MIAMI – The conventional wisdom is to back off LeBron James and make him a jump shooter.
The Spurs tried that in Game 2 of the NBA Finals Sunday and the Heat superstar conventionally kicked their butts.
James did not take a jumper in the first half of Game 2. But in the second quarter, he attacked the rim like it contained the secret of life – or at least the secret of avoiding cramps. He took seven shots, made five.
So the Spurs dropped off in the third quarter. No matter. Need proof? Game 3 goes off in Miami Tuesday with the series tied, 1-1, after Miami’s 98-96 victory in Game 2.
“It wasn’t an adjustment. In the first half, I got into the paint, made some shots, got some rebounds, put pressure on their defense. In the second half they backed up off me and I shot it,” James said.
And usually made it. In the third quarter, James was 6-of-7 and that included a stunning sequence of five shots, all from 18 feet or beyond (two of them of the 3-point variety) in a span of 2:14. He sank all five, earning 12 of his game-high 35 points in that crucial span.
“He was getting to the rim a lot,” Spurs star Tim Duncan said. “We’d rather make him shoot the ball, although through a stretch there, he made four or five in a row, and he really kind of opened it up for himself and was feeling good. We want to keep him away from the basket and keep him off the line, all of those things. For a stretch there, we didn’t do a good job of that.”
And so now the conventional wisdom regarding LeBron is turn off the air conditioning again. James showed no effects of the Game 1 cramping that begat the biggest story in the universe for a few days. He took what the Spurs gave. And the Spurs lived to regret giving him anything.
“It was that easy for me in the sense of, ‘Don’t overthink it,’” said James, the NBA’s eighth-leading all-time playoff scorer with 4,338 points. “They give me space, I shoot it. They get up on me, I try to drive and make plays for me and my teammates.”
James did all those things. With 1:18 left, Chris Bosh, who had missed his previous 3-pointer, took a James pass and sank another 3-point try to put the Heat up 95-93. They would not trail again.
“They’re going to make adjustments going into Game 3, and I have to do it as well. But I don’t want to cloud my mind too much with what they’re doing defensively,” James said. “I want their defense to react to what I’m doing.”
And the reaction is usually removing LeBron’s sneaker-covered foot from their butts.