An elite LeBron James is the Cavs' only shot against the Warriors
Cleveland is outmatched everywhere else on the court.
By
Ken Berger
•
5 min read
OAKLAND, Calif. -- LeBron James was already showered and half-dressed by the time the media entered the visiting locker room at Oracle Arena.
He was not wasting any time.
The do-rag came off, the sunglasses went on, and James stood and walked through a throng of media, on his way to the postgame interview room.
He got there so fast that he had to wait outside the closed door with Nike executive Ted Curvy while coach Tyronn Lue finished his session.
What a contrast from the last time James walked out of this building after Game 2 of the NBA Finals a year ago, having singlehandedly willed the Cavaliers to an overtime victory to even the series. With Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love both out with injuries, James had 39 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists in 50 minutes -- fifty! -- spiking the ball at the final horn and sending it hurtling toward the pinwheel ceiling.
There would be no such heroics on Sunday night. The Cavs, at full strength until Love had to leave with a concussion in the third quarter, were outclassed, dominated and embarrassed to the tune of 110-77 in Game 2. James, seeking his third title in seven Finals trips, is in a 2-0 hole for the first time since the 2008 first round against the Boston Celtics.
It's the third such mountain James has had to climb, and it didn't end well on the other two occasions: the 2007 Finals against the Spurs (sweep) and the 2008 Celtics series (lost in seven).
"Internally," James said, "we have to figure out how we can be better. We have to figure out how we can help one another. We have to get more guys involved."
Starting with himself. Starting with No. 23. And he knew it.
Nothing James does is good enough to please some, but he came out Sunday night with the right amount of aggression and intelligence. He attacked, he pushed the ball, he got this teammates involved. He didn't settle. By the time he scored his first basket, at the 10:39 mark of the second quarter, the Cavs had a 26-22 lead.
It was 88-51 Warriors the rest of the way, and this time, James had nowhere to look but within himself.
No one else to blame.
"I'm one of the guys who kind of always wants to shoulder the blame and take the blame when we don't play as well as we should," James said. "It's just who I am, and I've got to be better."
Has to be. Even if it makes no difference against this runaway party bus that is the Golden State Warriors.
LeBron's line in Game 2: 19 points on 7-of-17 shooting -- three fewer shots than Draymond Green took on his way to 28 points -- to go with nine assists, eight rebounds, four steals ... and seven turnovers.
That last number is the one that was going to stay with James deep into the night Sunday, and all the way home on the flight to Cleveland -- a city that will receive him feeling like it is on the verge of another in a long line of sporting catastrophes.
When the horn sounded and James trudged to the locker room this time on getaway night from Oakland to Cleveland, you found yourself asking not if the Cavs could come back and win the series.
You found yourself asking if LeBron James was on his way to getting swept for only the second time in his 13-year NBA career.
"I got myself in a lot of trouble tonight personally," James said. "Turned the ball over way too much. And I said after Game 1 we just can't turn the ball over against a great team and expect to win, and I had basically half of the turnovers. We had some in the fourth quarter, but we had our third group in. They had some. But I had half of the turnovers when I came out, and it resulted in them getting some easy baskets. So I've got to be better. I've got to be better with the ball. You know, trying to play-make for myself and play-make for my teammates at the same time. I've just got to be more solid."
Correction: He has to be more brilliant. He has to be the best player on the floor, the way he was so deep into the six-game loss to the Warriors in last year's Finals that he was a legitimate contender to become the first Finals MVP on the losing team since Jerry West in 1969.
Which brings us to West's impassioned defense of James, his Finals record and his career this week. I'm on West's side of the argument here, so don't start that with me.
Don't use the Cavs' seventh consecutive loss to the Warriors (LeBron's longest losing streak against any team in his career) to frame his legacy. They don't equate; and last time I checked, James isn't retiring after this series is over. Don't tell me that the Warriors beating the Cavs by a total of 130 points in those games -- an average of 19 -- diminishes James' two championships, six consecutive Finals trips or four MVPs.
It doesn't, unless you're just trying to cause trouble.
If you want to look at James' body of work through two games in the Finals and say he's not doing enough? That's fair. Eleven turnovers in two games and only 38 field-goal attempts and eight free-throw attempts? Not good enough.
A lot of that is on LeBron, and he took it on the chin Sunday night; didn't hide from the blame he knew he deserved.
But if you're going to say that -- if he's going to say that -- then you also have to say this: Against this Warriors team, it might not matter. They're that good.
The logic that the Cavs would fare better this time because they pushed Golden State to six games without Irving and Love might have been faulty. That Golden State team didn't win 73 games. That Golden State team didn't come back from a 3-1 deficit against the Thunder, the second-best team in the NBA.
This one did.
And so as James popped up from the interview table, put his sunglasses on and walked briskly to the team bus, there was a lot to process. There was the ugly film to watch in the hotel room, followed by a long, foreboding flight home.
"I won't be reflecting," he said. "I'll figure out ways I can be better, starting as soon as I leave this podium."
It's DEFCON 1 for LeBron James in these NBA Finals, and there's no time to waste.
