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Cleveland Cavaliers: LeBron James Has To Be ‘The One’ For Game 5 Win

By Ben Gibson

Jun 11, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) controls the ball against Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) and guard Klay Thompson (11) during the third quarter of game four of the NBA Finals at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 11, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) controls the ball against Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) and guard Klay Thompson (11) during the third quarter of game four of the NBA Finals at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports /
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The game plan is simple for the Cleveland Cavaliers as they take on the Golden State Warriors in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.

Give LeBron James the damn ball.

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As Seth Partnow of Nylon Calculus pointed out:

Update: Partnow has got all those number together in one beautiful post over at Nylon Calculus.

The Cavaliers have only scored 92 points on 143 shots qualified as “…shots not either taken by or potentially assisted by LeBron or direct from an [offensive rebound] on LeBron’s shot.” There aren’t really words to encapsulate how dominant LeBron James has been in these Finals, and how much the Cavaliers need him to. Who else could anyway?

Matthew Dellavedova may be a god on Twitter, but he’s still rather human on the court. J.R. Smith‘s contributions are few and far between with only 36 points in the series so far. He’s been more of a detriment so far than anything else.

Timofey Mozgov may be Cleveland’s second leading scorer with 67 points, but 90.1 percent of his field goals are assisted so he’s not the type of player you can expect to create his own offense. According to NBA.com, of the 20 baskets Mozgov has made of assists, LeBron is responsible for 13 of those.

The question going into Game 5 is whether LeBron has gotten enough rest in his two days off to once again, be “The One.” As in Neo from The Matrix. I made that joke when writing about Dellavedova last week, but the analogy is becoming more and more clear.

The Warriors have the MVP in Stephen Curry, but they have so much depth they’re more like Agent Smith going from body to body in an effort to stop “The One.” When the Warriors use one of there small-ball lineups, it is likely we’ll see almost every Golden State player guard LeBron at some point in the game.

If LeBron’s body doesn’t fail him, he has to score 40 points and lead the team in almost every other statistic as well.

It’s not that he’s the only player playing for Cleveland, but he’s the only one on the Cavaliers active roster that can create something for himself. When he has stepped off the court this series it has been an unmitigated disaster. In the 19 minutes LeBron rested in four games, the Cavaliers have a plus/minus of minus-27.5.

That’s Cleveland losing a point and a half for every minute he’s not on the floor. Their defense has played well enough without LeBron, posting a 91.9 defensive rating when he rests, but the horrific offensive rating of 53.7 means the problem really is creating offense without James.

They haven’t been able to this series and when you think about it, what’s more likely to happen? J.R. Smith or Dellavedova going off for 20-plus points, or LeBron scoring 40? It is more rational at this point to expect LeBron to enter the zone where he’s dodging bullets or all together stopping them than hope for the nigh mythical “J.R. Smith Game” that Cleveland needs so badly.

Instead of having a Morpheus like he did in Miami with Dwyane Wade, LeBron is expected to somehow fight off these Agent Smiths that is Golden State in The Matrix while also fighting off the machines in the real world.

Can he do it? Depends on whether Andre Iguodala’s defense against LeBron in Game 4 was a turning point or just him taking advantage of a worn-out player. LeBron’s 20 points and 7-for-22 shooting were a series worst, but it was almost expected knowing how tired LeBron and the Cavaliers were.

The Cleveland players let it be known that they want David Blatt to use the bench more in Game 5 because they are so desperate for rest. That’s not to dismiss Iguodala, but the Warriors set the pace early and played the game how they wanted to play it from the get-go. Golden State will look to do that again, but it won’t be as easy.

James was passive to start Game 4 and it didn’t take long for Cleveland to see a small lead vanish and start playing from behind. What may have been forgotten was until Game 4, Cleveland has been playing from the lead or in a close game as LeBron took the ball and went into isolation. When LeBron’s dominated the ball, Cleveland has dominated the game.

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    • We’ll find out if LeBron was tired or if the Warriors just figured out how to stop him

    As much as I’ve been dismissive of LeBron’s teammates, they obviously still matter. Dellavedova’s role as an X-factor in the series has came from the fact he’s made Curry’s life harder as a shooter. The Australian has made it difficult for Golden State to get the ball in the hands of the MVP in open areas as they would like to.

    Slowing down the pace of the game and Curry with it is what won Cleveland Games 2 and 3. Anything they can do to take pressure off LeBron matters. Once LeBron gets his game going the floor opens up for the rest of the team. James may be “The One,” but he needs the occasional “Dodge this” moment from his teammates.

    It seems lazy to say LeBron has to carry the team, but this isn’t a series where LeBron can have an off night. If Kyrie Irving or Kevin Love weren’t hurt Cleveland would have that luxury. But they don’t. The Cavaliers have such a small margin for error it is ridiculous.

    For the most part Cleveland’s game plan worked until Game 4, but even then the Cavaliers looked so tired that it was hard to know how much the Warriors and how much was Cleveland running out of fuel.

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    Golden State’s game plan most likely was going to win Game 4, but it was the only blowout win of the series for either team so far, making it hard to imagine suddenly Kerr had cracked the code against LeBron. Tired bodies and a lack of depth were just as important as Golden State’s execution in that game.

    It will be hard for Blatt to make major chances to the game plan as his options are extremely limited. If Shawn Marion or Mike Miller were options, it seems like we would have seen them play minutes by now. It wasn’t a surprise that fatigue was going to be a factor this series, even before Kyrie’s injury.

    The Cavaliers are hoping and praying the two days of rest were enough to get LeBron refueled so he can take over the game like only the best player on the planet can.

    An offensive outpouring from Dellavedova, Smith, or anyone on the court would be welcomed, but the game plan for the Cleveland Cavaliers will be to throw the ball to LeBron as many times as possible and hope he can shoot, pass and rebound his way to another triple-double performance.

    LeBron will once again be asked to do the impossible Sunday afternoon, it is as simple as that. And he might do it, too.

    Next: Golden State Warriors: 5 Preparations For NBA Finals Game 5

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