LeBron: 'We will be ready'
OAKLAND, Calif. — If it was anyone else, anyone at all, this would seem like a totally untenable situation.
You're in The Finals for the fifth straight year, down a game after the first 53 minutes of action, on the wrong end of a game that you know in your heart you should have won. And now you're facing the questions again, the haters, the doubters and everyone who thinks you can't do this.
There's no way LeBron James can pull the Cleveland Cavaliers out of the fire now, not with both Kyrie Irving (knee surgery Saturday morning) and Kevin Love (shoulder surgery last month) unavailable to play their roles as the rest of the Cavaliers' Big 3.
At least that's the narrative outside of James' carefully crafted bubble, the one that blocks out all of the noise. James wants no part of the external chatter with Sunday night's critical Game 2 of these Finals looming.
He doesn't need to be reminded of the importance of these next 48 (or more) minutes. He certainly doesn't need to be reminded of the importance of those minutes and what they mean to his team's chances of fighting off a 2-0 deficit against a Golden State Warriors team that's just as hungry to maintain control of home-court advantage and this series as James and the beat-up Cavaliers are to wrest it away.
This is pressure he has faced forever, from the moment he entered the sports consciousness as a teenage Sports Illustrated cover boy. It's all on him, as always, no matter the odds.
"You know, I said it's going to be one of the most challenging seasons of my career from the beginning, and this just adds to it," he said of the Cavaliers' current predicament. "We're undermanned right now. But we've got guys in the locker room that are ready for the challenge, and we look forward to the challenge tomorrow night."
We were the underdog coming into the series, and with Kyrie being out people are writing us off. So, I mean, that's fine. That's fine. I'm motivated to get our guys ready to go tomorrow, and we will be ready.
– LeBron James
If you expected anything less from a man who is making his fifth consecutive appearance in The Finals, you haven't been paying attention. Even with plenty of folks, pundits and fans alike, writing the Cavaliers off now that they are down to just one superstar, LeBron James is blocking out the madness.
"Well, first of all, I don't really know what the noise is outside," he said. "I haven't heard about anything, obviously, besides just Kyrie being out. That is the only thing I've heard. Understand that we were the underdog coming into the series, and with Kyrie being out people are writing us off. So, I mean, that's fine. That's fine. I'm motivated to get our guys ready to go tomorrow, and we will be ready."
Trying to speak it into existence won't make it so. Even with LeBron believing in his every fiber that he can will his team past Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and a Warriors team that has dominated the league all season, there has to be more than just the power of positive thinking to lean on at a time like this.
Cavaliers veteran big man Kendrick Perkins, who has known LeBron since they were teenagers playing AAU ball together, insists that this isn't just lip service from the most scrutinized basketball player on the planet. The lines of communication are open and flowing in both directions right now with everything on the line for the Cavaliers and LeBron in his usual space, at the center of it all.
"He's leaning on us, his vets, his guys," Perkins said. "One thing about LeBron that I don't think people realize is he always puts his teammates first and himself second. He knows the whole world is out there talking and saying this or that, but he embraces that challenge but also stays far away from social media and stuff like that. He doesn't want to hear what's going on but he knows what's at hand. And this is the kind of challenge where he relishes the chance to show everybody what he can do. Listen, man, he punches that clock 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. He's embracing the opportunity to defy the odds."
LeBron is 8-4 in Game 2s following a Game 1 loss, winning the last eight in those situations. That's embracing the opportunity to the fullest.
So there is good reason for his defiance in the face of these odds. There is an equally strong confidence in his remaining supporting cast that leads him to believe they can rebound emotionally from the near miss in Game 1. The Cavaliers have actually been really good this season with LeBron on the floor without Irving and Love, a statistical fact Cleveland coach David Blatt didn't seem terribly interested in validating Saturday.
"First of all, I'd prefer not to play that way, regardless [of] what the numbers say," he said. "If you could arrange it for me, I'd be happy to try to disprove that theory, but that's not going to happen now. Look, we'd found a way. Obviously. We won a Chicago series without Kevin and Kyrie pretty limited and missing a couple games or missing parts of games. Obviously, in the Atlanta series the same thing with Kev out and Kyrie out for parts of that series. That's a credit to the work that all the team has done. Certainly LeBron has recognized the need to take even more responsibility and has done it in a great way.
"But you'd love to see us at full strength for The Finals. The situation as it is, is what it is, and we're going to come out and play and play to win. Request no quarter and no sympathy. We've got to come out and play and play to win. That's it."
Blatt has to figure out how to compensate for the loss of Irving now, in addition to Love, and somehow find a way to keep LeBron fresh enough to be effective as both a scorer and facilitator.
LeBron talked about taking on an even bigger role under these circumstances, as if doing more than he did in Game 1 (career playoff-high 44 points on 38 shot attempts) is either reasonable or realistic.
"Well, if I get more aggressive than 36 shots," he said with a laugh, "I might have about 58 of them things tomorrow night. I don't know how much more aggressive you want me to get at this point."
Thompson isn't sure it's possible.
"Man, that'd be tough to take more on," he said. "He could, though. He's capable of doing it. But I think he'll try and get his teammates going. He knows that he can't do it by himself, so he's obviously going to try and get as many involved as he can. Like I said, they've got guys who are more than capable. You can't take them lightly. They've had many wins this postseason without Kyrie. We've just got to wear on them with our depth and our defense."
More like wear on him with that depth and defense.
Because in the end, just like always, the light will shine brightest on LeBron James ... win or lose.
