LeBron had a very solid game, as he finished with 33 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists (how crazy is that this is now referred to as a solid game for LeBron rather than a great game?).  The big problem though was that 30 of LeBron’s points came in the first three quarters.  LeBron only scored 3 points on 1-5 shooting (0-2 from three), and committed 2 turnovers.

Mike Brown is a little at fault for LeBron’s poor fourth quarter.  Normally, coaches sit their starters towards the end of the third (with like 3 minutes left) and into the start of the fourth, usually getting them back in there with about 10 minutes left in the game.  The reason they sit them towards the end of the third is because you can steal a few minutes rest for your guy at the quarter break.  However, yesterday Mike Brown played the entire third quarter, and he then sat for the first 4 minutes in the fourth quarter, leaving him with only 8 minutes to work with.

LeBron actually entered the game with the Cavs leading by 2.  So I guess you can say that Mike Brown was justified in sitting LeBron for that long, and in a certain sense, that is right.  However, the longer LeBron sat, the longer it would take for LeBron to get into the flow of the game, and that is the issue here.  You can’t have your best player in a funk, during the most important part of the game (the fourth quarter).

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