Martin Rickman of SBNation's own Fear The Sword offered his five things the Cavaliers needed to do to beat the Miami Heat in the return of LeBron James tonight. You can head on over the FTS to see all five, but one of them definitely caught my eye. Ironically it is No. 5 on the list:
5.) Let LeBron get his.
LeBron is going to score. He's going to do his thing. Fine. Let him have his 50 if he wants it. That means he'll take 30 shots and completely dominate the ball. That means the Heat have no offensive flow. That means he'll hoist up terrible threes that completely take Miami out of their rhythm or lead to easy buckets for the Cavs. That means Bosh and Wade will get frustrated.
Stay off him, dare him to shoot. Let him think he can shoot his way into the record books at the Q. He already thinks this is all about him -- let that be the case. Let him try to feed off the fans. 50 points won't win the game. If you flip the switch from distributor to SOLELY scorer and the Cavs do the above four things, playing as a team will make the difference. Look at Boston -- no one player dominates the ball. That's what makes them so dangerous.
If Bosh is irrelevant and Wade can never get into his flow, it really doesn't matter how many LeBron puts up -- if the Cavs play their game and play at their pace and under control.
To this I completely agree. For years, teams defended the Cavaliers by making LeBron do EVERYTHING, while not allowing his supporting cast to do anything. LeBron is going to be pumped - and that isn't always a good thing for James - and his Heat teammates are likely going to try and get him off for a big game. Let them. Allow LeBron to hoist jumpers tonight. Don't let D-Wade or Bosh get going, however. Rush them every time they get the ball and force it out of their hands. Make LeBron have to have a historical night in order to win.