I understand that at age 32, the four-time league Most Valuable Player must conserve his energy, must ramp up his effort through each level of the playoffs, must be at his peak if he reaches his seventh consecutive NBA Finals.
But in one regard I am torn. Can the Cavaliers fix their struggling defense without a better example than the one the best player in the world set against the Denver Nuggets? Or was James sending a message that with 12 games remaining, it's time to man-up, both literally and figuratively?
Perhaps it will mean nothing in May and June, but I can't get a scene from Wednesday's 126-113 loss to the Nuggets out of my mind. It came in the second quarter, when James stayed downcourt to complain a no-call when his layup attempt was blocked by Juancho Hernangomez.
Even though James left the Cavs playing four-on-five, it nearly worked out. Jamal Murray fired up an errant 3-pointer at the other end and Deron Williams rebounded for the Cavs, but Iman Shumpert's long pass to James was off the mark and resulted in a turnover.
James finished the game with a plus-minus rating of minus-30, his second worst of the season, surpassed only by a minus-32 in a 35-point loss at the Golden State Warriors on Jan. 16. Contributing to James' ugly stat in the Pepsi Center was his extensive time with the second unit, which the Nuggets torched. It seems hard to criticize James when he made 8-of-12 field goals and totaled six rebounds and five assists in 34 minutes.
But when his teammates needed defensive help, James remained rooted in place, perhaps to make a point that he verbalized later.
"It ain't about a group, it's about individuals," James said. "We've got to be more, just do more. You can't preach toughness, you've got to have it.
"We've got to be more physical, we've got to take the one-on-one challenge seriously. We're relying on help too much instead of taking the one-on-one challenge first. Got to be better in all facets of the game."
Perhaps James' minus-30 was intended as a teaching moment. Perhaps it was meant to reinforce the postgame comments of coach Tyronn Lue, who was critical of the Cavs for the second consecutive game. Lue was even stronger than Sunday when the Los Angeles Lakers' D'Angelo Russell poured in a career-high 40 points in the Cavs' five-point victory.
Lue was upset after the Cavs were outscored 70-30 on points in the paint and allowed the Nuggets to shoot 53 percent from the field, the third consecutive foe to shoot at least 51 percent. (That does include a loss to the Clippers that came when James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love sat out.)
"They gotta be tougher. Gotta be more urgency, and it comes from all of us," Lue said Wednesday night. "They got 3-point shots, they got points in the paint, they got offensive rebounds. They got, I mean, whatever they wanted. And we gotta be better than that. It starts with the coaches, but the players gotta look at themselves in the mirror, too. They gotta bring a physical presence and they've got to take pride in guarding their man."
The defending champions have lost six of their past 10. They are 5-7 in March. They're 18-17 on the road. Their defensive efficiency stands 22nd in the league. No team has won an NBA title with an efficiency rating outside the top 10 since the 2000-01 Lakers. (The Cavs were 10th last season.) They're giving up 109.9 points per game in March, highest of any month this season.
James hasn't held back in his comments. Consider "The honeymoon is over," after the Chicago Bulls bullied their way to 78 points in the paint on Dec. 2, which was the Cavs' third consecutive loss. Or "We're a top-heavy team. I just hope we're not satisfied as an organization," after a 124-122 loss at the New Orleans Pelicans on Jan. 23. Or "We need a playmaker," that same night.
Maybe this time James let his actions as well as his words speak, even as the Cavs had their starting lineup together for the first time since Dec. 17.
I hope that was his intention because James' play did not always set the proper tone. Only Irving seemed inspired to turn the game around as he scored 14 of his 33 points in the third quarter. But that's when Kenneth Faried began to dominate inside and the Nuggets followed his lead and outmuscled the complacent Cavs.
Cavs' center Tristan Thompson seemed to get James' message.
"That's an area I'm going to take very seriously because at the end of the day I'm the man in the middle, so I got to make sure I bring that toughness," Thompson said. "If it's being questioned, I got to pick that (expletive) up."
With the loss and the Boston Celtics' victory, the Cavs' lead over the Celtics in the Eastern Conference race was cut to one game. But history shows the Cavs still have time. Some of the same defensive questions arose at the end of the regular season a year ago. The Cavs dropped eight of 15 in March and April last season and captured the championship. They went 24-17 on the road in the 2015-16 regular season, 7-4 in the postseason.
But this is the time for urgency, the time to pay attention during film study and the occasional practice, the time to ramp up the defensive intensity that it appears the Cavs have been saving for the playoffs.
James should not be exempt, even if he does keep a few levels of energy in reserve.
