A week ago, I wrote that LeBron James was the best player alive, but even he wasn’t good enough to beat the Warriors singlehandedly.

The Cavaliers were about to enter the NBA Finals without their third best player, Kevin Love, and with a severely hampered second-best player in Kyrie Irving. Then Irving went down for the entirety of the series.

In my head, it was over. Everything we’ve learned about the NBA over the past 15 years says that no man is good enough to win an NBA Finals by himself. It didn’t matter how well James played, how scrappy Tristan Thompson was on the offensive glass. The Cavaliers would lose, because that’s what happens in the NBA.

The Cavaliers aren’t losing. They have a 2-1 lead over the Warriors, and I don’t even really understand what’s going on.

Before we get to James, and we will get to James, let’s talk about a few other things. It has to be said that the Warriors haven’t played up to their usual standards. Draymond Green has been subpar all series, and was plain awful last night. It took Stephen Curry an entire half to wake up. The offense has been unusually sluggish at times, and other times the shots the Warriors make just aren’t falling.

More importantly, the Cavaliers are playing excellent defense. They’re bringing a wall of players out to the perimeter and daring the Warriors to beat them inside, and in doing so, slowing the game down — exactly what they want to do. They’re forcing the high-flying Warriors to pound out possessions. It’s working.

And laugh all you want, but coach David Blatt has been excellent. I know James has sometimes put all the attention on himself for leading this team, and we all like to think of Blatt as this dude who’s along for the ride, but for Blatt to figure out how to take this team and stop the Warriors while still playing great offense, you can’t sell that short. He’s coached brilliantly. He’s made adjustments, and he’s been confident enough to ride supposed “role” players while they’re hot, something not every coach has the confidence to do in this league.

Which leads us to Matthew Dellavedova. I mean, I don’t even know anymore. Nothing makes any sense. I remember vividly the first time I got to know Dellavedova, when he was a wild-haired maniac on a Saint Mary’s team that made a run in the NCAA Tournament. My friend and I thought he looked like The Feral Kid from Mad Max 2 and he cracked us up constantly.

The fact that the Feral Kid is now dropping 20 points in Game 3 of the NBA Finals is something I can’t even begin to comprehend. It doesn’t make any sense. He got the Cavaliers at least four extra possessions last night out of pure hustle. He was taken to the hospital after the game with severe cramping, taking an ambulance there. He was hospitalized last night from effort.

And while Dellavedova is a nice story, the real story here is LeBron James. This is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. Michael Jordan had Scottie Pippen. Tim Duncan had Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. The old James had Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Larry Bird had Kevin McHale and Robert Parish. Magic Johnson had Kareem and James Worthy.

This Finals, James has Thompson and Dellavedova as his wingmen. And he’s winning.

He has the most points in the first three games of an NBA Finals of anyone in history. He’s running the offense and still the best perimeter defender on the team. He’s calling plays and giving speeches in the huddle and barking out defensive assignments. He’s the quarterback of the team, but he’s also the offensive coordinator, the running back, the star wide receiver, and the linebacker.

My head tells me that James can’t keep this up for the entire series. That no human being can. That he and Dellavedova and Thompson and Timofey Mozgov can’t keep playing 40 minutes a night and not have their bodies break down. I mean, Dellavedova was hospitalized last night. They can’t recover fast enough. James can’t keep breaking down one of the best defenses in the league. The Warriors will regroup, they’ll dig down, and they’ll win the thing in seven.

That’s what my head tells me.

My heart, though. I don’t know. I want to see if this is possible. I want to see if LeBron James can drag this group of misfits up the mountain. There’s still a J.R. Smith game coming. You know it’s coming. And if J.R. Smith can win them a game with a crazy nine 3-pointer night, then maybe James can dig down and find that last one. Maybe, without Kyrie Irving or Kevin Love, he can take this group and win a title.

It will be something we’ve never seen before.