LeBron James driven by NBA title chase
The Cleveland Cavaliers are playing with house money in 2016-17. LeBron James, a native of northeast Ohio, and the Cavs deleted 52 years of sporting misery and heartache with an incredible and improbable NBA Finals victory — coming back from a 3-1 deficit — against the Golden State Warriors, bringing a coveted title to the city, region and fans.
James earned his third NBA championship and helped deliver the Cavaliers their first. In Game7, Cleveland created much numerous two-word phrases to describe monumental moments in the city’s sports history:
The Block: James covering ground quickly and denying Andre Iguodala’s layup attempt.
Battle for NBA MVP: Is it LeBron's to lose?
The Shot: Kyrie Irving’s game-winning, title-clinching three-pointer with 53 seconds left.
The Stop: Kevin Love forcing Stephen Curry into a missed three-point shot.
Northeast Ohio and Cavaliers fans are wearing a smile that will last for years. Just don’t try to tell James the Cavs are playing with house money.
“We’re not satisfied,” he says. “We’re not satisfied with just winning one championship. We’re not satisfied with just being successful. We want to continue to get better. Does that mean you’re going to be able to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy at the end of the season? Absolutely not. But we want to give our team chances, give ourselves a better opportunity, because we want to put in the work.”
If the Cavs put in that work and the Warriors do the same and both teams stay mostly injury-free, there’s a great chance they will play in the Finals for the third consecutive season. Not even those great Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers teams of the 1960s and 1980s played each other in the Finals in three consecutive years.
James is trying to play in his seventh consecutive Finals. Playing in six in a row is a remarkable achievement, one that might not be fully appreciated in the moment. It will be more impressive only with the passing of time.
He could join a small group of elite Celtics players, including Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, Tom Heinsohn, K.C. Jones, Sam Jones and Frank Ramsey, who have played in at least seven consecutive Finals.
James, though, isn’t interested in just another appearance. He is on the court for one reason: to win another championship and further shape his place on the Mount Rushmore of the NBA’s all-time greats.
“I don’t think these guys need any talks on what they haven’t done before. Everything we did last year was something guys hadn’t done before,” James says. “Our only mind-set right now is: ‘How we can continue to get better every day?’ It’s a process.
“The good thing is we’ve got most of our guys back. We can get back to the flow of things, but we can’t shortcut anything. This is a new season and we’re the defending champions, but that means absolutely nothing right now. This is a new season. We have to recalibrate, get back to the fundamentals, get back to the basics of the game and work our habits every day.”
Just about everyone returns, and the Cavs brought in shooter Mike Dunleavy Jr. and forward-center Chris Andersen and drafted point guard Kay Felder.
“I always look forward. I’m not a guy who dwells on the past too much,” James says. “There are going to be so many more challenges, so many different obstacles we have to face this year as a ballclub. We have to be mentally focused, mentally prepared for it all. I think we will be. It will not be easy, and it shouldn’t be. My two years here it has never been easy. And my 13-year career so far, nothing has been easy. I look forward to the journey and the work that lies ahead.”
The key to any successful season is health, and hidden among the dunks, the made shots, the assists, the rebounds, the blocks and the leadership is James’ amazingly healthy career.
James has had aches and pains and even injuries: sprained ankles; strained hamstrings, elbow, knee and back; dislocated finger; and cheek and nasal fractures.
But none of those issues has caused James to miss significant time, and that impressive durability — along with his immense talent and intellect — is a big reason for his prolonged success.
“I try to make myself available for my teammates every night,” James says, “and I’ve had some pretty good coaches over the last few years, with Erik Spoelstra my last couple years there (with Miami) and now Coach (Tyronn) Lue has done a great job of just trying to help me take care of my body, because I’m very stubborn when it comes to wanting to play.”
The numbers are remarkable. Through 13 seasons, James has played in 987 of 1,050 regular-season games and hasn’t missed any of his teams’ 199 playoff games.
Compare that to the career of Hall of Famer Larry Bird: 897 regular-season games in 13 seasons and 164 playoff games.
Of course, Bird started his NBA career later than James, who went from high school to the NBA, while Bird spent three seasons at Indiana State. Bird was 35 in his final season, and James won’t turn 32 until Dec. 30.
But the point remains: James has taken great care of his body through diet, exercise and strength training. It’s part luck and part meticulous preparation that has allowed him to avoid serious injuries.
As he enters his 14th NBA season, James is focused on another healthy season and another trip to the NBA Finals. He played a career-low 35.6 minutes per game last season, and his total minutes (2,709) were the lowest of any season in which he has played at least 70 games.
James was in great shape for the playoffs. Lue is planning to ensure that James, Irving and Love aren’t overextended during the regular season. Watching minutes is important.
“My thing is just making sure guys are healthy, continue to limit LeBron’s minutes, and he was at an all-time low last year; watch Kyrie’s minutes, because we know we’re playing for something big,” Lue says. “We know when we get to the playoffs it’s going to require a lot of minutes, so with those guys and with Kevin, just have to watch guys getting to the red zone.
“I talked about the red zone (the area in which players are playing too many minutes) last year, and our training staff does a great job of making sure they let me know who is getting close to that. For me, in the playoffs, health is more important than anything. As long as we can get to the playoffs healthy, I will be very excited about that.”
Lue has looked at the schedule and is trying to figure out when James can get more rest.
“Can’t run our guys into the ground,” Lue says. “We have to be smart, understand we have to take care of our bodies and take care of our key guys. Make sure that when we get to the playoffs, we’re ready to go.”
James has never appeared in all 82 regular-season games during a season and pledged to do that last season. He played in 76. He would like to play 82 this season but is realistic.
“For me it’s a mind-set, and it’s getting my body in 82-game fashion,” he says. “Will I play them all? Hopefully, but if not, then …. My mentality is to say I can go out and play all 82 because my body feels that good. Last year I talked about it, and I could’ve done it. So I just have the same mind frame as I had last year.
“They also know I’ve put a lot of miles on my body over the last six years from going to the Finals every single year, so health and longevity for our team is very important. It’s very key not only for me but for our team. So as good as I feel, they still want to keep a close eye on it, and I know he’s going to try and keep a close eye on it and the coaching staff and the training staff are going to keep a close eye.
“And we all come together as a unit because it’s a partnership with us. Figure out the best way for me to get rest but at the same time be out on the floor, because I mean a lot to the team as well.”
Mild understatement, right there.
“If you ain’t competing for a championship,” James said on a recent video on Uninterrupted.com, “there’s no reason to play.”