CLEVELAND, Ohio — The disappointment of falling to 2-4 in the NBA Finals has become almost too much for LeBron James to bear.
After seeing the Golden State Warriors close out their first championship in 40 years with a 105-97 victory in Game 6 on Tuesday night at Quicken Loans Arena, the Cavaliers’ star admitted that he’s starting to wonder if the emotional and physical toll is worth it.
“I always look at it, ‘Would I rather not make the playoffs or lose in the Finals?’ ” James said. “I don’t know. I don’t know. I’ve missed the playoffs twice. I lost in the Finals four times. It would hurt a lot easier if I just didn’t make the playoffs and I didn’t have a shot at it.
“But then I lock back in and I start thinking about how fun it is to compete during the playoffs, the first round, the second round and the Eastern Conference finals. If I’m lucky enough to get here again, it will be fun to do it. But I put my body through a lot, you know, but it’s the price for your body feeling this way for winning.”
James first went to the Finals with the Cavs in 2007 and was swept by the San Antonio Spurs. In four consecutive appearances with the Miami Heat, he won back-to-back championships, but fell to the Dallas Mavericks in 2010-11 and to the Spurs in 2013-14.
James averaged 35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds and 8.8 assists in the NBA Finals, becoming the first player to hit those averages in a postseason series. He became the first player to lead both teams in all three categories in the Finals, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. His three 40-point games fell one short of matching the record held by Jerry West (1969 Los Angeles Lakers vs. the Boston Celtics) and Michael Jordan (1993 Chicago Bulls vs. the Phoenix Suns). He had two triple-doubles, giving him six in the Finals, second only to Magic Johnson’s eight.
On Tuesday, when he scored 32 points, pulled down 18 rebounds and handed out nine assists, James became the sixth player in NBA history to reach 5,000 career playoff points. He now stands at 5,020. He became the first player in NBA history to have five consecutive playoff games with at least 20 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists, according to Elias.
But James was in a reflective mood, and those numbers were no consolation. He was more concerned about his 39.8 percent shooting in the Finals (78-of-196), 31 percent (13-of-42) from 3-point range. He lamented the playoff loss of All-Stars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love to surgery, along with Anderson Varejao’s torn Achilles in late December. He called Varejao, a close friend, “one of the heartbeats of our team.”
“I don’t enjoy being as nonefficient as I was,” James said. “I don’t enjoy dribbling the ball for countless seconds on the shot clock and the team looking at me to make a play. We had 14 assists tonight and I had nine of them. I did not enjoy that. That’s not winning basketball.
“We had two big-time playmakers on the sideline. We’ve got another one (Varejao) that’s been out since early in the season. It was what I had to do. It was what was needed. If I could have given more I would have done it, but I gave everything I had.”
Cavs coach David Blatt didn’t let James’ shooting in the Finals change his opinion of the four-time league MVP.
“What’s evident to everyone is what a spectacular basketball player LeBron is,” Blatt said. “But he has become a great leader of this team. He’s become a guy that has evolved in terms of his role within the team and within the whole concept of what we want to be about.
“It was a challenging but oh so rewarding and beneficial chance that I was given to work with the best player in the world. He led the team and he made every attempt to make this work. I give him a lot of credit for that. It would have been easy for him to do otherwise, but he did not. It’s an honor to coach him.”