BOSTON — Not since the 2006-07 season, when LeBron James carried an average Cleveland Cavaliers team to the NBA Finals almost by himself, has the four-time league MVP’s challenge of reaching basketball’s summit been so difficult.
James’ Cavaliers closed out a first-round sweep of the Boston Celtics with a 101-93 Game 4 win Sunday afternoon. It was the first time since 2012 that a team swept a series while winning at least three games by less than 10 points. Despite the brevity of the series, though, plenty of questions remain for the Cavs.
“We feel like we advanced, we know we’ve advanced,” James said. “But it’s going to get tougher and tougher. … So as we wait for our second opponent, we’ll mentally just decompress for probably a day or two and then you log back in on your next opponent. There’s a lot of things up in the air with our team right now, but the things that we can control are the guys that go out there.”
One thing up in the air is the status of power forward Kevin Love, who dislocated his left shoulder Sunday and could miss a “minimum of two weeks,” per ESPN’s Brian Windhorst.
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Love is a vital part of Cleveland’s success offensively. He’s averaging 18.3 points and nine rebounds in the playoffs and has connected on nine of his 21 3-point attempts. Love is the Cavs’ best post-up player and his outside shooting stretches the floor so James and point guard Kyrie Iving have easier paths to the rim.
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If the Chicago Bulls end their series with the Milwaukee Bucks in five games, they could begin Round 2 versus the Cavs this weekend. Assuming Love is out at least two weeks and Chicago eliminates Milwaukee, he could miss the entire second-round series against a Bulls team with plenty of size and skill in the frontcourt with Pau Gasol, Taj Gibson, Nikola Mirotic and Joakim Noah.
In addition to Love’s injury, the Cavs also could be without guard J.R. Smith to start Round 2. Smith was ejected from Game 4 after hitting Celtics guard Jae Crowder in the face, and he’s “nervous as hell” about a possible suspension.
All of this puts even more pressure on James, who, while not being consistently dominant, stepped up when he needed to against the Celtics. James averaged 27 points, 8.7 rebounds and six assists versus Boston. He also played 42 minutes per game, six more than his regular-season average.
While James’ field goal percentage was on par with his regular-season mark, he shot 12 percent worse from beyond the arc in Round 1, including a 3-for-17 mark over the final three games. That’s a concern because Chicago and Milwaukee ranked tied for second and fourth, respectively, in opponents’ 3-point percentage during the regular season.
James must lead the way on and off the court because Cleveland has a young team with many players entering Round 2 for the first time in their career. The pressure and physicality of the playoffs, which were already high against a scrappy Celtics team, will only increase as the Cavaliers advance further.
“Our long-term goal is obviously to win a championship, but right now we have short-term goals and that’s to prepare ourselves for the next round and get ready for the challenge that presents itself,” James said.
“It was a great first test for our team. We’re a young team, we have some vets, but we’re a young team together. The Celtics gave us the test that we needed. Some things we haven’t seen in the regular sason, and it will prepare us for the second round, which will be much tougher. We know that.”
Thumbnail photo via Gary A. Vazquez/USA TODAY Sports Images
