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A "Fatigued" Lebron Adds A New Wrinkle Heading Into Game 6

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Phantom255x:
Not going to lie, but I'm actually feeling oddly confident about our chances in Game 6.  :o

My gut feeling says we win a close affair tomorrow night, winning by 6-8 points. And my gut feeling thought we'd win last night, and it also thought Houston would win Game 4 in a thriller despite the odds heavily stacked against them at Oracle Arena.

And even after going up 2-0 in this series, I honestly thought Cleveland would win Game 3 by double digits at home (with role players doing better), and then after Game 3, even the optimist in me felt like while the game would be closer, Cleveland would probably still win Game 4 by 8-12 points with Lebron going off (and it happened).

But here's the thing. Between Game 2 and 3, both teams had 3 whole days off between games, so the Cavaliers got some good rest and came out rejuvenated in Game 3 (as well as Game 4). However, there's only a day off between games from here on out, and that's an advantage for our youth going up against the "old" Cavaliers.

And now we hear Lebron may be fatigued. He certainly looked like it for most of the 2nd half last night. Remember when he sat out like a minute very late in the 2nd quarter? How often does he do that? Usually he sits the end of the 1st/early 2nd and again late 3rd/early 4th. But Lebron had to sit out like a minute late in the 2nd because he was tired. Whoa. Cavaliers were down like 11-13 points and it was a crucial final 2 minutes of the first half coming up, and Lebron had to sit.

Yes folks, he's fatigued. In the 2nd half, most of his stepback 3s and fadeaway 2s which we've seen Lebron make in his sleep over the years were rimming out or falling short (hitting front rim). He was aggressive to start the 3rd, bodying up on guys and driving into the paint, but I don't think we saw much of that in the final 4 minutes of the 3rd, and the entire 4th.

It's an interesting wrinkle added to this series. This may be our best shot to steal one at the Q. Now that's not to say we're guaranteed to win tomorrow night. Not at all. We still have to play smarter on the road and have to start off well (or at least not fall behind by 10+ in the first quarter).

But if we make Lebron work for everything again and essentially force him to try and play 40+ minutes, we got him! Lebron may put up his great numbers and will start off looking energetic, but by 20-25 minutes, he'll probably get fatigued again so long as we play physical with him and make him work for everything.

Then it's up to the role players for CLE to take over, and while I think they'll do a lot better again at home, it may not be enough if Lebron isn't as aggressive and looks tired by the 2nd half.

It's a "new series" again, and lets forget about Games 3 and 4. Come out strong, play better, convert the easy bunnies we've missed a ton of the last two games, and we can close this out for good tomorrow night!  ;D 8)

JHTruth:
I don't know why people would be surprised if LeBron was finally starting to break down. No one has played more minutes over the last decade. And has more on his shoulders. It was going to happen at some point.

Phantom255x:

--- Quote from: JHTruth on May 24, 2018, 10:35:24 AM ---I don't know why people would be surprised if LeBron was finally starting to break down. No one has played more minutes over the last decade. And has more on his shoulders. It was going to happen at some point.

--- End quote ---

Yeah, like as much as I despise him, I do respect his work ethic and he's no doubt the best player in the NBA today. But it certainly looks like the heavy workload is catching up to him. It also must be demoralizing to him mentally seeing his teammates brick a bunch of open looks lol. Psychologically, this may be Lebron's toughest series in the Eastern Conference in a long time. And that's against a team missing two all-stars and a great bench player (Theis).

Moranis:
26/10/5 on 50% shooting.  Lebron wasn't the problem. 

ederson:

--- Quote from: Moranis on May 24, 2018, 10:39:14 AM ---26/10/5 on 50% shooting.  Lebron wasn't the problem.

--- End quote ---

and 6TO and lots of misses most of them at the last 8mins

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