the feedback has been both intense and steady on what it all means relative to The King.
From anti-LeBron folks: This run is a sham, his play is over-hyped, The King's still a bum, there's absolutely no way the guy doesn't eventually self-destruct and bring down his team with his mood.
From the love-LeBron folks: We knew all the hater-aid out there was just that, he never caused any problems, the Chosen One is a good guy who never did anything to anybody and you should just leave him alone, oh, and now that the Heat are playing well, the good times will never stop because LeBron will make sure of it. Screw off, America.
You're both wrong.
This run is not over-hyped, the guy is playing great basketball, and his petulant ways, at least for now, are gone.
But the early-season struggles, despite head coach Erik Spoelstra playing the "we just needed time" card, unequivocally reflected the dark side of LeBron's unique dual ability: No athlete on earth is so capable of making his team so good with his play or, if the mood strikes, so damaged and reeling if his poor attitude takes over.
Cleveland, the guy is good enough to be epically good, to win many rings, to get his act under control and still ride to great glory.
Miami, LeBron isn't there yet, he has yet to mature to the point that this is certain, he did bring this on himself and, yes, he was a cancer early on.
LeBron's epic game against Cleveland and his stunning play of late are as much a part of what he brings to the basketball court as The Bump, the "too many minutes" whine, the leaked report to discredit his head coach and the other juvenile moves made when he was under duress.
The question isn't which version of LeBron is real.
They're both real -- the epic talent who can play alchemist really can use himself as the missing ingredient to lead one of the great basketball teams of all time.
Or the epic talent who can't get out of his own way, who, like some Greek god, has only one fatal flaw to which he's doomed to succumb despite the bounty before him: himself.
As the season goes on, two key battles will play out for the Heat.
The first will be Miami against a league increasingly amped up to beat them, powered by all this hate but also the fact the Heat could become more and more formidable. This is standard basketball stuff: avoiding injuries, playing well, staying focused, hitting shots, letting themselves be coached, keeping an edge.
The second will be LeBron vs. LeBron. This is standard the Chosen One stuff. Fighting mood swings, staying grounded, accepting blame, dealing well -- or not -- with difficulty.
Folks like to compare LeBron to a super hero. I've heard a lot of, "Dwyane Wade is Batman, LeBron is Superman" talk the past few weeks.
Fine.
But if LeBron is some kind of Superman, he's the version from the worst of the Man of Steel movies: Where the good version faces off against the bad version.
And, being real life, there's no guarantee the good guy will win out.
Injuries, egos, bad shots, disagreements, whispers in his ear -- who knows what triggers the next stress test for the Heat.
When it comes, perhaps LeBron will have learned from this past six months, corrected course and be the version of himself Heat fans believe in and Cleveland fans don't.
Until then, Wednesday's game against Cleveland here in Miami is a turning point of sorts. The good times got a huge boost when the Heat went into Cleveland two weeks ago, beat down the Cavs, showed love for No. 6 and moved on to wreck the West Coast.
They're going to take care of business Wednesday, LeBron will most certainly talk trash and go off, and that chapter -- the Cleveland chapter -- really will come to a close outside of Ohio.
LeBron and the Heat now have bigger things to worry about. So does the NBA -- it has to worry about LeBron and the Heat.
But the real story, as to whether it is Miami or Cleveland who knows LeBron best, remains a long way off from certainty.
Until then, they're both wrong: LeBron is both epically talented and capable of leading this team to greatness, and, just as absolutely, not cured of all his personal intangibles that make him as promising as he can be poisonous.
You can follow Bill Reiter on Twitter.
