TORONTO _ On Sunday, LeBron James said he was "burnt" after extending himself to the max physically in a seven-game first-round series against the Indiana Pacers.
On Tuesday, as he prepared to open the Eastern Conference semifinals, the Cavaliers star didn't lie when asked about how he felt.
"I'll be alright. I'll be fine," he said at shootaround as the Cavs take on the top-seeded Toronto Raptors in Game 1 at Air Canada Centre.
But after James averaged 41 minutes against the Pacers, skewed by sitting out the fourth quarter in a Game 6 blowout loss, Cavs coach Tyronn Lue will be monitoring James' playing time.
"Just gotta be smart about the situation," Lue said. "I know he wants to play and play a lot, but we've got to be smart because we play every other day, so there's not a lot of time really to recover."
James reportedly suffered cramps on Sunday afternoon, although he said a "minor injury" forced him to the locker room with one minute left in the third quarter in a four-point victory. Prepared to play all 48 minutes, James went 43:25.
Asked if James is tired, Lue said, "Just after the game, but not during the game. I think [it's] his mental toughness. Just being mentally prepared, not giving in to fatigue is a big part of who he is."
The biggest concern of Cavs' fans is James' fatigue, but James doesn't see minutes versus rest as a challenge against the Raptors.
"I never mentioned it as an issue. You mentioned it as an issue," James said. "It wasn't an issue. It's what I had to do to help us get to the second round and we're worried about the second round now that we're here."
James averaged 34.4 points, 10.1 rebounds and 7.7 assists against the Pacers.
Four-time All-Star guard DeMar Rozan said the Raptors must look for any edge they can, even if that means going at a tired James.
"We've got to take advantage of any and everything that we can," DeRozan said of James' fatigue. "We've got to go out there and play our style of basketball. We can't rely on their team being tired or one guy being tired, we've got to rely on what got us to this point. That's [being] the top team in our conference. As long as we approach that with that confidence, we'll be all right."
The Raptors could be caught in a conundrum of isolating James' teammates so he doesn't pass to them or making him force things himself. Considering the struggles of the Cavs' supporting cast against the Pacers, it will likely be the latter.
"We can't just throw one thing at him, it's going to be a combination of things. At the end of the day we've all got to D one as a team, lock in on individual players, team-wise show LeBron as many bodies as we can," DeRozan said. "Go out there and play with the utmost confidence and play physical on both ends."
Ex-Cavs guard/forward C.J. Miles said he won't say anything to rookie small forward OG Anunoby about defending James.
"I don't think so. You don't rock the boat for no reason," Miles said. "You just got to continue to play hard and continue to do what he's doing. You talk about tendencies, coverages, places you want to send him, and making him work, but OG knows. He's got a TV."
