Written by Brandon Ribak, creator of Fantasy NBA Zone.Also check out Brandon at Bleacher Report.
This article was originally posted on Bleacher Report.
Like we have heard since a little child, their is no "I" in team.
One player cannot literally win a series all by himself. He needs teammates to surround him and contribute to the overall teams success.
In the Cleveland Cavaliers case, this is a playoff team with a one man show and this series is the season finale.
LeBron James dropped a mind-blowing, playoff career-high 49 points on an unimaginable 20-for-30 shooting. He scored 46.2 percent of his teams points and still came up just one point short of a victory.
During the first half of the game, James scored 26 points, giving his team a 15 point lead going into halftime and scoring 41.3 percent of his team points.
In the second half of the game, the Cleveland Cavaliers scored a total of 43 points, 23 of which were credited to Mr. James (53.5 percent of his team's overall second half points).
Even when James is playing at his supreme level, it is sometimes still not enough to produce a win.
What does that mean?
Well for one thing, it proves that the man is a human-being and not some immortal god.
Another thing, it goes to show that James really needed his team to produce just a tad bit more in order for the Cavaliers to pull out a victory.
Cleveland's bench scored a whopping five points throughout the entire game. When James is on the sidelines resting, how can the Cavaliers expect to win not just a game, but an entire series, if they cannot even get 15 plus points out of their bench players?
I know the answer to that, they can't expect to win, especially with a bench so depleted as the Cavaliers do in fact have. If anything, Sasha Pavlovic should have played in this game. He has the ability to defend and knock down the trey ball.
I truly believe LeBron James is one of the best players in the league today, if not the best. He has the heart of a champion, the basketball IQ of Michael Jordan, and the leadership of a King.
But what it comes down to at the end of the day is his team stepping up to actually help him get a win. The man cannot do everything by himself, although many believe he can do so.
The Cavaliers will have to work on their mechanics before stepping onto their own home court (which they went 39-2 on the season in) and come out with a new mindset other than just "give the ball to James and let him do his magic." if they want any chance at advancing to the NBA Finals.
Like I stated in my article about what if the final four teams lost their superstar, the Cavaliers live and die off of King James. He is not only their nucleus, but their overall game-plan as well.
LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers had one outstanding season this year and only one question remains.
Can the "One Man Show" advance past this series, or will the Eastern Conference Finals unfortunately be the season finale?
