Following the Cavaliers’ 104-89 loss in Game 1 of the NBA Finals to the Golden State Warriors, LeBron James was understandably not in a good mood. LeBron made sure to point out multiple times that it was the bench that lost the game, though.
He did not directly say, “I had nothing to do with us losing,” but it was reminiscent of times where LeBron has looked around in his career and it would be reasonable to ask “What more could I have done?”
The numbers from the game paint a picture. The Big Three scored 66 points. The bench scored 10. J.R. Smith scored 3. The Warriors’ reserves scored 45 and seven different players reached double-figures in scoring.
When asked if it was discouraging to allow so many points off of Golden State’s bench, LeBron responded, “When you get outscored 45-10 on the bench and give up 25 points off 17 turnovers, no matter what someone does or doesn’t do, it’s going to be hard to win, especially on the road.”
There’s the first mention of the bench not doing their jobs.
When asked about to go into detail about what caused the discrepancy between the two benches, LeBron said, “What happened? They scored 45 points, we scored 10. That’s what happened.”
It’s understandable to be upset with the bench. But keep in mind, LeBron was on the floor getting lit up on defense by Golden State’s bench, too.
His other two members of the Big Three were getting torched on defense, as well.
This was not a case of the Big Three playing an all-around great game.
No one in a Cavaliers uniform played a great game. LeBron included.
If LeBron played a great game, guys like Andre Iguodala, Harrison Barnes, and Draymond Green, all of whom he was assigned to guard at various times of the game, would not have combined for 41 points.
Cavs fans can be “proud” of the fact that their team held the Splash Brother duo to just 20 combined points, but they had no answer defensively for Shaun Livingston or Leandro Barbosa, who combined for 13-of-15 from the field and 31 points between the two.
For people who want to take solace in the fact that the Big Three combined for 66 points, despite the poor defense, the offensive output of the Cavs three stars was not efficient enough to call it a great game for any of the trio, even on that end of the floor.
Kyrie Irving shot 7-for-22. He did make 11-of-12 free throws at least.
Kevin Love shot 7-of-17 from the field.
14-of-39 between your second and third best players is not going to get it done most nights against any team, let alone the best in the NBA.
Even LeBron, who is justified in feeling that the guys around him need to play better, fell into a habit of pulling up for ill-advised jumpers, did not attack the rim as aggressively as he could have at times, turned the ball over twice in crunch time, and shot 9-for-21 from the field.
Even if LeBron does feel like the loss is solely pinned on the bench and even if he wants to call them out for it, perhaps behind the scenes in the locker room is a better place to do that than to sit on a stage and point fingers.
It’s likely that his words for his teammates after the game were much harsher, but if LeBron wants to be viewed as a true leader, then passing the blame to the rest of the guys is not exactly a characteristic of “leadership.”
Throughout the post-game press conference, LeBron made references to things that “We,” as a team have to do better. Maybe this is asking too much of a superstar player, but there was no mention of what “He,” personally could have done better. Leaders hold themselves accountable, too.
It’s not time to panic, but if LeBron is already in finger-pointing mode after one loss, the thought of “what more can I do with these guys around me?” may be creeping in.
It’s only one loss. Insert cliche here. But spin it whatever way you want. The Cavs got flat out outplayed on every level on Thursday. They need a completely different version of themselves to show up on Sunday night in Game 2. Even LeBron.
If you disagree with my analysis of LeBron’s post-game press conference, watch the full video and decide for yourself.
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