LeBron James

[Taiter]

I think it's physical fatigue. Being aggressive and driving hard to the basket takes a lot of physical exertion, especially with how much contact he absorbs. Explosiveness requires high-burst movements, which is extremely expensive energy-wise.

I saw this a lot in the Golden State rematch last year. He'd come out to torrid, tone-setting starts, but then the aggressiveness would disappear. He's an old man by NBA standards.

Midrange and beyond the arc shots are more volatile, and reliant on rhythym and being "in a groove". While that also applies to aggressive drives to the net, I believe fatigue is much more detrimental to them.

I think sometimes his passive stretches are more about recharging and conserving energy. It's not mentally checking out, he just hits a limit physically.

When he gets in these "recharge modes", he starts taking more jump shots (inherently volatile), so he at times can look ineffective or passive.

Yep, exactly right. Pretty sure he played all 82 this year and even though he dogs it in the regular season, been saying for 2 years they need to be targeting 32-33 mins for the guy. Instead he was out there playing 38 pretty regularly this year. Now he's over 40 in the playoff.

Regardless how this turns out, Lue needs to go.

 

[FrontPageNews]

But I was told Lebron doesn’t do this in the playoffs.

 

[MediumBaller]

This thread rn is worse than our shooting was tonight. If y'all really think LeBron is quitting out there then that says a lot about how shitty this team is that a "quitting" LeBron still leads the team in points, rebounds and assists.

View: https://twitter.com/espnstatsinfo/status/987529350206672902?s=21

 

[Cavsbro]

Look I'll stand by what I've said about LeBron since '16; thank you for the title, and you're free to go where you want at this point...you won't be resented nearly as much.

That said, you don't get a statue outside the Q after quitting on the team in two separate playoffs. Jersey retired in the rafters, cool. But no fuckin' statue.

This is a garbage take

 

[Zeus69]

That said, you don't get a statue outside the Q after quitting on the team in two separate playoffs. Jersey retired in the rafters, cool. But no fuckin' statue.

The future Lebron statue became a given on the evening of June 19, 2016.

 

[wremy]

And there were also a lot of instances where LeBron was posting up and he got the ball with 7-8 seconds left on the clock. We played poorly. The ball movement stopped. We needed someone who could collapse the defense or run some plays.

With LeBron playing poorly, we needed some instant offense and energy which we never got. We should have brought in Calderon, who is our best playmaker after LeBron and Cedi for energy. Instead we continued with that same lameass line-up.

Look, LeBron didn't play well. I am not trying to and won't argue against that! But you are crazy to put the entire blame on him when he is the only player in that line-up who can actually create off the dribble.

I agree which makes it even harder for us to win when he's not even trying to create off the dribble with a slow footed white dude guarding him that is also giving us fits at the offensive end with 30 points because he didn't even have to worry about Bron driving on him he just had to stand there long enough in front of him until Bron hoisted up a terrible fade away... It was a double-edged sword he didn't even make him work hard on the on the defensive end... And I know Lue sicks he has no idea when to make the correct substitutions or when to call some fucking plays but I expect that out of him I didn't expect LeBron to be so passive and the third quarter of this game.. I expected him to come out super aggressive and put this shit away... That's all I'm saying.. especially as tight as the refs were calling it he was bound to get two or three fouls called on Indy just in the first couple minutes of the third quarter which would have helped us get into the bonus and score some points... To me this is one of the few nights he didn't put his teammates in the best position to succeed throughout the entire second half

 

[inliner311]

I agree which makes it even harder for us to win when he's not even trying to create off the dribble with a slow footed white dude guarding him that is also giving us fits at the offensive end with 30 points because he didn't even have to worry about Bron driving on him he just had to stand there long enough in front of him until Bron hoisted up a terrible fade away... It was a double-edged sword he didn't even make him work hard on the on the defensive end... And I know Lue sicks he has no idea when to make the correct substitutions or when to call some fucking plays but I expect that out of him I didn't expect LeBron to be so passive and the third quarter of this game.. I expected him to come out super aggressive and put this shit away... That's all I'm saying.. especially as tight as the refs were calling it he was bound to get two or three fouls called on Indy just in the first couple minutes of the third quarter which would have helped us get into the bonus and score some points... To me this is one of the few nights he didn't put his teammates in the best position to succeed throughout the entire second half

I thought it was a regular season thing to conserve his body but Lebron hasn't been driving and kicking as much this season. We saw how well it worked in the first half. Lue hasn't made the necessary adjustment to the system to get the ball moving. Kyrie and LeBron could share the load of having to drive and kick. We don't have that second player that is able to effectively do it to take the load off LeBron. Lue had 82 games to figure out another way to take a load off of LeBron but decide to try force multiple PGs to just try to mimic Kyrie and not adjust anything.

 

[CTownSportsFan]

This is a garbage take

Funny part people keep blaming LeBron when it’s clearly Gilbert’s fault for never hiring experienced winners to run the FO. I’ve said it before, anyone on these forums could have done a better job selecting a GM. 15 years , can anyone actually say the Cavs acquired amazing talent other than Love? Kryie doesn’t count as they f upped so many high draft picks .

 

[ACisKING]

This thread is an utter embarrassment. LeBron is the only player in the league who is expected to do so much on a nightly basis for his team. He has to bring the ball up every time (since no one else except ever-injured Hill and Calderon’s corpse are capable of doing it), initiate offense (since nobody else can create), score 35 plus even when teams are pre-rotating and stacking the defense towards him, rebound like a fiend, and play nearly every minute of important playoff games (because the Cavs are laughably bad without him). The guy is 33 years old - it’s an absurd burden. And God forbid, if on a given night, he isn’t able to do all that while carry this underperforming roster to wins...then Cavs fans accuse him of quitting.

 

[The Red Viper]

I agree which makes it even harder for us to win when he's not even trying to create off the dribble with a slow footed white dude guarding him that is also giving us fits at the offensive end with 30 points because he didn't even have to worry about Bron driving on him he just had to stand there long enough in front of him until Bron hoisted up a terrible fade away... It was a double-edged sword he didn't even make him work hard on the on the defensive end... And I know Lue sicks he has no idea when to make the correct substitutions or when to call some fucking plays but I expect that out of him I didn't expect LeBron to be so passive and the third quarter of this game.. I expected him to come out super aggressive and put this shit away... That's all I'm saying.. especially as tight as the refs were calling it he was bound to get two or three fouls called on Indy just in the first couple minutes of the third quarter which would have helped us get into the bonus and score some points... To me this is one of the few nights he didn't put his teammates in the best position to succeed throughout the entire second half

Workload plays a factor as well, Wremy.

I think you have to understand that he would be feeling frustrated as well at the fact that he has to go out and score 40+ points again for us to win. In the first round. Also, the lack of calls as well. Bogdanovic was getting away with a lot of reach-in fouls which weren't being called.

I am not saying that is fine or alright. But, its a result of a lot of things. Now, if he just had to go out and score 40+ points, its ok. But on the top of that, he has to also create shots for others which we kept bricking and also rebound the ball, while marshaling the defense. That takes a toll on you mentally.

And as great as LeBron is, he can't keep on doing that consistently. Certainly not in his 15th season.

 

[The Red Viper]

LeBron says that he was rubbish in the 3rd quarter and has to play much better.

 

[LennoxLewis]

I don't think it's a matter of LeBron having a big workload, it's LeBron having to use his gravity a lot better other than LeIso. When those late 3s went in, I wasn't even happy about it. Also, that no effort on getting back on that Bogdonavic 3 was inexcusable.

 

[Rich]

Funny part people keep blaming LeBron when it’s clearly Gilbert’s fault for never hiring experienced winners to run the FO. I’ve said it before, anyone on these forums could have done a better job selecting a GM. 15 years , can anyone actually say the Cavs acquired amazing talent other than Love? Kryie doesn’t count as they f upped so many high draft picks .

Or never hiring experienced, winning coaches....

 

[CTownSportsFan]

Or never hiring experienced, winning coaches....

I agree with this as well. 1st hire an experienced GM who’s respected. Tell him to hire an experienced winning coach. Sorta simple. Gilbert’s approach failed miserably .

 

[buzzdog]

LeBron says that he was rubbish in the 3rd quarter and has to play much better.

I was gonna hammer LeBron for not doing what was needed to preserve the lead in the second half but after seeing this interview clip there's no need. For whatever reason, he didn't have it during that Pacers run. LeBron once again shows what a class act he is.