I hate the way the NBA Playoffs are structured. After thoroughly dominating the Washington Wizards in Game One, the Cavs had to wait three days before attempting to deliver what should've been the knockdown blow to a team that barely finished above .500 and allowed a season average of 99.8 points from the opposition. That not-inexplicable extra day of rest -- max out that ad revenue, Commish! -- gave sportswriters and commentators way too much time to obsess on LeBron's "masterful" performance, which was only exceptional to those who don't watch a lot of Cavs games. The only real surprise was his on-the-ball defense; the only thing rarer than seeing Antawn Jamison post an atrocious 4-13 shooting night is seeing LeBron be the cause of it. Other than that, I've seen the LeBron of Game One countless times throughout the last three seasons. It wasn't impressive; it was expected.
Much, much less expected was the LeBron of Game 2, who we usually see a handful of times over eighty-two games, and, oddly enough, against less than stellar competition. The guy going 7-25, missing dunks and layups, and zipping the ball into clogged passing lanes usually materializes on nights where the game appears to be in hand from the outset, and that certainly seemed to be the case as the Cavs threatened to hold the Wizards to under ten points for the entire quarter until everyone save for Drew Gooden collectively decided to treat an NBA team led by the great Gilbert Arenas as a church league squad. Though the Cavs had their transition game going, they weren't taking care of the ball at all: LeBron dribbled one possession away that should've concluded with an and-one dunk; Eric Snow launched a jumper with enough time on the shot clock to pass off to someone for whom scoring is actually a viable option; Brendan Haywood left Z an inordinate amount of space to drive underneath to the basket, which the lanky Lithuanian realized a half-second too late; and Larry Hughes, after sinking two high-percentage shots, started deferring to everyone else just as he'd found his rhythm for the first time since returning from injury.
Even as the Cavs stretched out the lead, they were goading the Wizards to get back in the game, which they did before the end of a first quarter that concluded inauspiciously with Arenas effortlessly sinking a forty-footer. According to every sportswriter in the country, Haywood's uncalled flagrant foul on LeBron was the cause for his lousy play from the second quarter onward, but having seen him get gooned in a blowout win against Dallas this year and still keep attacking the hole, I know this to be bullshit. LeBron's ineffectiveness had nothing to do with tentativeness, and everything to do with his lack of a post-up game. If 'Bron could play with his back to the basket, his quickness would embarrass Jared Jeffries, who got the King into foul trouble by sagging back and setting his feet as the inevitable, straight-ahead rush to the hoop resulted in a charge (that said, the second call that sent LeBron to the bench with his fourth foul at the end of the third quarter was very questionable). This is where dribble penetration from Hughes or Flip Murray is supposed to relieve the defensive pressure on James (their missed shots being tipped in by Z), but Mike Brown wrongly opted to feed the white hot Drew Gooden, which seems smart until you consider that this does nothing to force the Wizards to adjust their defense. The Cavs played right into their shrewdly designed strategy.
Still, this should've been a win; the Cavs are a much better rebounding team, and LeBron is and always shall be > Arenas. But he forced the action rather than patiently wait for the game to come to him, and that's how he nearly amassed the wrong kind of triple-double (points, rebounds and turnovers). Though the Cavs are a shaky road team, there's nothing more devastating to the opposition than a focused LeBron James. Having watched the majority of his games since he entered the league, everything points to that guy showing up for Game 3.