The Cleveland Cavaliers have their backs against the wall in the Eastern Conference finals. After losing a pivotal Game 5 earlier this week, the Cavs will now have to win at home to extend the series to a seventh and final game versus the Boston Celtics.
While the pressure is certainly on LeBron James to get his team the win, he’s taking it all in stride.
“I don’t enjoy being in a position where you lose and go home, but just try to extend the series as long as I can and just try put myself and my team in position to continue to play,” he said. “I haven’t always been successful, obviously, I haven’t won every elimination game, but I’ve had some really good games and I’ve had some sub-par games as well.”
Following Game 5, there were some concerns about James’ level of fatigue. After playing a full 82-game regular season, and logging monster minutes throughout the playoffs, it would not be surprising if he were fatigued. Still, he was active at shootaround on Friday morning, and seemed confident heading into tonight’s game.
“I love the way we defended and for the most part if you take away Game 1 and the second half of Game 2, we’ve been defending at a high clip,” James said. “We’ve been doing it throughout the playoffs though and it’s definitely given us an opportunity to be in some games.”
He also commented on his recovery routine and how it changes once the playoffs begin and the rest between games gets shorter.
“It’s the same routine for me,” he asserted. “Just try to get as much optimal sleep as possible, stay in the training room getting treatment and also putting in the work as well to keep your body in tune and in rhythm.”
So far in the conference finals, James has averaged 30.8 points, 8.2 assists, and 7.4 rebounds per game. In elimination games throughout his career, James has averaged 33.5 points per game. Given those numbers, it would be a shock if fans didn’t witness a legendary performance from the three-time NBA champ.
The home team has won every game so far in the series between the Cavs and Celtics. Given that information, it seems likely that James and company will manage to get out of tonight’s game with a victory. If that comes to pass, the true challenge will be finding a way to buck the trend of the series and get a win when they head back to Boston for Game 7.
