Though box score-filling numbers flow freely from both the Heat guard and the Cavs forward, Wade and James are not mirror images. "I think Wade's a better defender," Powell says. "I don't think LeBron's very good defensively; it's one of his weaknesses.

"I think LeBron has better range on his shooting. I think Dwyane is a great midrange shooter. LeBron has really worked hard and has very good range on his 3-point shot and seems to be settling for that quite a bit, where Dwyane is always going to take it to the lane and get to the free throw line."

Wade not only isn't a 3-point shooter, he rarely considers taking one. Many see that as a reason he has emerged as the better closer of the two. James recently scored only 14 fourth quarter points in a five-game stretch and hasn't hit a single buzzer-beating, game-winning shot in his first three seasons.

In fact, he is 2-for-15 in his career on potential game-tying or go-ahead shots in the final 10 seconds, according to Elias Sports Bureau. So be it, says James. "I don't feel too much pressure. I never have. I don't believe in pressure."

Wade, though, seemingly thrives on it and already has supplied a career's worth of final-seconds glory. There was a buzzer-beating game-winner in his playoff debut two seasons ago against the Hornets. There was a game-winning jumper at Madison Square Garden last season that had him wagging a finger at actor Matthew Modine. And this season Wade scored the Heat's final 17 points in a win over the Pistons.

Sure, Wade has The Big Decoy to clear the way for open late-game shots, but there's something else: "There's probably a bit of wiring that enables one to really strive to do that," Gabriel says of late-game heroics. "And I think that's true in Dwyane's case. I think also there is a group of young players in this generation that is quick to settle for the jump shot to try to ice it, which is what you might be getting from LeBron."

Like Robertson and West, like Johnson and Bird, James and Wade are defined by more than their offense. There is an entirety to their on-court personas, and that's not merely coincidental.

Wade and James grew close during the 2004 Olympics and referred to themselves as the "young guns." They played off each other at the past two All-Star Games. They even have spoken off the court far more than Johnson or Bird dared to during their first three seasons. The two even attended a high school game together in Akron, Ohio, last season.

But friends have a way of becoming rivals in the playoffs, and that's just the spark both players -- and the league -- need to take things to the next level.

Wade seems a lock to make the postseason for the third time with the Heat, and the Cavs are on course to make it for the first of many times with James. Wade and James won't be pitted against each other in The Finals, but it's not difficult to envision a scenario in which the league's soon-to-be top two players are knocking each other off every year--much as Bird and Magic did back in the day.

"You kind of knew the Lakers and Boston were going to be in The Finals for about a stretch of five or six years in a row," Heat forward Antoine Walker says. "It was just a matter of who was going to get the best of each other each year."

In one way, the true test of rivalry and connection hasn't changed much from Bird and Magic to Wade and James today. It is dictated neither by statistics nor front office opinion. Instead, there is a different court of opinion, one that already has Wade and James linked in a way that will endure.

On the walls of a Star Island mansion in Miami, one big man's three little boys have cast their ballots.

In the bedrooms of Shaquille O'Neal's three sons hang posters of Wade and James. "I go in their rooms every morning," O'Neal says, "and there's no posters of me."

Eight-year-old Myles, 5-year-old Shareef and 2-year-old Shaqir have voted. And there is no veto from dad.

"These guys," O'Neal says of Wade and James, "are the future of the game."

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