CHICAGO: The always-difficult task for the Cavaliers of trying to win without LeBron James took another step sideways Saturday night. Sure, James was on the floor and was magnificent with 33 points and seven rebounds in the loss to the Chicago Bulls, but he didn’t touch the ball at all in the final 30 seconds of a one-possession game when the Cavs had two chances to win it in the final seconds.
Perhaps things will be different beginning next weekend when the Cavs host either the Detroit Pistons or Indiana Pacers to begin the postseason. Perhaps then James will have the ball in his hands when the game is in doubt. For now, in this run up to the playoffs, the Cavs twice now in the span of a week have gone away from James with the game on the line.
Kyrie Irving delivered the overtime victory from the free-throw line in a recent win at the Atlanta Hawks, while both Matthew Dellavedova and J.R. Smith missed on chances to beat the Bulls Saturday night and clinch homecourt advantage for the Cavs.
James’ layup with 30 seconds left pulled the Cavs within 104-101, but that was the last time he touched the ball. Smith intentionally missed his second free throw attempt and grabbed his own rebound 22 seconds later. Smith flipped it to Kevin Love, who swung it to Dellavedova on the wing. He put up an air ball on an open look with James standing next to him at the top of the arc.
“I definitely would’ve loved to have been in that position after it got swung to Kev,” James said. “I wish that was me, for sure. One more swing, selfishly, I wish I had a look at it the way I was shooting the ball. But Delly left it short.”
James is struggling through his worst 3-point shooting season since his rookie year, but he made 4-of-5 attempts Saturday night to continue a recent upwards trend. In the 11 games since that embarrassing loss at the Miami Heat three weeks ago, James is shooting nearly 48 percent on 3-pointers (he sat out two of those games).
He seems to be finding his long-range rhythm at just the right time, although the Cavs went away from him again for the last shot Saturday. With 1.6 seconds left and needing a 3-pointer to force overtime, Smith asked for the ball and got it from head coach Tyronn Lue.
Smith was hot from 3-point range all night, making 7-of-13 before missing the final shot. It was contested by the Bulls’ Justin Holiday, who played great defensively all night on the Cavs’ guards. Smith seemed to indicate he thought he was fouled on the last shot, which Holiday blocked.
Former executive VP of basketball operations Stu Jackson initially agreed, writing on his Twitter account that Smith was fouled. After watching it again, however, Jackson changed his mind and said because the ball was tipped, the contact was incidental.
Regardless, Lue rode the hot hand and chose Smith to take the final shot despite having both James and Kyrie Irving on the floor.
“Usually that play is for Ky or J.R.,” Lue said. “J.R. is the one who had it going.”
The Cavs’ ugly 4-14 mark in games without James since the start of last season is well known, but also irrelevant — barring injury — once the playoffs begin next weekend. More telling is the way the Cavs have tried lately to rely on others to close out games with him playing.
Before Irving struggled terribly during the fourth quarter Saturday (and owned up to it afterwards), James went to him a week ago and told his point guard he wanted the ball in Irving’s hands to ice the game against the Hawks.
Irving delivered , despite an off shooting night, making 5-of-6 free throws in the final 20 seconds of overtime to seal the victory.
James has spent two years talking about teaching his teammates how to win. Yet sometimes his competitive nature takes over, such as the shot Dellavedova missed badly. Sometimes James wants to teach and sometimes he wants to take over. Nevertheless, the Cavs enter the final two games of the regular season riding a two-game losing streak — hardly the type of momentum Lue and James were hoping for to start the final week of the season.
Jason Lloyd can be reached at jlloyd@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at www.ohio.com/cavs. Follow him on Twitter www.twitter.com/JasonLloydABJ.