The Cleveland Cavaliers might be mired in turmoil, drama, and a weirdly packed Eastern Conference playoff picture. But they still have LeBron.
Wednesday night, that meant a massive game from James, who went for 37 points, 15 assists, and 10 rebounds in an overtime win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. His final two points were the most important of them all, though; tied at 138 with just a second remaining, the Cavs were stuck throwing inbounds from the sideline in the backcourt. That’s not typically a situation that leads to good things.
Then this happened:
That’s an inch-perfect pass from Jeff Green, and LeBron held off Jimmy Butler perfectly. It’s also weird that Minnesota decided to send defenders into the backcourt at all; that allowed LeBron to catch it cleanly, as Butler couldn’t risk James getting behind him.
The lack of traffic was exactly what Cleveland was hoping to get, and LeBron can get a clean look one-on-one in just about any situation, including off a lob with just a second left on the clock.
The win moves the Cavs to 31-22, and with the trade deadline looming at 3 PM tomorrow, this might be the last time this iteration of the Cavs plays together. Whether they’re able to tweak the roster to the point of contention remains to be seen; it does seem deeply flawed, with plenty of animosity among multiple parties.
But LeBron is still LeBron. For just about every year of his career, that’s been enough to overcome whatever flaws his teams have shown. Tonight was no exception.
He does travel a lot though.
Here's LeBron's double or single travel, or if you're an official – nothing to see here. I think most of you know I hate travel calls but come on #Shaqtin pic.twitter.com/V3646WcGyd
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) February 8, 2018
