In the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 111-108 game 3 loss against the Boston Celtics, the talking point was not only Boston’s comeback but LeBron James’ disappointing performance. In the loss, James finished with 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting and shot 0-of-4 from the field in the final 16:31 of the game.
Because he’s LeBron, his poor performance has been analyzed from every angle and is one of the factors to Cleveland’s loss last night. However, Cavs’ shooting guard J.R. Smith fully expects James to play better in game 4 and just urges for a more aggressive style of play from him.
Following from Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
“He’s got to be aggressive, get downhill, play like he’s been playing, play confident,” said Smith after practice Monday. “That’s what I always think, when people of his stature or people like him, you’ve got to play confident the whole night and play aggressive. It’s the Eastern Conference finals. It’s not enough for him. For what he does, what he brings, it’s not enough. He knows that. We know that. Just expect him to be better in Game 4.”
Staying on a positive note, Smith also predicts James will process his performance from the game, learn from it, and come back because of it.
“I think when he goes home, he’ll watch the game again,” Smith said. “He’ll take it hard that night. And then the next day he’ll wake up and be fine with it. Well, not be fine with it, but accept it more. That’s all you can ask. You take it hard when you go home, but then the next day, you wake up and it’s a new day.”
