Cavs can't endure another subpar LeBron game
By swamping James, Boston has befuddled Cleveland's entire offense
|  | Winslow Townson / AP
LeBron James missed 18 shots in the Cavs' Game 2 loss to the Celtics on Thursday.
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OPINION Tom Curran NBCSports.com BOSTON - LeBron James is shooting his Cleveland Cavaliers right out of the NBA Playoffs. That they wouldn’t be in the playoffs without him is beside the point. Heavy is the head that wears the crown, and heavy are the bricks LeBron’s heaved during the first two games of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against Boston. Thursday night, James looked just as lost as he was Tuesday night. The numbers? James went 6 for 24 and committed seven turnovers in an 89-73 Cavs loss that puts them down 2-0 in the series. Going even deeper, this is how King James' night broke down (quite literally, as it turns out; see chart at left). | | | Touches | 79 | | Jumpers | 16 | | Scored on jumper | 1 | | Fouled on jumper | 1 | | Drives | 20 | | Shots on drives | 9 | | Fouled on drives | 5 | | Scored on drives (1 on a lob) | 4 | | Dishes on drives | 6 | | Offensive rebounds | 2 | | Fouled on offensive rebound | 1 | | Scored on offensive rebound | 1 | | Turnovers | 7 |
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In two games, James is 8 for 42 and has turned the ball over 17 times. That’s 51 Cleveland possessions which ended with either a James miss or gaffe (excluding offensive rebounds on his misses, of course). He's made one jumper in two games. One. Jumper. Zydrunas Ilgauskas made four in the first five minutes Thursday night. Only two questions matter now. First, what’s the deal? Second, can Cleveland fix it? “I think defensively they’re very, very aggressive; they’re very good,” James said. “I’m just missing the shots that I normally make. They haven’t fallen in this building the last two games. The lay-ups that usually go down for me are just jumping out of the rim. The jumpers that I usually make are not going down for me. So I’m going to stay positive and get my way through.” Boston is defending James with either Paul Pierce or James Posey. But they are never, never left to defend James alone. The back line of the Celtics defense — primarily Kevin Garnett and either Leon Powe or Kendrick Perkins — is spying James. When he starts a drive, that back line slide into the lane, leaving Anderson Varejao and Ilgauskas to help on James. That’s why he had nearly as many dishes as he did shots taken on drives. And it’s also why he didn’t score on a drive in either the third or fourth quarters despite going to the hole a dozen times in those 24 minutes. “They are long and athletic,” James said. “They rotate in from the weak side quickly so that when I get to the second level someone’s there.” Is this novel?  | Slide show |
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“We’re not recreating the wheel,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “LeBron, Kobe, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, they’ve all seen every kind of defensive scheme you can come up with. There’s only so many things you can do.” After Game 1, Cavs coach Mike James insisted James would come back strong in Game 2. It seemed a reasonable bet since — aside from Kobe Bryant — he’s the league's toughest handle defensively. But he is not the perimeter shooter Bryant is and that’s what’s killing him. That and the fact that it appears his ineffectiveness is getting to him. In the second quarter, James fired back-to-back airballs on jumpers. In between those was a steal by Posey on a handoff that led to a dunk. Late in the second, he went hard to the hoop and missed badly. In the ensuing scrum, James wound up with the ball and flipped it over his head towards the hoop where it was picked off by Cassel who fired to Garnett for a breakaway dunk. With 1:41 left in the half, he missed badly on a pair of free throws. Early in the third, he missed another wide open jumper, leaving his hand locked in a follow-through as the ball bounded up over the backboard and hit the shot clock. CONTINUED: If LeBron can get to the rim, the funk's over
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