What to expect from LeBron James in the second half of his 17th season

He continues to defy father time with each passing game, but LeBron James is faced with circumstances he’s never seen before in his NBA career.

“It doesn’t matter to me if I’m a 6th seed, 3 seed, 2 seed, 8 seed…If I come into your building for a Game 1, it will be very challenging.” These were the words of LeBron James back in early March of 2018. His Cleveland Cavaliers were third in the Eastern Conference at the time and eventually dropped to fourth heading into the postseason.

For just about every other NBA player, such brash words scream an unbridled level of arrogance that warrants a heavy amount of criticism, but not the player amid a streak of seven straight trips to the Finals.

The stark self-belief wasn’t a showing of faith in his team, one that had been blown up at the deadline roughly a month prior. It was a questioning of the viability of challengers that laid ahead.

The Philadelphia 76ers and Indiana Pacers were talented but wet behind the ears. The same could be said regarding the Boston Celtics, who also wound up losing their two best players. James controlled the Toronto Raptors in each of the previous two postseasons.

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Given Cleveland’s putrid record in his absence, LeBron still couldn’t afford a day off or a drop in minutes, not even in his 15th season. But the energy he exuded at both ends over those final 18 games was deliberately reduced to build towards what would be his eighth-straight Finals run.

It was a luxury of circumstance that could only come from playing in the Eastern Conference, where not even barely clinging to home-court in the first-round could elevate concern.

It’s also a noticeable difference to the tune James is singing this season, even as his Los Angeles Lakers exceed expectations with the best record in the Western Conference.

LeBron has missed only two of L.A.s 53 games this season — with legitimate ailments of a muscle strain and flu-like symptoms — and has scoffed at the potential to follow in the footsteps of Kawhi Leonard‘s load management plan.

At 41-12, the Lakers have a comfortable four-game lead over the second-seeded Denver Nuggets — as well as a 2-1 season-series lead — but James continues to surge.

Whereas he felt — and clearly could — skip into the playoffs out east and assert his dominance, the west is a different story.

The potential road to the Finals — which also includes Denver and several other feisty opponents — doesn’t exactly bring out the same type of confidence from James, nor should it.

The battle for Los Angeles aside, the Houston Rockets have the offensive firepower to be taken seriously as a playoff opponent. The Utah Jazz rank eighth in both offensive and defensive efficiency.

It’s why he seems adamant about rounding his team into its ideal form before the playoffs, a level that can only occur not just in his presence on the court but in his engagement as well.

That level of commitment, however, brings up the never-ending discussion about the inevitable breaking point James seems to have pushed off time and time again.

We know the age and number of years in the league. We know the miles. He’s still averaging a ridiculous 25.0 points, a league-best 10.8 assists and 7.8 rebounds per game. But even after an extended vacation last spring, the man as close to a super-human as there is has shown signs of a physical decline.

Compared to that 2017-18 season — his last fully healthy one — LeBron James is taking nearly five percent more of his total shots from beyond the arc, which has translated to a career-high 6.2 attempts per game.

His shots within three feet of the bucket have decreased six percent from his last season with the Cavs and he’s averaging a career-low 5.2 free-throw attempts per game.

Maybe this is another method of energy conservation. LeBron has certainly earned a benefit of the doubt to warrant that possibility. It’s also nearly impossible it’s not due in part to his growing proximity to father time, even with an incredible dedication to fitness.

He’s surprisingly playing the fewest minutes of his career at 34.9 a game. Even so, the issue is still compounded by his role in those minutes as the only capable initiator of the Lakers’ offense — L.A.’s offense is worse with Rajon Rondo on the court.

There is no blueprint for the journey that lies ahead because the truth is no previous player has ever been confronted with what James has staring him in the face.

The task of winning a championship isn’t as dire as in previous years, but the road seems more arduous, and LeBron James seems to knows that. For the sake of himself and the Lakers, let’s hope his actions step along that same line as well.