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LeBron ready to carry Cavs to title
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LEBRON James is ready to carry the injury-hit Cleveland Cavaliers to a title, having shown his gritty teammates and the Golden State Warriors that the NBA Finals are far from over.
His masterpiece game for the ages of 39 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists powered the Cavaliers to a 95-93 overtime road victory on Sunday, leveling the best-of-7 series at 1-1 entering Game 3 in Cleveland today.
“It’s what needs to be done to help our team win,” James said. “But if that’s what the case has to be to help us win, then I don’t have a choice.”
Asked if he could handle the load, James said, “Well, of course. I’m built for it. It’s a maximum of five games left in the NBA season. So I’m ready for whatever.”
The Cavaliers lost forward Kevin Love with a separated shoulder in the first round of the playoffs and star guard Kyrie Irving in Game 1 of the finals with a fractured left kneecap, leaving unheralded role players to compete with defensive hustle, rebounding and near-superhuman efforts from James.
And they are opposing this season’s winningest and best scoring NBA team, a deep Warriors lineup led by reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry, a 3-point sharpshooter.
“I’m not a high-volume shooter. I’ve never been in my career,” James said. “But things have changed on our team where the shots that Kevin and Kyrie would have has now been placed on myself and the rest of the guys as well.
“All we can do is go out and play hard. We’re undermanned. I don’t know any other team in this league that would be able to do that, to be without two All-Stars on their team and compete the way we compete and be a force. So the guys are taking that very personal.”
It’s Australian Matthew Dellavedova filling in for Irving and shutting down Curry defensively. It’s 17 points and 11 rebounds from Russian big man Timofey Mozgov, 14 rebounds from Tristan Thompson and timely shotmaking by JR Smith and James Jones — often aided by spectacular passes by James.
“It’s the grit squad that we have,” James said. “It’s not cute at all. If you’re looking for us to play sexy, cute basketball, then that’s not us right now. Everything is tough. We’re going to come in with an aggressive mindset defensively and offensively.”
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