The Final Score: Witnessing what fuels LeBron James, sans the crowd, sans the noise

The crowd was gone. Only a handful of people were left milling inside an empty Mall of Asia Arena. Players from Gilas Pilipinas, UAAP teams and the Under-16 National Team were exchanging stories. Some were posting their photos on Instagram. They saw LeBron James closer than ever before. He scored on them. Some scored against him. The event, part of the Witness History tour, was over. They didn’t expect to see him this close again.

Then, that singular figure emerged from the tunnel. James walked back to the court. People stopped exchanging stories. What was this, a show after the show? As it turned out, he wanted to work on his outside shots before heading out. Ano ‘to, pampalipas traffic?

[Related: Slideshow - LeBron James in Manila]

Gilas head coach Chot Reyes, with hands on waist and in full observation mode, watched from the sidelines. He heard the plan. James was out to make 40 two-point shots from 5 angles, 40 three-point shots from five angles and 20 dribble jump shots from five angles. The goal was to make 100 jumpers after what must have been a tiring day. Reyes must’ve thought to himself, “Hindi pa ba siya pagod?”

Posting photos on Instagram could wait. PBA legend Alvin Patrimonio held his iPhone with two hands to keep it as still as possible. He was capturing the drill on video. Marcus Douthit was doing the same thing. As mobile phone video cameras rolled, James fired one jump shot after another. Set against a backdrop of empty chairs, sweating under the normal house lights of the arena, James continued to work.

“Mabuti yan nakikita nila Kobe Paras, Juami [Tiongson], [Chris] Newsome,” Boom Gonzales, one of the event emcees who likewise stayed behind, said. “At least these young guys can see the hard work that goes with being LeBron James.”

James continued to shoot. Sweat marks started to cover his dark gray sleeveless shirt. He decided to take fade-away jump shots from both post angles. Skee-Lo’s “I Wish” played in the background. He wasn’t interacting with his small audience. He was mostly quiet, just occasionally chatting with his trainers.

FEU guards Terrence Romeo and RR Garcia had their mobile phones out as well, like apprentices watching a master craftsman at work. “Kinukunan ko ng video para makita ko yung form niya,” Romeo said.

People were getting tired holding up their mobile phones. Batteries were running low. Yet James continued to shoot jumpers. A non-basketball junkie could find all this repetition strenuous to watch. No dunks. No crowd. No hype.

“It’s all about the repetition,” NU’s Bobby Ray Parks, who was likewise recording the session on his mobile phone, said. “He looks like he’s just doing the same thing over and over. He might use that shot just once in a game. But that’s how he gets better.”

Two kids from a business suite located high above the court spotted James. They were ecstatic that they stayed longer than everyone else. They screamed in glee, sounding like chipmunks from afar, “M-V-P! M-V-P!”  - AMD, GMA News