Every year LeBron James leads his team to the Eastern Conference championship and into the NBA Finals. It doesn’t matter if he’s in Cleveland or Miami or back in Cleveland on his reunion tour.
In fact, the last seven NBA Finals have all feature LBJ with a varying level of supporting players around him.
This year it’s Kevin Love, J.R. Smith and Kyle Korver trying to supply the support. All three looked lost Sunday in Game 1 of the conference finals… but so did James.
The greatest player in the world scored only 15 points while shooting 5-of-16 from the floor. That included missing all five of his 3-point attempts.
The Cavaliers had six days off entering the game, but they looked rusty instead of rested.
James has struggled before in opening games before figuring out how an opposing team is going to try to defend him. The Cavs are only 1-2 in Game 1s this postseason.
But this one felt different. This one felt like Boston and head coach Brad Stevens had figured out how to beat James and his mediocre supporting cast.
If LBJ is going to reach the NBA Finals for an eighth straight year, it’s not going to be because the rest of the Cavs are suddenly great players. It’s going to be because James Tightened Up.
Who do you think needs to Tighten Up? Call in and the best and most entertaining suggestion will win a $25 gift card to Buck’s Pizza on Dauphin Street in downtown Mobile.
For Threaded Fasteners, I’m Randy Kennedy with Tighten Up.
