So much focus on LeBron …
Posted May 10th, 2008 by Pat McManamon
Yes, LeBron James leads the Cavs. Yes, he is a superstar, a standout, an All-Star, a guy who feeds hungry pigeons, protects nearly-endangered polar bears and does the ironing for several assisted living centers in the Akron and Cleveland area. James pretty much does it all for the Cavaliers.
Which may be part of the problem as the Cavs head to Game 3 tonight against Boston If James does everything for the Cavs, then no one is there to pick him up when he's doing short of everything. And that's what is happening lately. James has had two poor shooting games, but nobody has helped him out. Instead of someone else stepping forward, the Cavs have seemed to follow, so when James struggles the rest of the team mucks around and waits for something to happen instead of making it happen. And when that happens against a real good team like Boston, the result is what it is.
Z tried in Game 2, but for inexplicable reasons the Cavs stopped going to him. Others have not done enough to help in a time of need, so the entire team suffers. To win tonight the Cavs will need LeBron to be LeBron, but they'll need a player or few others to step forward and contribute.
And if they don't it will just highlight the offseason need to add another player or two who can be counted on to contribute more often than he doesn't.
Sometimes a team is not good enough to beat the other team, no matter how good one player on a team is. Michael Jordan went through that for a time in Chicago. He needed other dependable players, and he got them.
I'm not ready to say yet that the Cavs as a team are not good enough, not until these two games at home are played. The Cavs easily could return to Game 6 form against Washington and send the series back to Boston tied, which would end all the teeth-gnashing and wailing and crying from these parts these days. The Cavs are good enough to have that happen. They beat Boston twice in the regular season, and they can do it again.
LeBron will have to return to LeBron-like form. But somebody has to help him.
Meanwhile, there's one pretty important person in Cavs-land who apparently feels the series is going back to Boston. The story is here. By the way, the individual mentioned denies what is reported.
