INDIANAPOLIS — LeBron James has played 985 games for the Cavaliers, the team located less than an hour from his hometown, and led them to four NBA Finals and their only championship. That relationship could be entering its final days, though.
James and the Cavs could be finished by mid-afternoon Sunday.
They’ll tip off at 1 p.m. against the Pacers in Game 7 of their first-round NBA playoff series. If the Cavs win, they advance to face the Raptors in the Eastern Conference semifinals. If they lose, it’s quite possible they’ll lose even bigger in the offseason as James again shops as a free agent for a new basketball home.
He was asked Friday, following a 121-87 loss in Game 6, if he expected to contemplate that reality in the small amount of time before the game begins.
“No. The thought that if we don’t play well it’ll be my last game of the year? That’ll probably hit my mind,” James said. “But I haven’t thought about that.”
The team constructed upon James’ return from his four years in Miami did well enough between 2014 and 2017 to end each season in the NBA Finals and come back from a 3-1 deficit against Golden State in 2016, resulting in the city’s first major championship in nearly five decades.
But guard Kyrie Irving’s request for a trade last summer destabilized that foundation, and power forward Kevin Love has collapsed in this series following a solid regular season. He is averaging fewer than 12 points per game and shooting less than 32 percent.
Management tried to rebuild the team with more dynamism near the trade deadline, but forward Rodney Hood and guard Jordan Clarkson are getting mostly second-quarter minutes, and coach Ty Lue is sticking with a base lineup whose average age is 33. The Pacers recognize they had opportunities to win each of the three games they lost in this series, whereas Cleveland was blown out twice.
The Cavs rank last among playoff teams in scoring, and near the bottom in field goal shooting, 3-point shooting and offensive rating. It’s no wonder James is facing elimination from a first-round playoff series for the first time in his career.
Cleveland entered the series as favorites because it has James, and that championship experience, and Indiana has few players who’ve even seen playoff basketball up close.
No one on either side was buying the notion that there is more pressure to win on Cleveland than on the Pacers. Each team recognizes it only gets this chance once.
“The pressure’s on both teams,” Pacers coach Nate McMillan said. “The loser goes home... We’re not going to be satisfied with just going up there and playing a good game and losing. We have an opportunity, and we’re going to try to take advantage of it.”
If James departs Cleveland this time, it will not be anything like the fiasco of "The Decision" from 2010. The Cavs got too much out of his return for fans to be terribly bitter, and he's smart enough to not put on such an audacious show upon making up his mind where to play next. It still will be a disappointment, though.
There was some optimism after the February trades that Cleveland could make a vibrant enough playoff run to convince him to retire at home. But it didn't last. As magnificent as James has been in the Indiana series, he's had to be that good just to keep the season alive, whether it's for two more days or two more weeks.
“We’re a newer team than they are, if you look at it,” James said. “They’ve been together all year. Our team just got put together late February. We played well enough to get home court in the first round, and we’re just trying to protect home and come out and play well.
“The narrative between now and Sunday, obviously I won’t hear any of it, and I hope my guys will stay away as well.”
