CLEVELAND -- If it is not broken, do not fix it.
Since power forward Kevin Love suffered a broken bone in his left hand in Tuesday night’s 125-114 loss to Detroit Pistons at Little Caesar’s Arena, the Cleveland Cavaliers have spoken at length about the need to step up their games in order to offset the loss.
However, Cavaliers small forward LeBron James is focused on doing what has made him successful throughout his 15-year NBA career.
“Just do me,” James said following Wednesday’s 91-89 win over the Miami Heat at Quicken Loans Arena. “I average nine rebounds, so I don’t have to do more than that. I picked up two more, but I’m just going to do me.
“Obviously, I don’t like the way I shot it, don’t like the way I handled the ball in the first half with the turnovers, but in the second half, I was pretty solid with the ball, pretty solid with my rebounding, got my guys in some rhythms, so my job doesn’t change no matter who’s in and out of the lineup.”
In the win over the Heat (29-22), James converted eight of his 21 attempts, one of his six three-point tries and seven of his 11 free throws on the way to a team-high 24 points. While James struggled to shoot the ball, he corralled 11 rebounds, handed out five assists and stole one pass for the Cavaliers (30-20), who have won three of their last four games.
One of those five assists came with 1:21 remaining in the fourth quarter.
With the Cavaliers and Heat tied at 85 after a layup from Kelly Olynyk, James drove to the hoop, attracted the attention of the defense and swung a pass over to Jae Crowder on the right wing. Crowder buried the three-pointer, his only triple of the game, and put the Cavaliers in front for good.
“It was kind of one of those defensive schemes to kind of hassle the ball a little bit,” James said. “They’re a grimy team, and that’s what they do, so I just wanted to try to be aggressive. I was able to get my body off of him off the dribble and just bring in the defense. Once I was able to do that, I was able to see Jae on that right wing and he was able to knock it down.”
So what does James mean by “just doing me?”
Since his days at Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, James has done what he could to raise the level of play of those around him, like in Wednesday’s win, where he set up Crowder for the go-ahead three-pointer.
And that kind of play sparks confidence within the locker room, especially with Love out of the lineup.
“I just stay the course,” Crowder said. “I come in and work every day and try to answer the bell when it’s time. It was time to answer the bell. Hopefully, it rolls over into the next game, but I just take it a day at a time, learn from the wins, learn from the losses and move forward.”
