To say that LeBron was dominant last night would be selling him and his effort short by a considerable margin. He simply did anything and everything he wanted to and got it whenever and wherever he wanted it. The line of 41 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists doesn't do him justice, not even when I tell you that he shot 13-19 from the floor, went 12-14 from the charity stripe and 3-4 from downtown. What's most impressive to me is that LeBron did all of this within the flow of his team's offense and didn't need to shift into a higher gear all night long. After an absolutely dominant start (he had 20 points in the first quarter alone!), he relaxed a little and worked on doing all the other little things to help his team win, looking for his shot only when he was obliged to by the flow of the game. It was absolutely incredible to behold, and after seeing a performance like that from him I can only quake in my boots about the prospect of having to face the Cavs at some point later on this season.
The Blazers were buried before they knew what was happening, as LeBron seemed to effortlessly score every time he touched the ball (he went 8-8 in the first quarter). He started by overpowering the Blazers and poor Martell Webster with his strength and speed, penetrating the middle off the dribble and scoring around the rim or finding teammates on the perimeter. Then for good measure he started bombing threes in from all over the floor (my memory may be flawed but I believe he hit 3 in the first quarter, though it may have only been 2) to deliver a soul crushing blow right out of the gate. Again, the craziest part is not that LeBron had 31 by halftime (which was pretty mind blowing, mind you), it's that he never seemed to force the action or take a bad shot while all of this was going on.
And then, with a double digit lead at half and the game mostly in hand, he deferred to his teammates and trusted his system instead of relentlessly gunning for his own stats and going for 50 or 60 points. No, instead of expending energy on stuffing the box score with more points and shot attempts, LeBron shifted his focus to defense, rebounding and passing to seal the win for his team. Throughout the course of the game, I saw LeBron check every Blazer on the floor except the Juwan Howard/Jeff Pendergraph tandem at center. How many superstars would be willing do that, especially in a game where they have incentive to keep jacking up shots and coast against a lesser team? This guy just gets it, and you feel like if they had somebody other than J.J. Hickson to throw at opposing power forwards (the times that the Blazers went to Aldridge with that match-up he absolutely ate Hickson alive) or a point guard who could defend anyone, they might never lose again.
In my brief life as an NBA nut I've seen my fair share of exciting and awe-inspiring performances live, but never in have I ever borne witness to anything like what I saw last night. I mean, I've seen Paul Pierce abuse quality defenders and teams on the way to 38 point outbursts, and Carmelo Anthony drop 35 without hardly breaking a sweat, and LeBron hit 2 (!) buzzer beaters (including a 75-foot bomb) before, but none of these performances are even in the same building as LBJ's 41/10/8 last night. Still need convincing? LeBron was so dominant that he made Brandon Roy's 34 points on 14-23 shooting and LaMarcus Aldridge's 18/13 on 8-11 shooting look pedestrian. On any other night against any other team, if the Blazers get those numbers out of their two best players they win easily. But not against the runaway freight train that is LeBron James.
Ultimately Portland just had no answer for LeBron with their depleted line-up/MASH unit. I realized this morning that LeBron is as tall as/bigger than every active Blazer except for LaMarcus Aldridge, which just isn't fair. The Blazers actually did a good job of contesting LeBron's shots and pressuring him whenever he drove, but he was just too big and strong and was always able to make a play. He actually didn't get any dunks (no small feat) and made a series of incredibly challenging lay-ups with both hands look ridiculously easy. With a healthy Batum/Outlaw combo or anyone to protect the rim things may have gone differently for Portland, though LBJ was pretty keyed in so I'm not sure it would have mattered.
A few other random notes from the game last night:
The Blazers could have been right there and possibly won if they had made their free throws. Brandon Roy went 3-8 and missed freebies on both of his 3-point plays from the first quarter (he did an admirable job of matching James' effort and poured everything he had into keeping the game close in the first quarter). Those misses will hurt you anytime, but against one of the best teams in the league they are often the difference between winning and losing.
Brandon Roy scored his 5,000th point last night on a ridiculous lefty lay-up in the first half, very nice!
Even though I'm only 24 and my entire basketball life has been in the jumbo-tron-extensive-and-ridiculous-player-introduction era, after sitting through the Blazer introductions last night I think things have gone too far. Let me paint this picture for you: after the Cavs are introduced the P.A. Announcer tells everybody that the Rose garden is our house and on your feet and blah blah blah, the music starts pumping and the fans get into it and start clapping and getting loud. This is a good thing, but what follows is a 2 or 3 minute video featuring "O Fortuna" from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana (but you probably remember it from any number of pop culture situations, like this one for all you Celtic fans).
Now this is a great piece of music that'll make the hair stand up on the back of your neck, but it isn't exactly your typical pump up the crowd type of music, and it is too long. What happened as they queued it up last night? The video played and the music was loud but the crowd couldn't keep up the intensity or the rhythm they'd established earlier, so everyone sat down and when the Blazers finally came out, there was less excitement and energy from the fans. The crowd noise was gone for the tip-off and the Cavs never looked back.
What the Blazers need is to have the P.A. Announcer fire the crowd up with some more popular music that the crowd can get behind (i.e. something with a simple beat that us poor rhythmically challenged white folks can clap along to) and then to go right into the player intros so the crowd HAS to stay into it. Give them an opportunity to sit down and watch a stupid video and the atmosphere vanishes. Let the crowd get raucous and have that energy carry over to the tip-off and ultimately the game, and an already hostile environment could become the most feared environment to play in since the heyday of ARCO Arena or, dare I say it, the old Boston Garden. Right now, it's like a false start for the crowd and on a Sunday when everyone was lethargic to begin with, I feel like it had a negative effect on the crowd. If they don't can the video completely, they should at least play it first and THEN ask the crowd to cheer loudly once they start actually introducing the players.
