Do-it-all LeBron James is just one man against balanced Warriors in NBA Finals

LeBron James can do no more than he did on Sunday night in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.

He both asserted his considerable authority in the post and nailed big three-point shots. He carried the Cleveland Cavaliers offence on his shoulders. LeBron put in a masterful 40 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists. It might have even been enough for him to make a convincing case to be Finals MVP.

His team, though, lost.

Read more:

– Photo gallery: Steph Curry catches fire for Warriors in Game 5 of NBA Finals

– Warriors not quite back in NBA finals, but going small was a good step

Game 5 was a contest that perfectly illustrated what was always going to be the problem for James in this series, and became an even more glaring problem when Kyrie Irving went down in overtime in the opening contest.

He just doesn’t have enough around him on the Cavaliers.

Game 5 was a contest that illustrated many of the things the Golden State Warriors do best, as well. Contributions came from all over the floor. There were 10 points, big rebounding and committed defence from Harrison Barnes. Draymond Green was hard-charging and consistently got to the foul line in a 16-point effort. Andre Iguodala again played good defence on James, scored 14 points and rebounded well. Even Leandro Barbosa pitched in an unlikely 13 points off the bench.

And, most important of all, Stephen Curry put in his first performance truly reflective of an MVP in these finals. While LeBron was doing everything humanly possible through the first three quarters to keep the Cavaliers even with the Warriors, Curry seemed strangely uninvolved at times.

He hit a few big shots and made a few nice passes, but those are things he can do in his sleep. The truly transcendent Curry has largely been missing in this series, and for most of Game 5 it looked like he would continue to be stifled by Cleveland’s Matthew Dellavedova.

It seemed to turn out he was just conserving his energy, biding his time. A luxury LeBron is surely jealous of.

Curry was uncontainable in the fourth quarter, scoring 17 of his 37 points and flashing his trademark fearlessness in draining three of his seven three-pointers for the night. In the process what was a narrow six-point contest at the end of the third quarter turned into a comfortable 13-point, 104-91 win for Golden State. And a 3-2 series lead.

The Cavaliers have now lost two straight, as the Warriors lost two straight before them. But where Golden State looked frustrated by their struggles earlier in this series, Cleveland simply look spent by this point.

The Cavs couldn’t beat the Warriors’ smaller line-up in Game 4 even though their big men generally had their way with things inside. Cleveland matched Golden State in going small on Sunday night and came up empty again.

Came up empty despite a commanding performance by James. Came up empty despite JR Smith looking as good as he has all series. Came up empty despite another quality effort from Tristan Thompson.

Cleveland fell short once again because they simply are short the depth needed to compete with Golden State. What the last two games have proven is that LeBron can take you quite a long way – they’ll get at least to Tuesday’s Game 6 of the finals – but even LeBron is just one man.

And there’s a debate to be had over the next couple of days about whether he will indeed deserve the Finals MVP award even if Cleveland do in fact lose.

It’s not unprecedented, exactly. Jerry West of the Los Angeles Lakers won the first Finals MVP award in 1969 despite his team’s loss to Bill Russell’s Boston Celtics in seven games.

Iguodala has had a probably outcome-turning series for the Warriors, given the defensive work he has put in on James and the much-needed extra offence he has provided. He would make a fine winner. Curry, too, may have another explosive game in the clincher and become something of a sentimental choice.

But James has undoubtedly been the best player in this series. He is nearly averaging a triple-double, with 35.8 points per game, 13.8 rebounds, 8.3 assists and a kind of mystifying force of will to keep his undermanned team fighting.

LeBron’s problem, what he has helplessly ran into each of the past two games, is that he just inescapably is not on the best team in this series.

jraymond@thenational.ae

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