You wonder sometimes, what kind of mushrooms people are eating.

A reporter the other day asked LeBron James if he's "shrinking" in the fourth quarter of these NBA Finals.

True, James has scored only nine points in the four fourth quarters so far.

And ... ?

If anything, the way James is playing has only made him double in greatness. James' legend isn't shrinking, it's swelling up like a Macy's float.

I'm the last guy that wants to write a glowing column about LeBron James. I hate how he conspired to get to Miami, hate how he took a short cut to a ring. But you'd have to be visually impaired not to see that James is playing gorgeous, selfless, complete basketball.

He is defending first, passing next, screening third and shooting fourth. The man had nine assists in Game 3 and seven in Game 4! He flirted with a triple-double in both. If anything is shrinking, it's whichever poor Dallas Maverick he's guarding. Have you seen the line on the Mavs' No. 2 scoring option, Jason Terry, in the first three games? Thirty-eight percent shooting, four 3-pointers, total, and no buckets in five tries in the final quarter versus TCO (The Chosen One). James has been on him like scales on a flounder. Terry has to leave the building just to get a full breath.

Eventually, LeBron James is going to win enough rings to start a pawn shop. He may win them by scoring like Wilt. He may win them by passing like Magic. He may win them by defending like Russell. What's your point? Aren't they all shiny?

Michael Jordan won his fifth ring when a 6-foot-3 guard named Steve Kerr made a jumper. You know who got the assist? Jordan. Was that shrinkage? Do you get an extra ring for scoring the most points?

Even Dwyane Wade admits that it's James' team in crunch time.

"He makes the decisions for our team," Wade explained last week. "Whether he wants to shoot or whether he wants to pass. He's a great player. He's 6-8, he can see over the defense and he's a great passer. Normally I was the guy here in Miami. At the end of games I always had the ball in my hand. So it took me time to get comfortable with that and get comfortable with saying, 'All right, LeBron, you take it.' Yesterday, Coach called a play in the huddle for LeBron. He wound up saying, 'No, I want D-Wade to have it right here.'"

By the way, Wade wound up lobbing to The King for a flush on that play.

Besides, statistically, James is a better clutch player than Wade anyway. According to Chasing23.com, James has made "nearly twice as many crunch time baskets [and] shot nearly 10 percent higher in FG" in crunch time in playoff games.

Instead, James is making me-last decisions. Double-teamed with just seconds left in the loser-lays-awake-all-night Game 3, he threw a beautiful corner-of-the-eye, side-wing pass to a wide open Chris Bosh for the winning jumper. Then, at the other end, he clamped down on Terry so hard that Terry -- a pure outside-only shooter -- found himself in a clump under the basket.