Cleveland Cavaliers: 5 Takeaways From Game 4 vs. Warriors
2. LeBron James Was Good, But Not Good Enough
On the heels of a 33-point thrashing in Game 2, King James bounced back with one of his better performances in Game 3, scoring 32 points on 14-for-26 shooting to go along with 11 rebounds, six assists and two blocks.
After that contest, James stated that he didn’t change his approach to the game. However, I have to respectfully disagree with that statement.
Sure, there was a stretch in the first half where he missed eight of his nine attempts, with most of those attempts coming from point-blank range. But because James was constantly attacking the Warriors’ defense, even his missed shots created second-chance scoring opportunities for teammates.
In Game 4, however, James reverted back to the player that we saw in the first two games: a guy that seemed confused and bewildered by what the Warriors were throwing at him.
Yes, the 25-13-9 stat line was impressive. On the flip side of the equation, James committed seven turnovers (the second time this has happened in this series) and he finished with a -12 plus/minus, the worst rating of any player on either team.
Not only that, during a crucial five-minute span in the fourth quarter, James missed a three-pointer, committed a turnover, got rejected, scored and then missed another shot from three-point range.
LeBron of late: Missed 3, turnover, rejected missed 3. Curry: Misses layup, misses another layup (Barnes bails out w/3), bad turnover.
— Bill Reiter (@sportsreiter) June 11, 2016
On a positive note, James did score 11 of his 25 points in the final frame, but seven of them came in the final 1:12 when the game was pretty much out of reach.
Perhaps with the game slipping away, as well as the series, James became noticeably frustrated in the closing moments of a gut-wrenching loss.
Simply put, James was good, but he wasn’t good enough when his team needed him the most.
Next: No. 1