LeBron James was nowhere to be found as the Boston Celtics mounted a massive comeback to take down the Cleveland Cavaliers in game 3. Everybody (including J.R. Smith) assumed that James would bounce back with a vengeance in the following game. Early in game 4, though, James looked just as lethargic as he had in game 3, settling for outside shots and getting in foul trouble as the Cavs went by down 16 points. James would go on to finish the game on a stronger note after Kyrie Irving dragged the team back into the game. Still, James’ tentativeness was unsettling for Cavs fans. According to Richard Jefferson, it was because of a bug going around the team. From William Lou of The Score:
“I know he won’t talk about it so I’ll give my big guy a shot. Deron Williams missed shootaround this morning because he had a bug, just really lethargic with no energy. I think that’s what ‘Bron had,” Jefferson said.
“Sometimes these little bugs can go around … when Deron didn’t show up to shootaround, it started clicking in his head. Because for him it was more of like, ‘I don’t know why I was so lethargic, why I had no energy, I had nothing.'”
…
“These little things happen, it was no panic. Look, he was lethargic, they hit a bunch of tough shots. If Marcus Smart doesn’t go 7-for-10 from three, we’re not even talking about it,” Jefferson said.
James’ game 4 performance wasn’t by any means terrible (34 points, five rebounds, six assists, five turnovers), but looks better on box score than it did on the court. His game 3 performance was horrendous (by his standards); James scored just 11 points on 4-13 shooting and turned the ball over six times.
Some sort of bug would explain why James hasn’t looked right in these last couple games. The Cavs will need James to be absolutely at 100 percent should they advance to the finals; even with LeBron playing at peak LeBron levels, the Cavs will have a hard time dealing with the Warriors
