LeBron, Cavaliers eager for Act II of playoffs
James ready to take second-seeded Cleveland deeper into postseason
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CLEVELAND - Nervous is not a feeling LeBron James has very often. But before stepping onto basketball’s biggest stage last spring, he was a little shaky not knowing what to expect in his first trip to the NBA playoffs.
Turns out, he had nothing to worry about.
All James did was record a triple-double in his debut, score 41 points in his first road playoff game and average 35.7 points in six games while helping Cleveland win its first postseason series in 13 years.
So what does he have in store this year?
“You’ll see,” James said with a smile.
Consider yourselves warned. You too, Wizards.
With a year of playoff experience under their belts, James and the Cavaliers will open what they hope is a lengthy postseason run Sunday by hosting injury-riddled Washington in Game 1 of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference series. Game 2 is scheduled for Wednesday.
It’s a rematch from last year’s opening round, when the Cavaliers outlasted the Wizards in six games. Three of those were decided by one point and Games 5 and 6 went into overtime — with Cleveland winning both.
This series doesn’t figure to be nearly as tight. The second-seeded Cavaliers are expected to easily breeze past the ailing Wizards, who are missing All-Stars Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler.
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Although he’ll be wearing street clothes, Arenas, who severely sprained his knee last month, is trying to have an influence on the series. Over the past few days he has called several of the Cavaliers, and as Cleveland guard Larry Hughes put it, told them “it’s not going to be easy” against the Wizards.
James said he listened to Arenas’ trash talk. Silence was his only response.
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James’ playoff debut in 2006 was similarly dumbfounding.
In the opener against the Wizards, he dropped 32 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists to become just the third player to get a triple-double in his first playoff game. Even for a player who has continually met or exceeded expectations, it was special.
When the moment arrived, James rose to it.
“Honestly, I was a little nervous before Game 1,” he said. “I think ’Z’ (Zydrunas Ilgauskas) was also because our franchise hadn’t been in the postseason in eight years, so it was new for us. It was definitely new for me and as a leader I didn’t know how to take it at first.
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Guess so. James went on to post the third-highest scoring average in a playoff debut series, bettered only by Wilt Chamberlain (38.7 in 1960) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (36.2 in 1970). But more significant than his gaudy statistics was the way he involved his teammates, giving them the ball — and confidence.
“What made him so good,” Ilgauskas said, “was that he had a great timing of when to take it and when to pass it and that made us dangerous — not only dangerous himself, but us as a team. He had the triple-double and that set the tone.”
For the Wizards to have any chance, they have to stop James.
“He’s a beast,” said Washington’s Jarvis Hayes, who has missed the playoffs the past two seasons because of injuries. “Their whole team is fueled by what LeBron does. We have to slow him down a little bit.
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