We all know how impossible LeBron can be for opposing defenses to deal with, but the help he has around him may be at its all-time best.
In Game 1 against the Pacers, his 13 assists kept the defense guessing, and he picked his spots offensively, finishing 12-of-20 from the field for a game-high 32 points.
In Game 2, however, it was Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love that did the bulk of the damage to put the game out of reach. LeBron was as impactful as ever, finishing with 25 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists, four steals and four blocked shots — as good if not better than Draymond Green’s near 5X5 effort in the Warriors’ Game 1 win over the Blazers.
But in the decisive third quarter, it was Irving and Love who took control, while James was able to simply sit back and watch his teammates go to work. Love took advantage of a mismatch against Lance Stephenson to go on a personal 10-0 run, while Irving scored 14 of his game-high 37 points in the period to push the Cleveland lead to as many as 19 points.
It was the first time that Irving, Love and James each scored at least 25 points in a playoff game since the trio joined forces in advance of the 2015 season. It was a sign of what they’re capable of, and why the defensive inconsistencies might not matter until they play one of the elite teams in the West.
Based on what we saw in the first two days of the playoffs from the rest of the teams in the East, there isn’t a single one of them that has the right combination of offense and defense to even slow these Cavaliers.